Lead
The "sand crisis", a topic that was once rarely noticed, has recently re-entered the field of vision, with a global surge in the use of sand and a global sand shortage, which some people call the "sand crisis", so what is the "sand crisis"?
Why is there a shortage of sand on the mainland?
What happens when 18 billion tons of sand run out a year?
1. Why is there a "sand crisis".
The sand crisis has also been exacerbated in recent years, with sand consumption increasing at a rate of 1.1% per year since 2010, from 45 billion tonnes in 2010 to 60 billion tonnes in 2017, and to 80 billion tonnes in 2018.
At present, the annual consumption of sand in the world is about 18 billion tons, such a large amount of use, so that the sand reserves are decreasing, and the shortage of sand is becoming more and more serious, but for sand, people rarely pay attention to it in their daily life, so few people pay attention to the shortage of sand, but the shortage of sand is really worthy of people's attention, because the shortage of sand will not only have an impact on our lives, but also have an impact on the global environment.
In 2007, the United Nations conducted a ranking of countries around the world in the use of sand, and the continent undoubtedly ranked first in this ranking, but the continent has such a huge amount of sand reserves, why is there a shortage of sand?
This is because the sand of the mainland cannot meet the demand for sand in the construction industry, and river sand is a very important kind of sand because of its good quality and the utilization rate of sand is also very high, so after the river sand is eliminated, the sand reserves of the mainland will be in short supply.
However, at present, the use of river sand has accounted for about 70% of the total use of sand on the mainland, that is, the annual consumption of sand in the mainland is about 50 billion tons, and the demand for sand in the mainland will continue to increase, which further aggravates the shortage of sand, so why is the use of river sand so large?
Why do we have so little sand reserves?
First of all, the quality of the river sand is very good.
Generally speaking, the construction industry has very high requirements for the quality of sand, if the quality of sand is not up to standard, then it will lead to many safety hazards in the construction process, so river sand has become the most popular sand in the construction industry, which has led to the increasing consumption of river sand.
In addition, the utilization rate of river sand is also very high, according to statistics, if there are some problems in the construction process of the construction site, it will even lead to half of the sand is not used, but even so, the mainland still consumes 50 billion tons of river sand every year, which is also because we have no better alternatives, so river sand has become an indispensable part of the construction industry.
At present, we have not been able to find a kind of sand that can replace river sand, sea sand as a kind of sand, it seems that it can replace river sand, but in fact it is not possible, because sea sand contains destructive substances, which will have a certain amount of damage to concrete, so sea sand cannot be replaced by river sand.
The sand in the desert, although there are no destructive substances in the sea sand, but the particles of the sand in the desert are very small, and there are many impurities, such sand does not meet the standards of building use, so the sand in the desert can not be replaced by river sand, in addition, the desert of the continent is also constantly expanding, so the sand in the desert can not be used as a sand reserve.
Because the river sand can not be replaced, so the consumption of river sand is getting bigger and bigger, but the river sand of the mainland has a service life, once the river sand is consumed, then the sand reserves of the mainland will become very scarce, at present, the river sand of the mainland can still be used for about 50 years, but once the river sand is consumed, then the sand shortage of the mainland will become more and more serious.
2. What are the effects of sand shortage?
The "sand crisis" will not only have an impact on the mainland's construction industry, but also on the mainland's chip manufacturing, glass manufacturing and other industries, which will also exacerbate the problem of global resource shortage on the mainland, so our sand shortage problem needs to be paid more attention.
The construction industry has a very large demand for sand, and many houses consume a lot of sand during the construction process, and sand is also an indispensable part of the construction industry, so once there is a shortage of sand, then the construction industry will face the danger of collapse.
Sand is also used in the production process of silicon wafers, but at present, the production of silicon wafers in the mainland has exceeded 75% of the world's total, so once there is a shortage of sand, the production of silicon wafers will be affected, which will affect the chip industry in the mainland.
The raw material of glass is also sand, but the glass industry on the mainland also accounts for 50% of the world's production, so if there is a shortage of sand, then the production of glass will also be affected, which will affect the glass manufacturing industry.
3. How to alleviate the "sand crisis".
Since the current river sand in the mainland can no longer meet the needs of the construction industry, people have begun to look for some new alternatives to replace the river sand to alleviate the current "sand crisis".
Artificial sand making is to use some stones, slag, etc. to crush, and then screen and clean, and finally can be made into a sand substitute suitable for the construction industry, but at present, the cost of artificial sand making is still very high, and people have not mastered better technology to make sand, so it is difficult to completely replace river sand.
In recent years, a method of converting plastic waste into sand has also begun to emerge, this method can not only solve the problem of garbage disposal, but also convert plastic waste into a sand alternative, and this method can also promote the recycling of resources in the mainland.
epilogue
The emergence of sand shortage has made people realize that we need to be more economical and environmentally friendly in the use of resources, and at the same time, we need to strengthen the research and utilization of renewable resources and promote a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
The global sand shortage has also made people aware of the current situation of resource scarcity on a global scale, so the international community needs to work together to find solutions to promote the sustainable development of global resources.
The "sand crisis" is not without its significance, which means that humanity will face an unprecedented catastrophe, which is ubiquitous and cannot be ignored.