Annotated Bibliography

Markus, Frank. "Road smarts: shrinking the carbon footprint of our highways." Motor Trend 63.1 (Jan 2011): 38(1). Academic OneFile. Gale. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 9 Feb. 2011 
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=indi68545

The author usually uses the page, technologue, in the magazine to examine the technologies that are being applied to the automotive industry to reduce the carbon footprint, but this time he points out a surprising piece of information.  According to a study by MIT, the production of concrete, used to build roads, bridges and buildings, generates about as much carbon dioxide per year as that of automobile exhaust, accounting for almost 10 percent of all manmade emissions. The article continues to explain the ways that researchers and scientists are working to try and lower the amount of concrete production. One way would be looking for ultra-high density concrete alternatives that would last longer and reduce the amount of creep (expansion of concrete), as well as permit the structure to be thinner, creating more options for architects when planning roads and bridges. Another area of research that has had numerous approaches is that of self-healing concrete. The idea is, that as the concrete begins to crack, it will fix itself, by the use of bacteria spores or little capsules that crack and release compounds that will rejuvenate the concrete. This article was interesting to me and has sparked a few ideas for possible research paper topics.