The first commercial construction project for low-carbon cement

In May 2024, Yanni Tsipis was watching as his team prepared to pour a low-carbon version of concrete — one that had never been used in a commercial project. As senior vice president of WS Development, he was in charge of the team building Boston’s largest net-zero office building for operating emissions (not embodied emissions), and he had spearheaded an effort to use a new type of low-carbon cement from a startup called Sublime Systems.

It's hard to understate how big of a deal it is for the construction industry to try a new version of cement. It’s the glue that holds concrete particles together, and the recipe used today has barely changed since 1824. It's incredibly versatile stuff, but making it accounts for nearly 8% of global emissions, so there's pressure on the industry to clean up. But with the literal foundations of buildings, bridges, and roads at stake, you can understand why the industry might be slow to change. 

But Yanni's team wanted to try. 

In this episode, Lara talked to Yanni about the journey to the first commercial deployment of this low-carbon cement. He talks about the economics of cement, securing enough material in time to meet construction deadlines, and earning buy-in from WS Development’s internal team, plus their long list of contractors and subcontractors. It’s a case study in finding the right customer for a first-of-a-kind climate tech project.

Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Daniel Woldorff and Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.

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