STONE:
The world produces about 2.1 billion metric tons of cement every year and is the second most widely used substance on the planet after water. The amount of cement produced yearly weighs more than 5 times the cumulative weight of the entire living human population on the planet.

Cement starts out as limestone and clay which is pulverized and heated (usually via coal combustion) in kilns to 1,500 degrees Celsius. This process alone is responsible for 5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. It is estimated that total global carbon dioxide emissions are approaching 27 billion metric tons per year. Therefore, cement production is responsible for approximately 1.35 billion metric tons yearly. Moreover, that means that each metric ton of cement produced emits approximately 640 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

China's consumption of concrete accounts for nearly 45% of the world's total consumption. Roughly 14% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions come from China. And due to China's use of cheap, outdated kilns, the country's cement plants are responsible for up to 8% of its total carbon dioxide output. In addition, cement production facilities in China are responsible for over 40% of the country's total industrial particulate emissions.

Recycling concrete from demolition sites by pulverizing it and adding it to new cement can save transportation costs for removal by as much as 25 cents per ton per mile and landfill disposal costs as high as $100 per ton.

STEEL:
There was 1.3 billion metric tons of crude steel produced in 2007. That is more than 3 times the cumulative weight of the entire living human population on the planet. World steel production results in about 5% (1.35 billion metric tons) of the world's yearly carbon dioxide emissions. That means that each ton of steel produced is responsible for over 1 ton of carbon dioxide.

China is responsible for about 34% of the world's crude steel production and 47% of pig iron (raw iron) production.

About 75% of production energy is saved by recycling steel rather than refining from iron ore. Moreover, recycling one metric ton of steel saves about 1,100 kilograms of iron ore, 630 kilograms of coal, and 55 kilograms of limestone. Steel has long been the most recycled material on the planet, and in fact, nearly 95% of structural steel is of recycled origin.

WOOD:
Rainforest depletion accounts for 20 percent of the world's total carbon dioxide emissions. This is because 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide would have been photosynthesized into oxygen if those forests still existed.



Sources:

China to Dominate Cement Use in 2007. Concrete Monthly. January, 2007.
http://www.concretemonthly.com/monthly/art.php?2596.

Cho, Jung Myung and Suzanne Giannini-Spohn. A China Environmental Health Research Brief: Environmental and Health Threats from Cement Production in China. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. August 30, 2007.
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.print&news_id=274782&stoplayout=true.

Choi, Charles Q. Concrete Proposal to Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Live Science. January 29, 2007.
http://www.livescience.com/environment/070129_clean_concrete.html.

Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate: Steel Task Force Summary of Action Plan and Projects. U.S. Department of State. October 31, 2006.
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/fs/2006/75371.htm.

International Energy Outlook 2007. Energy Information Administration. May, 2008.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/emissions.html.

Recycling Concrete. Concrete Network. March, 2007.
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/demolition/recycling_concrete.htm.

World Steel Review. ISSB. February, 2008.
http://www.steelonthenet.com/ISSB/Review-02-08.pdf.

Iron and Steel. U.S. Geological Survey. January, 2007.
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_&_steel/festemcs07.pdf.

China Accounts For 33.79% of World's Crude Steel Output and 46.6% of Pig Iron Output. Economic Information and Agency. March 19, 2007.
http://www.tdctrade.com/report/indprof/indprof_070304.htm.

Steel. Wikipedia. March, 2007.
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel.

Price, Lynn, Dian Phylipsen, and Ernst Worrell. Energy Use and Carbon Dioxide in the Steel Sector in Key Developing Countries. Energy Analysis Department. April, 2001.
http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/783473-fcGKaj/webviewable/783473.PDF.

So Hard to See the Wood for the Trees. The Economist. December 22, 2007. Pp. 98.

Concrete Proposals Needed. The Economist. December 22, 2007. Pp. 100.

The Year 2006 approaches its end, and there are now 300 million people in the United States of America. Meanwhile, the population of the People's Republic of China continues to climb above 1.3 billion. That is 4.3 times the population of the USA.

The USA presently consumes an average of 20.7 million barrels of petroleum per day. China consumes an average of 6.4 million barrels of petroleum per day. Therefore, the USA consumes 3.2 times as much petroleum as China.

One barrel of crude petroleum is 42 gallons. That means that the average Chinese consumes 1/5th of a gallon of petroleum per day; and the average US American consumes close to 3 gallons per day. That is 15 times as much as the average Chinese.

Refined petroleum breaks down to 51.4% finished motor gasoline, 15.3% distillate fuel oil, 12.6% jet fuel and the rest as still gas, marketable coke, residual fuel oil, liquefied refinery gas, asphalt and road oil, lubricants and other refined products. In the process of refining, one 42-gallon barrel of crude petroleum actually grows to 48.4 gallons of refined petroleum products. So the average US American actually consumes 3.3 gallons of refined petroleum products daily.

If China consumed as much crude petroleum per capita as the USA, they would consume over 89 million barrels per day. Globally, proven petroleum reserves total approximately 1.3 trillion barrels. So if China consumed as much per capita as the USA, then the USA and China combined would consume over 40 billion barrels annually, depleting the world's proven petroleum reserves within 32 years. Accounting for the rest of the countries on the world, proven petroleum reserves would be gone within 20 years.

China presently averages 133 people per automobile. The USA averages about 1.6 people per automobile. That means that China only has approximately 10 million automobiles on the road compared to 187 million automobiles on US American roads. China is expected to account for 18% of the world's future growth in car sales over the next 10 years, and Chinese car makers are among the fastest growing companies in the world.

* * * * *

The USA consumes close to 3.8 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. About 24% of that total electricity is created in coal-fired power plants. China consumes close to 1.8 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Roughly 75% of that electricity is created in coal-fired power plants. Over 95% of China's coal-fired power plants do not meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol; but China is exempt from this as it is considered a developing country.

China's energy demand is expected to grow to 3 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year by 2020. China presently consumes about 28% of the world's coal. Even at such consumption rates, the world's proven coal reserves are estimated to last at least another 155 years. And with over 26% of the world's coal reserves, the USA has the potential to become the next Saudi Arabia.

Of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, 16 are in China. The USA presently emits close to 6 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the combustion of fossil fuels. China presently emits close to 4 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from the combustion of fossil fuels. By 2025, China is expected to emit more carbon dioxide (likely responsible for global warming) and sulfur dioxide (responsible for acid rain) than the USA, Japan, and Canada combined.

In 2005, China's industry for export was valued at $762 billion. China's industry for domestic consumption was valued at $640 billion. That means that in 2005, roughly 55% of industry in China was for foreign consumption.

65% of all primary energy consumption in China is for the industrial sector. So if 55% of the industrial sector is to satisfy foreign consumer demands, then 36% of all energy consumption in China is in the name of foreign countries – mostly developed countries who on their home soil would be obligated to follow the Kyoto Protocol (other than the USA who refused to sign the treaty.)


Sources:

China Population, China Population Information and Research Center. October, 2006.
http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm

World Petroleum Consumption 1960-2004, Energy Information Administration, Official Energy Statistics from the US Government. October, 2006.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb1110.html

Energy Summary of China, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. October, 2006.
http://www.cslforum.org/china.htm

Energy Summary of USA, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. October, 2006.
http://www.cslforum.org/usa.htm

The World Factbook, China, Central Intelligence Agency. October, 2006.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html