Green concrete: Prospects and challenges

Utilization of green concrete in construction is increasingly adopted by the construction industry owing to the drawbacks of conventional concrete and the numerous inherent benefits of green concrete. The increasing demand for green concrete has been spurred by demand for high quality concrete products, desire of nations to reduce green-house gas emission, need for conservation of natural resources and limited landfill spaces. Green concrete comes in various forms such as high-volume fly ash concrete, ultra-high performance concrete, geopolymer concrete, lightweight concrete to mention a few. Green concrete offers numerous environmental, technical benefits and economic benefits such as high strength, increased durability, improved workability and pumpability, reduced permeability, controlled bleeding, superior resistance to acid attack, and reduction of plastic shrinkage cracking. These characteristics promote faster concrete production, reduction of curing waiting time, reduction of construction costs, early project completion, reduction of maintenance costs and increased service life of construction projects. Green concrete promotes sustainable and innovative use of waste materials and unconventional alternative materials in concrete. Suitable standards, more demonstration projects, as well as adequate training, public awareness, cross-disciplinary collaborations and further research and developments are required to promote global adoption of green concrete in large-scale infrastructure projects.