Stronger concrete that’s also good for the industry’s environmental footprint?
Construction — one of the world’s largest and most polluting industries — is due for another disruption, and Canadian startup CarbonCure says it holds the key. The company claims to have devised a way to make concrete using less cement while also trapping harmful CO2 emissions. The process of making concrete usually requires superheating calcium carbonate, which releases tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment — making construction one of the top three producers of CO2 emissions globally. The new CarbonCure system, which makes concrete stronger than other traditional methods, takes captured CO2, injects it into concrete as its being mixed, and then once it hardens, the carbon is sequestered forever. “Because the CO2 actually helps to make the concrete stronger, concrete producers can still make concrete as strong as they need to but use less cement in the process,” Christie Gamble, director of sustainability at CarbonCure, told CNNMoney (watch, runtime: 6:08).