How to tackle cement's massive CO2 problem, with Sublime Systems' Leah Ellis

11/15/23 • 31 min

Cement accounts for 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. The production of one ton of Portland cement — the kind most commonly used — results in one ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere. And since cement is exceptionally cheap and the most massively produced man-made material in the world, those emissions are going to grow. “In a do-nothing scenario, emissions from cement are projected to increase 50 percent between now and 2050,” says Dr. Leah Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Sublime Systems.

Ellis’ company is producing low-carbon cement by replacing the traditional high-temperature, fossil fuel, combustion-driven kiln with an electrochemical approach that operates at ambient temperature and uses renewable electricity.

“I like to say Sublime is the electric vehicle of cement making.”

Covered in this episode:

[3:18] How Ellis’ background in chemistry led to making carbon-free cement
[5:51] Why defining cement by its performance is important
[7:48] The basics of cement
[9:29] The outrageous amount of cement produced annually
[11:29] How Sublime Systems produces cement with fewer carbon emissions
[18:06] The ability to compete economically
[23:04] Scaling up Sublime’s operations
[26:37 The leaky tap analogy to understand the climate crisis
[29:53] A vision for the cement industry in 2035

For show notes and a full transcript, head to the episode page.

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“I like to say Sublime is the electric vehicle of cement making.”

Covered in this episode:

[3:18] How Ellis’ background in chemistry led to making carbon-free cement
[5:51] Why defining cement by its performance is important
[7:48] The basics of cement
[9:29] The outrageous amount of cement produced annually
[11:29] How Sublime Systems produces cement with fewer carbon emissions
[18:06] The ability to compete economically
[23:04] Scaling up Sublime’s operations
[26:37 The leaky tap analogy to understand the climate crisis
[29:53] A vision for the cement industry in 2035

For show notes and a full transcript, head to the episode page.

Listen and Follow 'Good Clean Energy' on Apple Podcasts
Listen and Follow 'Good Clean Energy' on Spotify

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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[25:05] The leading approach to direct air capture
[28:57] The most compelling argument for CO2 removal
[32:19] A vision for 2035

For show notes and a full transcript, head to the episode page.

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Good Clean Energy - How to tackle cement's massive CO2 problem, with Sublime Systems' Leah Ellis

Transcript

Just about 200,000 years ago, homo sapiens trucked out of the African Savanna and started becoming, really, the alpha predator on the planet. And it wasn't until 12,000 years ago that they figured out how to sow seeds and grow crops. And once homo sapiens were able to kind of stay in one place and discover agriculture, they needed a dwelling. They couldn't just always live in caves and trees, and so they started building things.

And over the years, they started