A Toowoomba-based company’s carbon emissions-free concrete could be the latest weapon in the fight against carbon emissions.
Wagners CFT’s Queensland-made “green concrete” has already been used in Brisbane and Toowoomba footpaths and has been recognised by the state government’s Climate Smart program.
In the company’s home city, the “earth-friendly concrete” has been trialed in some building slabs and it is estimated the concrete could save 9.2 tonnes of carbon emissions in every 300 square meter slab.
If it was used in every house slab that went down in Queensland, it could save about 270,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
Wagners general manager Michael Kemp said the carbon-free concrete used two very common waste products with very little carbon; fly ash and slag from blast furnaces.
On Friday, his product development crew took out the biggest environmental award at the Premier’s Climatesmart Sustainability Awards.
The more commonly used Portland cement is limestone and the carbon has to be “driven-off”’ the fine, grey cement so it can be mixed with the concrete.
“That process of making the cement creates the massive carbon dioxide emissions associated with concrete,” Mr Kemp said.
“In a typical house in Queensland for example, using our concrete at market as opposed to traditional concrete, in one housing slab you will save 9500 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
“There are something like 30,000 homes built a year in southeast Queensland, so when you do the maths, the potential savings for carbon dioxide is massive.”
Wagners is first developing pre-cast green concrete because the product can be controlled.
But Mr Kemp said his company’s eyes were on Queensland’s housing market.
“We are moving towards setting this material up to be able to put into the back of an agitator truck like any other concrete, delivered to a housing site and put into a housing slab,” he said.
While the workability of the concrete is slightly different to standard concrete - it is slightly “stickier” - it meets all design requirements for Australian concrete and contains no cement.
