Eddy's Good News: A low-carbon technique for recycling cement and the art of doing nothing

Virgin Radio

3 Jun 2024, 13:55

Every day during his show on Virgin Radio Anthems, Eddy Temple-Morris brings you Good News stories from around the world, to help inject a bit of positivity into your day!

Be sure to listen each day between 2pm and 6pm (Monday - Friday) to hear Eddy's Good News stories (amongst the finest music of course), but if you miss any of them you miss any of them you can catch up on the transcripts of Eddy's most recent stories below:

Monday 3rd June 2024

Cement is one of the world’s biggest sources of emissions, climate change villains, if you will, but maybe not for much longer. This week, scientists unveiled a low-carbon technique for recycling cement. 

The process, developed by brilliant minds  at Cambridge University, uses excess heat from another industry – steel recycling – to reactivate old cement, sidestepping tonnes of CO2 emissions.

A study published recently suggests the process does not add significant costs to concrete or steel production. Moreover if the furnaces used to melt the steel are powered by renewables, the whole process could be emissions-free. 

Cement is the second most consumed material on the planet after water. Producing it accounts for around 7.5% of global carbon emissions. To put that into perspective, air travel is 2.5%. 

A professor of Cambridge’s department of engineering described the discovery as “a breakthrough for the construction industry” and said that it shows “opportunities for innovation on our journey to zero emissions extend far beyond the energy sector”.

Via: nature.com

South Koreans are being encouraged to embrace the art of doing nothing. 

Chilling, lounging, slothing, wherever you call it, workaholics need to do more of it. That’s even more true for the people of South Korea, who, like Japan, have a brutal work culture, which has a knock on effect on people’s physical and mental health.  As a direct response a female Korean artist has now organised an annual competition called ‘spaced out’, which returned last Sunday to celebrate the lost art of doing nothing. 

Participants gathered in a park in Seoul to chill out, relax and they were hooked up with pulse monitors to see who could record the lowest heart rate. 

The annual jamboree was organised by visual artist Woopsyang in response to South Korea’s punishing work culture. This year’s competition was won by Valentina Vilches, who is from Chile but who now lives in Seoul so you could argue this only goes to show that South Americans are more chilled than Koreans!

Via: positive.news