A discovery
fundamental to the building construction issue is concrete. It is an ancient
Roman creation that was a revolution to construction which when reinforced with
steel enabled towers and expressways to come into being. Did you know that
concrete stores hotness from the sun and it heats up our air significantly due
to its universal use? Did you know that it deteriorates slowly to probable
failure at some point in its life span? Unless it is coated, it will eventually
fail and need reparation or replacement due to water deterioration to the strengthening
rebar. As it is now, due to the scale and widespread nature of its use,
concrete is a major contributor to the “Urban Heat Island Effect” since
unpainted concrete acts as a thermal heat sink in all sun exposed locations and
“re-radiates” the thermally accumulated sun’s radiation into the atmosphere
after the sun goes down. The overheated air in cities and suburbs catalyzes more air pollution by chemical reactions which occur as the atmospheric
temperatures increase. Massive carbon pollution further occurs from generation
of the electricity at fuel-burning utility plants supplying the energy to run
air conditioners inside millions of such buildings into the night.
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