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You couldn't push a truck down the Autobahn...
But... ... You could push a boat down the river. It takes roughly the same amount of fuel to carry a tonne of stone by boat from
India to the Germany as it takes from the north of Germany to south of Germany
by truck.
The Sustainability of Natural Stone
Unlike trees, stone does not grow at a visible speed. It is possible to say that
for every tree used, one plants another to grow to replace it, but one cannot do
quite the same with stone (though volcanic activity is creating new resources
quite naturally). So, one has to address the actual meaning and purpose behind
the word "sustainability".
In the world, there is a vast and unimaginably huge resource of stone. The earth
is made of it and the depth of usable material is immense. There are different
types of stone of course and some are used as aggregate for making concrete and
asphalte roads and almost everything we use for construction has to come out of
the ground. Most of the exceptions are recycled materials, and stone that has
been used for paving can often be recycled and re- used for the same purpose,
without even being re-processed in any mechanical way. Today's natural stone
street paving will be being adapted and re-used in gardens in a century's time
just as Victorian stone paving is being re- used now.
Paving exists in a tough environment, much tougher than that for the sides of
buildings. Whatever hard materials are used to surface the ground, the earth's
resources will be used to a degree, but by using materials that last and can be
re-used again, the amount of the earth's resources that is used is minimised.
And not only is the amount of surface material minimised, but all the associated
materials used when repaving is undertaken are minimised as well.
All materials should be selected using whole- life values and accounting rather
than lowest cost. Quality materials help make quality spaces which create
quality environments. |
