‘Green’ concrete in Denmark

Cement and concrete may have an important role to play in enabling Denmark to fulfil its obligation, agreed at the Kyoto conference, to reduce the total CO2 emission by 21% compared with the 1990 level before 2012. This is because approximately 2% of Denmark's total CO2 emission stems from cement and concrete production. There is considerable knowledge about how to produce concrete with a reduced environmental impact. However, it is not known to a sufficient degree – neither in Denmark nor internationally – on what scale, and with what technology, this ‘green’ concrete can be applied in practice in buildings and structures. For instance, there is not enough information about how the properties of green concrete, such as compressive strength, durability, fire performance, casting and execution, hardening and curing, are affected by the measures to reduce the environmental impact of concrete. This paper gives an overview of the present state of affairs in Denmark of concrete types that have reduced environm...