Looking for alternatives everywhere

Did you notice how differently we have been using the term “alternative” recently? About a year ago, many decisions were still “without alternative”, but today changes to eternal and undeniable laws are carried out so quickly that the formation of a protest line simply takes too long to thwart this change. Here, too, the corona crisis acts like a catalyst that makes even the greatest upheavals possible and sometimes even forces them at once. Alternatives, which had been considered theoretical now suddenly become pragmatic solutions in no time at all. Alternatives have become debatable.

Completely independent of the current Corona crisis, but now happening at the same time by coincidence, the increasingly stringent discussion about the lessening of climate change and the necessary reduction of CO₂ emissions is driving the cement industry to ever more alternatives. While cement has mainly been made from limestone for almost 2000 years, refined by the ancient Romans by adding pozzolana, many cement producers today develop technologies to reduce the cement industry’s carbon footprint by a groundbreaking alternative: replacing the main component in the cement formulation – limestone – with clay. The first projects for the installation of so-called clay calciners have already been initiated and technical development is in full swing.

I look at these developments with pleasure because they lead to a more diverse world. It is more strenuous and often associated with more risk, but isn’t creating new solutions and developing into a more colourful, diverse world a fulfilling endeavour? With all the worries that weigh on us at the moment – maybe we can sometimes look positively to the future.

I wish you a lot of fulfilment in exploring your alternatives!

Yours sincerely,