Watershed Materials Hopes to Make Cement- Free Concrete Blocks a

Reality
Concrete blocks. Ever since manufacturers developed techniques to make
them cheaper than traditional clay- fired bricks, concrete blocks have been
one of our most ubiquitous construction materials. However, this ubiquity
comes at a price: worldwide, the production of concrete accounts for
around 5% of all man- made carbon dioxide emissions, and concrete
blocks (as opposed to in- situ concrete or concrete panels) contributes a
significant portion of these emissions.
To curb these runaway carbon emissions, a California- based company
called Watershed Materials is developing alternatives to the traditional
concrete block which uses less cement, dramatically reducing the amount of
carbon dioxide produced: they even have a product in the works which they
hope will offer a widely applicable concrete block alternative which uses no
cement at all.