Summary Draft #1: The Self-healing Concrete That Can Fix Its Own Cracks

In the article “The Self-healing Concrete That Can Fix Its Own Cracks”, Spinks (2015) discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the Self-Healing Concrete. She noted that innovation of the highly favourable material can bring about change for risk-taker investors. She mentioned that concrete is abundantly produced in construction. Hence, the success of green innovation requires innovators to convince consumers of the economic and environmental benefits of their products. This calls for innovative consumers to experiment the innovation before perceiving the gains from it. The self-healing concrete innovation by Hendrik Jonkers is able to mend cracks up to 0.8mm wide but cost €30 higher comparing to standard concrete. Jonkers observed that while the adoption of self-healing concrete is challenging, he believe that vulnerable environments like Ecuador can benefit from it. Despite the high cost of building the canal and irrigation using self-healing concrete, they were able to avoid maintenance costs.