Webinars Concrete Agreement are a success

Hundreds of specialists from the concrete industry in the Netherlands have been updated on making the sector even more sustainable over the past few months in a series of eleven webinars organized by trade association Betonhuis. This can be done, for example, through alternative binders, new reinforcement materials, reuse of used concrete and deployment of green electric equipment. Thanks in part to the interest and positive reactions, there will be a sequel.

Betonhuis started the series of online broadcasts at the request of the organization's members, stemming from the Concrete Agreement. "We are active in different ways to share knowledge about sustainability," said Edwin Vermeulen of Betonhuis, who presented the webinars. "Those broadcasts do contribute to the goal of further sustainability."

Substantial impact

"Concrete has a low CO₂-profile and a very long lifespan, but we make an awful lot of it," Vermeulen outlined the situation in the first webinar. "So it still has a substantial impact on the environment. It's high time to get started on the Concrete Agreement." In that first episode, Chairman Jacqueline Cramer of the Concrete Accord and Ronel Dielissen, Managing Director Mebin and member of the Concrete Accord Steering Committee, were guests. Each time, two or three guests slid into the Betonhuis studio in Woerden. Reactions to the broadcasts were positive. We also received many substantive questions during the broadcasts. The best thing, of course, is if companies take it up, but that is difficult to measure."

Simple

Not all solutions to reduce CO₂ reduction are complicated, the webinars show. For example, energy for concrete production can be extracted from surface water relatively easily. That presents opportunities because many concrete companies are located along a canal or river. In one of the broadcasts, Sonja Fennis of the Department of Public Works came up with a savings method "that you can literally start doing tomorrow. Her tip: ,,Take a bucket, fill it with your material and see what specific gravity you have dumped loose. And voila: there's already one of the parameters to enter into a grain packing model. That then calculates the optimal ratio." That easily saves five percent cement. Although presenter Vermeulen prepared thoroughly for each broadcast, he too was sometimes surprised by the presentations. ,,For example during the webinars on transport and making the production process more sustainable. We are further ahead than I had thought. The potential is also much greater. That was an eye-opener for me."

Looking back and follow-up

The webinar series can be watched back through Betonhuis' YouTube channel:

A new series will start in early 2022. You can already sign up for this series at sign up.concretehouse.co.uk/webinars