Cement Industry Open Week

Brussels 23/09/09 – CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association, together with its National Associations and member companies, is pleased to announce the launch of its Cement Industry Open Week. From 23 September until 4 October, events are being held across Europe in order to highlight the invaluable role played by concrete in relation to sustainable construction.

“When you build a house, an office block, a warehouse, an airport, a railway, a bridge, a road or any other structure, you know it will have a service life of many decades”, states Dr Jean-Marie Chandelle, CEMBUREAU Chief Executive. “The creation of the structure and the making of the construction materials it requires will, of course, generate emissions, in particular CO2 emissions. That is the case when steel and/or concrete are being used. But it is an established fact that these CO2 emissions do represent a much lower contribution to climate change than the emissions related to energy used and the energy saved by the structure over its service life.”

In the EU, CO2 emissions from buildings represent 40% of total CO2 emissions. This has been recognised by the adoption, on 16 December 2002 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPDB) (2002/91/EC), which is currently being recast (second reading). Results published by the European Concrete Platform highlight that the potential saving in heating is of 2-15%; it is higher for cooling, up to 50%, if combined with ventilation. 

Another major emitter of CO2 in Europe and in the world is traffic. In the EU, CO2 emissions from transport amount to 28% of total CO2 emissions and, while those of industry are decreasing, these are on the increase.  In France the Normandy bridge across the Seine estuary, a gateway between Northern and Southern France as well as to the West coast, a project completed in 1987, allows a reduction of travel time of 20 minutes for cars, 25 minutes for lorries, leading to an average gain of time of 300 000 hrs and a saving of about 3500 tonnes of oil equivalent each year, with the corresponding reduction of CO2 emissions. Even if traffic growth is disregarded, the total CO2 saving over a service life of 50 years is mind boggling.    

CONTACT

Jessica JOHNSON, Head of Communications
Tel.: + 32 2 234 10 11 
Fax: + 32 2 230 47 20
aj.johnson@cembureau.eu