After Rob Niven received a Masters in Engineering and went to a United Nations summit on climate change, it got him thinking about ways to reduce carbon emissions. It led to CarbonCure, a company that reduces carbon emissions on an ongoing basis with concrete.
After studying concrete in college, Rob knew that CO2 can be converted into a mineral that’s within concrete. He wondered why this process can’t be used in everyday building concrete.
It’s a chemical process. The CO2 becomes calcium carbonate when it interacts with the concrete, making the concrete even stronger. And this is what Rob Niven’s CarbonCure is all about. When cement is mixed using CarbonCure technology, CO2 is reduced by an average of 25 pounds per cubic yard.
It’s not a cure for CO2 emissions, nor does it capture carbon dioxide. However, it does reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment. CarbonCure Technologies is actually a range of technical innovations that are designed to help concrete producers add carbon dioxide to their concrete. This creates concrete with a reduced carbon footprint and makes concrete more competitive in the green building market.
Once it’s used in the manufacturing process, CO2 is permanently embedded in the concrete. The carbon footprint of concrete is reduced, but performance is not compromised. Using CarbonCure to create concrete will help reduce cement use and reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete industry.
There is no cost to concrete producers that want to use the technology. They pay a monthly licensing agreement that requires no initial investment. The technology is installed within hours and works with all existing batching software.
So maybe it’s not exactly a “cure” for the carbon emission levels that are killing the planet…but it’s certainly an amazing solution for reducing the carbon footprint in the building industry. It’s a way for manufacturers to offer a more Earth-friendly option and it’s a really impressive bit of science. Industry, technology and advancement are what led to the current energy crisis. Maybe science can help the world out of it.
Source: https://inhabitat.com/carboncure-is-the-concrete-solution-builders-need/