Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Photo courtesy of Sublime Systems

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

Premiere of Innovative Low-Carbon Cement: Will ‘Be in That Building for Decades to Come’

By Andy Corbley

Two firms in Boston have just laid the foundations of a large building using a zero-carbon cement mixture made in the USA. This represents one of the first real-world real-world adoptions of this technology.

Many companies are testing or subsidizing low- or zero-carbonrbon cement and concrete to reduce their carbon footprint, but few are yet using it liberally to build real structures.

Manufactured by Sublime Systems, which was just named to Fast Company Magazine’s Most Innovative Companies in Sustainability for 2024, the firm uses an electrochemical process to create the cement for ready-mix products.

At the heart of traditional Portland and other kinds of cement is its heating in a kiln, wherein calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates. Over a billion tonnes of cement are made annually, and cement kilns are the heart of this production process. According to The Economist, they heat the mixture to over 1,300°C and produce around 5% of all made-made carbon emissions worldwide.

By eliminating the kiln altogether, Sublime Systems has removed most emissions from the process.

Best of all, it’s currently being used in the Greater Boston Area. Boston Sand & Gravel is supplying Turner Construction Co. with ready-mix cement containing Sublime Systems’ product to form the mud mat of a large building.

“It’s going to be in that building for decades to come,” Sublime Systems’ CEO, Leah Ellis, told Engineering News Record.

“It really was the culmination of a lot of effort to see it not just being done for testing’s sake, but actually, replacing cement that would otherwise have been the carbon-intensive variety.”

Along with reducing the carbon emissions budget of that new building, the construction has validated that several critical targets of Sublime Systems’ product have been met: the product was transported to the site in a ready-mix concrete truck like normal, maintained malleability during transit, was poured out of the concrete truck and into a hose, and the hose was able to deliver it to the setting where it stuck and hardened—all exactly like traditional cement.

“In the grand scheme of things, it was, really, very boring for construction,” David Robb, a Turner estimator and the preconstruction manager on the Boston-area project, told ENR. “But a huge step in terms of our embodied carbon reduction goals that we’re striving toward in the future here at Turner.”

Government money, as well as private investment, has been pouring into Sublime Systems’ which seems poised to lead a great revolution in cement by building its first full-scale, dedicated manufacturing facility in Holyoke, Mass.

The good news in this article is that 5% of worldwide carbon emissions have the potential tto be reduced to zero without sacrificing the quality of construction projects. Today’s JohnKu talks about obscure carbon footprints. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Concrete by John W.Howell © 2024

Who would have thought that,

The concrete process would yield . . .

Large carbon savings

62 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  4. “Who would have thought that?” – great question. Sometimes, the answers are right in front of us. This is great news, John. Thanks for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. That is amazing, John. It’s wonderful to see companies taking this to heart and trying to find alternatives.

    The USA, while still no. 2 in emissions, has reduced by 11% from 2010 to 2022 (As we sit here, in Canada, no. 11, producing a mere 1.89% of the world’s emissions; and our s.o.b. Prime Minister has decided we should pay an extra carbon tax on everything.)

    Liked by 1 person

  18. These are the stories that need to reach everyone. I’m sad that the local press here in the Boston area didn’t make a big fuss over this. Thank goodness for the Good News Network reporting, and for John Howell’s reporting.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Well now, that’s some solid news.

    More steps taken….. slowly.

    Good news, John. I’m thinking yourfab JohnKu has a ) carbon footprint!

    𝕺👣 𝕺👣 𝕺👣 𝕺👣

    Liked by 1 person

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