Canary Media Inc.’s Post

I love concrete. It's the second most consumed material on earth after water and we use it in more ways than most of us realize. It can also be an important part of ensuring our buildings and communities are resilient to the risks posed by climate change. But making concrete is usually very carbon-intensive, so it's exciting to see these businesses that are leading the way in reducing the carbon footprint of a material that is so central to the way we live and work today. #builtenvironment #concrete #constructionindustry #climateaction #resilience

Sometimes people ask us about "the competition" when it comes to decarbonizing concrete. Here's what we think: Concrete is a high-volume product. It's laid down across the world in massive quantities, with massive emissions to match – and it's only growing. It's also heavy. Really *really* heavy, which means that it's made and used locally. This means that there is room for many players – and the climate needs as many to succeed as possible, as fast as possible. Some players in low-carbon cement and concrete will take longer to get to market than others. They have to build new plants for their advanced materials. To our friends in that space, we hope that all hurdles are cleared with lightning speed. The world needs you. And we have friends in the space like us: solutions that work now or in the near term. Those of us in that camp need to scale our impact ASAP. Thank you, Canary Media Inc., for digging deep into this portfolio of solutions to the #lowcarbonconcrete challenge. Let's get it done Sublime Systems, Terra CO2 Technology, Brimstone , Prometheus Materials, and Fortera! Honored to be in such good company.

We recently shared the development of sustainable steel and are now excited to learn about startups finding #sustainable ways to manufacture #cement. There are some amazing minds out there that are finding creative #manufacturing solutions to commodities that we’ve used for hundreds (or thousands) of years. Sublime Systems uses an electrochemical process at ambient temperature to manufacture cement with no CO2 emissions. Brimstone manufactures cement without using limestone. We don’t all have to be #netzero tomorrow, but we can all take steps toward a more sustainable future. #sustainability #concrete #civilengineering #buildingmaterials #supplychain

[🔍Did you know] Cement and concrete production account for around 8 percent of global CO2 emissions? 🌎   ♻️ Our portfolio company, Fortera, is making an impact to reduce these statistics and their work was recently shared by the World Economic Forum!    💡 Learn more about how Fortera is working to reduce CO2 with their sustainable cement process ⬇️   #cement #sustainability #reduceemissions #CO2 #startups #corporateventure

👉 #Carbon #mineralisation in #building #materials has the potential to dramatically reduce #carbondioxide #emissions from the #built #environment. It's the process of incorporating #CO₂ into building materials. 👉 As an #emerging #technology, not yet implemented at #scale, work is underway by #cement companies as well as independent start-ups, like Seratech Ltd, to understand how CO₂ mineralisation can be best deployed while demonstrating the #economics. 🗣 “We’re not just storing carbon; we’re turning it into something useful that can help us build in future,” says Sam Draper, Seratech Ltd #CEO. 📖 Read the full story on Seratech Ltd's blog to understand how we're developing this new technology: https://lnkd.in/e7yEmsGe Mike Eberlin Noël Djobo, PhD Usama Mohamed

Cement production accounts for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions - making it one of the largest contributors to global emmissions - ahead of sectors like shipping and aviation. Innovating to transform cement production process will have a huge impact on climate goals. Fascinating article describing how startups #SublimeSystems #CarbonCure and #Brimstone are developing new cement production processes to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. #climatesolutions #netzero #innovation https://lnkd.in/evFM7Xxd

What if the very product that drives 7% of all the Earth's #GHG emissions also held the key to reducing human impact on the climate? The cement industry (and thus, concrete) is responsible for a huge slice of global CO2 emissions because of the way it is made today which not only requires significant heat input, but also releases embedded carbon from the raw materials. As this McKinsey & Company article discusses, industry is working on solutions intended to reduce, neutralise and even embed carbon emissions through a selection of novel approaches. Some #startups have tackled the problem from the perspective of capturing and storing emissions through #CCUS, whereas another approach is through the chemical enhancement of concrete mixes through #admixtures which reduce the need for cement. The top of the pyramid, in our opinion, is the use of Supplementary Cementitious Materials #SCM which fundamentally changes the chemistry of the process to reduce emissions and, ultimately, to embed more Carbon than is emitted. The most exciting of these business models provides the opportunity to supply concretes that use waste products and to embed, permanently, airborne CO2 through the curing process. This provides developers with a potential new income stream from Carbon offsetting credits alongside meeting development targets and reducing the human burden on the planet. What's the downside? Time... 2023 has shown us that changes in our climate can happen even quicker than feared. So here it is, an industry that can employ millions of people, create sustainable buildings and infrastructure and permanently embed CO2. Jump on board the #greenconcrete industry now as it teeters on the edge of exponential growth and watch this space to see how MacKenzie Cameron hopes to help propel the most promising startup in the sector to greatness. Who knew that #concrete could be so exciting? https://lnkd.in/eh3kwmqj

Here is a great article from Canary Media Inc. featuring one of Somernova's innovative tenants, Sublime Systems. "Sublime Systems isn’t just searching for lower-carbon ingredients. The Boston-based startup is developing an entirely different way of driving chemical reactions that turn minerals into cement — one that doesn’t involve any fossil-fuel-burning, high-temperature kilns. Sublime, which spun out of MIT in 2020, uses an electrochemical process instead of thermal heat. At the heart of its approach is an electrolyzer, which splits water to produce an acid and a base. A range of carbon-free rocks, minerals and industrial waste materials can be dissolved in the acid to extract calcium. The calcium is then reacted with the base, a step that creates calcium hydroxide, or lime." Read More! https://lnkd.in/e8i6KPMa

I am always a little confused with "aviation represents 2.5% of Global CO2 emissions" and "food production represents 30% of Global CO2 emissions" because when I add all of the 'News' together, it comes to well over 100%. That said, few would disagree that concrete is one of the major contributors, and specifically the cement used to bind concrete and the largest contributor to GHG in our built environment. According to the BBC News "if cement was a country, it would be the third biggest source of emissions after China and the US, responsible for 7.5% of human-made CO2." Therefore, it is exciting to see #UK #Innovation from University of Cambridge with claims of the first #netzero #cement about to enter full scale production trials at the CELSA GROUP facility in #Wales. Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, described process innovation combining cement and steel recycling as “genius”. “Cement is already a billion-dollar industry". So, the potential impact on both reversing climate damage and the economy is, hopefully, great news. https://lnkd.in/eVHiZcP4

#cement is one of the key industries in need to disruption if we are serious about the #decarbonisation the #builtenvironment. More than 4 billion (!) tons of cement are produced each year, accounting for a whoping 8 percent of global #co2emissions. Thankfully, rapid advances in #materialsscience and #AI means solutions are at hand. Our portfolio company Material Evolution has developed cement with an 85% lower carbon footprint compared to the industry standard OPC because it does not require any heat during the production process. The product is in market and the company is scaling up production. To find out more about Material Evolution and other innovators in this space, check out this great Sifted article by Mimi Billing 👇 KOMPAS VC Elizabeth Gilligan Sam Clark David Frykman Norrsken VC Barry ONeill CircleRock Capital Chris Smith Playfair Helen Lin At One Ventures COWI Ramboll Arup Victoria Burrows https://lnkd.in/eCZt9Hjg