In its natural state, our global environment is a well-balanced machine, one that consistently strives to reach equilibrium. Unfortunately, human activity has upset that balance. The result is a host of environmental issues that, at the very least, make the environment less friendly toward human life.
Climate change is one of the environmental issues that is often cited among the most pressing. Experts explain that even slight increases in global temperatures have the potential to produce a variety of problems, ranging from a rise in sea levels to dramatic and dangerous changes in global weather patterns. To address the issue of climate change, an environmental balance must be restored by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Climate tech has emerged to help reset that balance. This new field of technology is focused on developing and deploying solutions that address climate change by reducing the production of greenhouse gases and removing them from the atmosphere.
Carbon Limit is a climate tech company that has taken an innovative approach to combating climate change. Its technology is focused on concrete, which is considered one of the chief contributors to the overarching problem of man-made climate change. However, rather than reducing the production of concrete, Carbon Limit has set its sights on transforming concrete into something that is environmentally friendly.
“We have created a negative emission technology,” explains Tim Sperry, Founder of Carbon Limit. “It not only captures, but permanently stores the carbon dioxide that results from organizations’ carbon footprints. Our main objective is to leverage the tech to transform carbon-intensive industries, such as the concrete industry, from major polluters to leading CO2 removers.”
Most of today’s environmental protection efforts are aimed at achieving zero emissions. The auto industry provides a good illustration of this movement. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, a typical passenger vehicle emits 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Electric cars, which are now produced by most automakers, are an example of a zero-emission vehicle.
Negative emission technology (NET) is cutting-edge tech that pushed beyond the goal of zero emissions. Sometimes known as Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies, NET creates products that capture carbon dioxide out of the air, permanently trapping it. As it is virtually impossible to achieve zero emissions in some industries, NET allows industries to mitigate their impact in an effort to restore a healthy balance in the atmosphere.
Carbon Limit’s product, which it calls CaptureCrete, is a nature-based cement replacement made of non-calcined active minerals and materials that are highly reactive to carbon dioxide. When used in building projects, the resulting structures become an impactful and permanent tool for capturing carbon dioxide from the environment. CaptureCrete also lowers the carbon footprint associated with the production of concrete, as well as providing a finished product that has been shown to have superior strength and durability.
“Based on the results of third-party testing, you can lower the carbon footprint of your next concrete project by up to 75%, with Capturecrete,” Tim says. “With more than 8 billion tons of concrete being poured annually around the world, Carbon Limit’s solution presents an opportunity for impactful and permanent CO2 reduction.”
Climate tech combines a passion for positive environmental change with practical and innovative tools that strike at the heart of the problem. Restoring the delicate balance that our environment desperately needs requires strategically transforming those industries that are having the biggest environmental impact.
“We are decarbonizing the concrete industry, which is responsible for nearly 8 percent of all global carbon emissions,” says Tim. “The technology that we have developed not only lowers CO2 emissions, it actively removes them from the air we all breathe, promoting long-term sustainability for greener cities around the world. It empowers us to make great strides toward addressing one of the biggest environmental problems of our time.”
