Leopold Spenner is CEO and Co-founder of alcemy, which is accelerating the decarbonization of cement and concrete via software. 

Concrete is one of the most abundant manmade materials on earth, and it's exceedingly hard to decarbonize. Most of its emissions footprint comes from the production of cement, the materials that provide concrete with its strength. By most estimates, cement is responsible for upwards of 8% of global emissions. Cement production generates emissions in two major ways. One is from a chemical reaction during the cracking of limestone that's used to produce cement. And the other is from the extreme heat that this process requires. 

Many cement plants around the world have begun employing carbon capture technologies on premises to get to net-zero. Beyond that, there are companies working to lower cement emissions by changing the ingredients mix or by trying to take away the need for extreme heat. It's a hard problem, but alcemy introduces another possible solution: efficiency. Their software helps cement and ready-made concrete producers to create product more efficiently, which should result in less waste and in less limestone that needs to be heated and cracked. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:07] Leo's background and how he got involved in decarbonizing cement
• [5:57] Innovation in the cement and concrete industry 
• [10:39] The production challenges of cement and concrete 
• [13:34] An overview of limestone
• [16:28] The 28-day quality sampling process for cement and concrete 
• [18:58] Emissions reductions potential for both 
• [21:24] alcemy's predictive analytics software 
• [23:35] How the company's tech improves quality, cost, and emissions reductions 
• [25:09] alcemy's results to date 
• [26:03] How the company helps to create concrete mixes
• [29:30] The scaling hurdle of integrating with legacy software systems 
• [33:55] The role of clinker efficiency and what it entails 
• [37:02] alcemy's traction to date and funding milestones 
• [38:12] Who Leo wants to hear from and what's next for alcemy 
• [41:20] How the market is evolving around lower carbon cement, including the carbon market 

Episodes mentioned: 

• Startup Seres: Sublime Systems
• Startup Series: Enhanced Rock Weathering w/ Lithos Carbon & Eion Carbon
• Episode 224: Rebecca Dell, ClimateWorks Foundation

Get connected:
Leopold Spenner LinkedIn
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective

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Episode recorded on July 27, 2023 (Published on August 3, 2023) 

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant