Chronic. Since ancient times, civilizations have been built on a simple raw material, some clay, straw, solid blocks of stone. Ours is built on sand. All the raw materials consumed by man, it is far and away the most used, with his cousins gravel and pebbles of any kind, which are, in particular, in the production of concrete. The world consumes almost ten times more than oil or gas.

in The Twentieth century, we consumed 34 times more construction materials than during all the preceding centuries. And according to the latest report of the OECD (Organization for economic cooperation and development), published on Tuesday, October 23, this dependence would be even greater in the decades to come.

Demography, urbanization and growth

The consumption of materials, especially of sand and stones, is expected to double by 2060, with the consequences that we imagine on the natural environment, on pollution and the climate (they represent 10 % of the emissions of greenhouse gases).

The first reason is the increase of the population, which is expected to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion individuals. The second, the urbanization, which is expected by 2060 relate to the two-thirds of the inhabitants of the planet. Without forgetting, of course, the economic growth that the effect is multiplicative, but enough of a paradox : beyond a certain point, the more it increases, the more his appetite will decrease.

In the most developed countries, the growth of the economy is less consumer of raw materials. This is the case in Europe or in the United States and it becomes in China. The ex-empire of the Middle, in which are active nearly half of the cranes in the world, is expected by 2025 to have stabilized its consumption of construction materials around 24 gigatonnes, without an increase later, even a quarter of the world total. This is the reason…