Literature/202311101921 the biggest problem is making things

• Source: [[@gates2021How to avoid a climate disaster: the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need]]
• Tags: #climate-and-economics #climate-and-construction

The biggest problem with making things is cement. Cement releases CO2 when it is made: to get calcium, you burn limestone which contains also carbon and oxygen. The product is that by every ton of cement, there'll be a ton of CO2 liberated.

Coupled to the massive urban grow, these are quantities of emissions that need to be replaced.

Making steel also generates CO2 at the moment in which iron ore is heated together with coke. Part of the carbon binds to iron, but the rest binds to oxygen. The ratio is 1.8 tons of CO2 per ton of steel.

Plastics are radically different, since they are actually storing part of the carbon in them.

Sadly, there is no way of making green cement or iron available or speculated now a days. This means that the only opportunity available is that of carbon capture.