Peace Corps Online writes "Concrete banking for more than 5 percent of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions annually, mostly because cement, the active fixing in concrete, is made by baking limestone and clay powders under intense heat that is generally produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Now Scientific stars and bars reports that British start-up company Novacem has big a 'carbon-negative' cement that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits over its life cycle. The trick is to make cement from magnesium silicates rather than calcium carbonate, or limestone, since this matter does not emit CO2 in manufacture and absorbs the greenhouse gas as it ages. 'The architecture and explication gang knows it has got to do radical things to reduce its carbon footprint and cement companies take in
idioms:get there is not a lot they can do without a applied science breakthrough,' says Novacem administrator Stuart Evans. Novacem estimates that for every ton of Portland cement replaced by its product, around three-quarters of a ton of CO2 is saved, turning the cement crew from a big emitter to a big absorber of carbon. Major cement makers have been working hard to reduce CO2 emissions by investing in modern kilns and using as little carbon-heavy fuel as possible, but reductions to date have been limited. Novacem has raised $1.7M to start a pilot plant that should be up and running in northern England in 2011."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More: - Read More

Mark