7 ms·

How much concrete did the US use from 2011-2013?

• benihana 12y ago
  cement and concrete are different materials
  • chm 12y ago
    But you need cement to make concrete.
    • DanBC 12y ago
      Yes, but if you're comparing usage across countries you probably want to compare the same thing; either concrete or cement.
      • chm 12y ago
        Indeed but if you want a pretty good estimate you can just whatever mixing factor is most common in China or the US and convert :)
  • LeonRobrotsky 12y ago
    For anyone else that's curious, cement is mixed with water and some sort of aggregate to make concrete.
    • spikels 12y ago
      Don't forget the sand, which is technically an aggregate[1]. Using the wrong sand is a classic mistake being rediscovered in China: http://www.wired.com/2013/03/poor-quality-chinese-concrete-could-lead-to-skyscraper-collapses/ http://www.wired.com/2013/03/poor-quality-chinese-concrete-c... [1]-The concrete recipes I remember always had sand and rocks, gravel and/or pebbles (depending on local availability)
      • jacquesm 12y ago
        Yes, you want coarsely crushed ('sharp') sand, not sand that has better decorative qualities.
  • maxerickson 12y ago
    If you want to be real careful you should say Portland cement. (because, for instance, the bitumen in asphalt roads is also a cement)
• peeters 12y ago
  According to [1], it (cement) has been around ~70 megatonnes in each of those years, while the same site agrees with the article and puts China at around ~2 gigatonnes for each of those years. Usage in the U.S. took a nosedive in 2008, I assume because of the recession. Pre-2008 shows a local maximum in 2005 of 128 megatonnes; so still an order of magnitude less. [1] http://www.statista.com/statistics/273367/consumption-of-cement-in-the-us/ http://www.statista.com/statistics/273367/consumption-of-cem...