Does Adding Fly Ash to Concrete Make It Greener?

Does adding fly ash to concrete make it greener? What exactly is fly ash anyway?

Fly ash is particulate matter collected from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants, and it can be used to reduce the amount of portland cement in concrete.

While that doesn’t make concrete a green building material, there are some environmental benefits to using fly ash to replace cement. First, manufacturing cement takes a lot of energy, so using fly ash instead makes producing concrete less energy-intensive. Also, fly ash is a waste product of burning coal, so using it to make concrete keeps it out of the landfill.

For more information, check out this helpful article, Using Fly Ash in Concrete from Environmental Building News.

— Megan Phelps, senior associate editor