Self-heating concrete, resource consumption, and accessibility

I’m interested in the idea of having heated pathways to support mobility in the winter. I think it could support active transport and increased community accessibility by keeping the paths clearer of snow and ice. But the sustainability of doing this has always been problematic. It generally requires energy use most often through some sort of heating coil or mat placed under the concrete. This additional electricity usage is obviously problematic if it comes from fossil fuels.

There are some savings from these heated surfaces however. If the surface is kept above freezing then it isn’t subjected to the freeze thaw cycles which break the materials down, causing cracks, which then expand further as water gets in. This results in the need for replacement much sooner than surfaces that don’t undergo freeze thaw cycles.

I found some new research though that is looking at how embedding paraffin wax into concrete might create self-warming surfaces. Deb and colleagues (2024) have been studying this in both lab and in situ (in real world conditions) and are seeing promising results. They tested two types. One had paraffin wax capsules mixed in with the aggregate. The other let the paraffin wax actually soak into the crevices of the material in the aggregate (think about water soaking into a sponge). This latter option is proving more successful but both are keeping clear with small snow falls and reducing ice buildup.

This has a lot of potential. I still have a lot of questions like whether or not it would still work if temperatures stay consistently below freezing and by significant amounts. But with climate change the weather where I live is fluctuating above freezing a lot more than it used to and this might make this material a good candidate.