Models play a vital role in science and technology and in the evolution of modern societies. They are used for describing processes and mechanisms, experimental observations, analyses and predictions. In spite of the fact that models are a reduction of reality, the achievements of modern societies are impressive and would have been inconceivable without the role of models. These achievements can be qualified with one term: growth. The impressive growth in past decades, however, now appears to be unsustainable. In this contribution the above-mentioned dilemma is dealt with. First the evolution and use of models is discussed from a more general sustainability perspective. In the second part of the paper the application of models for sustainable solutions in the field of cementitious materials is emphasized.

中文翻译：

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模型如何改变建筑行业的可持续未来

模型在科学技术和现代社会的发展中发挥着至关重要的作用。它们用于描述过程和机制、实验观察、分析和预测。尽管模型是对现实的还原，但现代社会的成就令人印象深刻，如果没有模型的作用，这是不可想象的。这些成就可以用一个词来形容：成长。然而，过去几十年令人印象深刻的增长现在看来是不可持续的。在这个贡献中，解决了上述困境。首先从更一般的可持续性角度讨论模型的演变和使用。论文的第二部分强调了模型在胶凝材料领域可持续解决方案的应用。