What Happens to All That Concrete?
Cement production is an incredibly important industry in the United States. About 14,000 people are employed around the nation making cement. They work at 96 different plants that create the most important ingredient for what becomes concrete. Add to the cement industry all the people involved in making concrete with that cement and you have an average of 275,000 jobs across the country. What are all those people manufacturing?
The Biggest Demand for Cement — Ready-Mix Concrete
By far, most cement is used to make wet concrete for use in the building industry. If you have ever laid down a patio, walkway, foundation or driveway, you used ready-mix. Delivered wet from concrete plants by means of familiar “cement trucks,” or mixed on-site by trucks that carry cement and aggregate in separate containers (just add water), this form of concrete production averages 75% of the national demand.
As mentioned in previous articles, many researchers hope that the large amounts of carbon released into the air during cement production can in part be recaptured using ready-mix concrete. Some believe that this can be done using sequestration methods, where carbon is added to the mix as part of ingredients that cure the concrete or add to its strength. The carbon then gets “locked in” the concrete, where it’s stored for the lifetime of the building or product. Some scientists believe that eventually we could end up storing more carbon in concrete products than is actually made when we produce the cement.
Next in Line — Products Made With Concrete
About 10% of cement made in the United States is used to make concrete products. Cinder blocks, concrete highway dividers, pavers, park benches, and more — if it’s made of concrete, it uses cement. These items are commonplace throughout our nation, but are still a distant second next to ready-mix production.
A Potpourri of Cement
The remaining 15% of cement use is applied to a variety of uses — too many to list here. Suffice to say that cement is used in many industries and for a large number of different products. No matter what the cement product, however, it can be coated with epoxies specifically made for use with concrete.
California Custom Coatings specializes in coating all types of concrete applications. Besides epoxy coatings, we also do concrete polishing, concrete color staining, and concrete renovation. When you want your concrete project to look its best, contact Sacramento’s California Custom Coatings! We service Sacramento County and beyond.