Events Calendar

Vanderley M. John, Ph.D.

Speaker: Vanderley M. John, Ph.D., Professor of Building Materials Construction Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of Sao Paulo

Talk Title: Overview of Research on low-carbon cement and industrial ecology at Poli USP

Abstract: Overview of Research on low-carbon cement and industrial ecology at Poli USP
Vanderley M. John
Professor of Building Materials of Polytechnic School, University of Sao Paulo.

The environmental crisis, the global demand for more and better-built environment, adaptation to population aging and the digital industrial revolution are setting an accelerating pace of innovation. The construction sector will be forced to innovate.
To make possible the reduction of environmental impacts we need metrics suited to use in today's decision-making made by non-experts. LCA is too expensive and complex for that. From a construction point of view, it is incomplete. Its efficacy is reduced by generalized use of secondary data, which also defeats the capacity to identify the best supplier and drive poor performers out of the market. Producing meaningful benchmarks for each LCA indicator is unpractical. Results of ongoing research focused on developing simplified LCA-based metrics, focused on construction grand environmental challenges will be presented. The indicators are cheap and easy to measure, making possible to build benchmark using primary data. They are simple to understand and interpret and suited to be applied at multiple scales of built environment. Examples will be given on wood and cement-based materials, including industry-wide benchmarks and new resource use efficiency metrics.
Cement-based materials are the most largely used artificial materials -“ some 30 billion metric ton each year - making the bulk of the stock of built environment. Currently it uses 1/3 of the flow of materials and emits 8% of anthropogenic CO2, shares that are growing. Cement industry is considering carbon capture and storage technology, an environmentally risky and costly technology. Example of a new low-cost technology that combines packing for minimum water demand, dispersion and replacing binders, by large fractions of fillers will be given. It allows reducing +60% of the total binder +50% the CO2 footprint and 40% of water consumption, in comparison with our global benchmark. The technology has been tested at industrial conditions. The technology is scalable, and a UN Environment estimates a mitigation potential of 900 MtCO2 /year by 2050.
Finally, considering the urgency of technological change, it is crucial to partner with industry to accelerate innovation and increase success rates. The development of the Sustainable Construction Innovation Center (CICS USP), an innovation hub entirely funded by private money will be present. It includes the construction of the CICS living lab, a building designed to demonstrate new construction technologies in actual use conditions accelerated innovation and to foster the investigation of user well being and user-building interactions.


Host: Dr. Lucio Soibelman

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Salina Palacios