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China's Cement Boom Spells Bad News for Climate
by Stacy Feldman - Jun 18th, 2008
The Oil Drum has posted stunning graphs on global cement production from the US Geological Survey's (USGS) latest cement data. Two of them are after the jump.
Take note of China.
In 2007, it produced 50 percent of all the cement used in the world, up from 42.5 percent in 2006.
Of the 1.3 billion tons that China manufactured last year, it used over 97 percent for the nation's own building boom, and exported the rest, around 33 million tons. The Olympics account for some of that growth. But not all.
As Next Big Future reminds us:
China is adding a one to one and half Los Angeles worth of city every year.
Troubling news from a dirty energy perspective. The Oil Drum:
In China, oil isn't used in cement production. In the "clinker" stage, it's all coal. In the blending stage it's electricity (which is generated 80% from coal in China).
The graphs follow.
(1) Annual Production of Cement by Country in Billions of Metric Tons [source: USGS 2006 report (pdf) and the USGS 2008 report (pdf)]:
(2) Percentage Growth in Cement Consumption 2005-2008 [source: USGS 2006 report (pdf) and the USGS 2008 report (pdf)]:
Recent news on cement production and climate change:
Cement Industry Is at Center of Climate Change Debate (New York Times)
Industry Scrambles to Find a 'Greener' Concrete (Christian Science Monitor)
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