the problems of using concrete in china

http://chinahousing.mit.edu/english/approach/systems/index.html

Building materials in China are various ranging from very raw material clay bricks to high embodied energy material aluminum. However, the building technique is still primitive comparing to the developed countries. Each year, large amount of energy was consumed by manufacturing building construction materials. According to Chinese Statistical Yearbook 2005 the total of 2.22 billion tons of coal equality energy was consumed. Large part of total energy was consumed in construction materials. The current selection and use of building materials are not energy efficiency.

Concrete is the commonest construction materials been used in China in the recent decade. Concrete are widely employed in footing systems and support structure, even in the roof systems. The main energy consumption of concrete products is manufacturing of cement and steel. China has become the biggest producer and consumer of cement and steel in the world. In 2006, China had a cement output of over 1.2 billion tons and steel 0.4 billion tons. Half of the steel are used in concrete product. (www.researchinchina.com/report/Material/1004.html). The manufacture of concrete can consume massive energy, but also the manufacture processes caused serious pollution to the environment. On the other hand, it is difficult to recycle. During to the limitation of build techniques, the effective use of concrete has not been well considered.