Block-Lite is a small concrete manufacturer in an industrial corridor of Flagstaff, Arizona. The third-generation family business makes bricks and other masonry materials for retaining walls, driveways, and landscaping projects. The company was already a local leader in sustainability — in 2020, it became the first manufacturer in Flagstaff to power its operations with on-site solar panels. But now it's doing something much more ambitious.
On Tuesday, Block-Lite announced a pioneering collaboration with climate tech startups Aircapture and CarbonBuilt to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stash it in concrete blocks. The companies estimate the project will reduce the carbon footprint of Block-Lite's products by 70 percent, creating a model they hope could reshape the industry.
[...] CarbonBuilt has developed a solution that addresses the issue in two distinct ways. First, the company found a proprietary way to replace cement with a mix of inexpensive, locally-sourced industrial waste materials. CEO Rahul Shendure told Grist they include common byproducts of coal plants, steelmaking, and chemical production that would, for the most part, otherwise be destined for landfills. The company's second feat is the way its equipment hardens that slurry into concrete blocks — by curing it with carbon dioxide. That's where Aircapture comes in. The company will build one of its machines which extract carbon dioxide from the ambient air directly on Block-Lite's site.
[...] Block-Lite did not respond to Grist's inquiry, but in a press release, the company suggested that the new concrete products would be no costlier than its current offerings. "All too often sustainable building materials require a trade off between cost and performance, but what is unique about this project is that there's no 'green premium.'" Block-Lite said. "We're going to be able to produce on-spec, ultra-low carbon blocks at price parity with traditional blocks which should speed adoption and impact."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Mykl on Wednesday March 15 2023, @06:49AM (2 children)
Hmmm, let's see:
Sounds too good to be true!
I noticed that there was no mention of performance in the puff piece - will they perform to the same level as concrete in terms of insulation, durability, strength, Fire resistance?
What's the catch? Maybe it's Vaporware?
There's a joke in there about Vapors (capturing CO2 from the atmosphere) and the chances of ever seeing this, but I can't quite nail it.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday March 15 2023, @02:31PM (1 child)
Yes, I also noticed the absence of performance info. Not even assurances that their concrete is just as good.
There've been dozens of innovations of concrete: flexible concrete, translucent and even transparent concrete, "smart" concrete, carbon fiber enhanced concrete, solar energy capturing concrete, another that harvests energy from the weight of passing vehicles--- the media is great at announcing such things, not so good at following up.
One that I recall was this company that designed a better spark plug, or so they claimed. I looked them up a few years later, and learned their revolutionary spark plug wasn't so great after all, no improvement on a regular spark plug, and they'd gone out of business. No, it wasn't SplitFire spark plugs, but those also were puffery in the same vein. Automotive applications have attracted a whole lot of snake oil over the years. Remember Slick 50? All rather moot now, if electric is the future. Now I suppose green is the new frontier for inventions that don't pan out.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Saturday March 18 2023, @02:56PM
Clever spark plug designs have been around for as long as I can remember, at least 50 years. There just isn't much room for performance improvement. They have been improved in terms of durability. It used to be that they had to be re-gapped or replaced at each tuneup, i.e. about 5,000 or 10,000 miles. Now they are good for at least 50,000 miles.