Cemex 2013 Annual Report Download - page 18

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Meeting the urbanization challenge
Minimizing ecological impact
More than half of the globe’s population lives in cities,
and it is predicted that the number of people living in
metropolitan areas will nearly double to more than six
billion over the next 40 years. Indeed, the United Nations
estimates that approximately 180,000 people are added
to the urban population every day, meaning the world’s
urban infrastructure must absorb the equivalent of the
population of two Tokyos each year. To meet the chal-
lenge of urbanization requires the construction of infra-
structure, including buildings, roads, bridges, water, and
power. It also necessitates the increasing control of global
energy consumption and the minimization of greenhouse
gas emissions—notably carbon dioxide (CO2)—that are
projected to grow dramatically over the next two de-
cades as the result of increasing urbanization.
At CEMEX, we are focused on delivering solutions to the
increasingly complex and inter-connected demands of so-
ciety in a manner that improves the quality of life for all of
our communities and diminishes the environmental impact
of urban construction and infrastructure development.
To help reduce the environmental impact of our op-
erations in the communities we serve, we continue to
expand our conversion of society’s waste into more
economical, eco-friendly alternative fuels for our cement
plants. Through our growing use of such alternative fuels
as processed municipal and commercial waste, used tires,
and biomass in our manufacturing processes, we lower
our consumption of carbon-based fossil fuels, reduce
our energy costs, and conserve valuable landfill space. In
2013, our utilization of alternative fuels grew to 28% of
our total fuel mix, from 27% in 2012.
We are also committed to securing alternative renewable
sources of energy by either developing projects or con-
tracting with external providers. Currently, approximate-
ly 25% of the total energy consumed by our Mexican
cement operations comes from EURUS, a 250-megawatt
wind farm located in Oaxaca, Mexico, developed jointly by
CEMEX and ACCIONA Energía. Additionally, in 2013, two
wind projects commenced operations at our Victorville,
California, plant. These projects include four wind turbines
with a total capacity of 6.2 megawatts. The electricity
generated by the turbines—which powers the plant—is
equivalent to the energy necessary to power approxi-
mately 550 American homes and prevents 4,300 tons of
CO2 emissions each year. We also started the construc-
tion of a new solar project in the Dominican Republic in
2013. This 1.5-megawatt solar energy project is the first
of its kind for CEMEX.
In 2013, we completed in-
frastructure projects repre-
senting more than 7.4 million
square meters of concrete
pavement for more dura-
ble, lower maintenance, and
energy-efficient highways,
mass transit projects, airport
runways, and city streets.
Alternative fuels
utilization (percentage
of total fuels)
27 28
25
20
16
09 10 11 12 13
delivering a better quality of life for our
communities
[17]