A mid-October White House update on the progress of the Federal Buy Clean Initiative and companion Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Demonstration Program, references Cemex USA, Heidelberg Materials North America, and Summit Materials for their commitment to measures that advance decarbonization goals or strategies underpinning Buy Clean and Industrial Demonstrations activities.
The White House saluted the producers, as well as four cementitious material startup companies for corporate or project-specific commitments outlined in response to a Buy Clean and Industrial Demonstrations call to action.
- Cemex USA pledged to supply concrete with a reduction in global warming potential of at least 40% for a suite of innovative demonstration projects.
- Heidelberg Materials North America pledged that by 2030 it would reduce companywide emissions by 25% and reduce emissions from a single U.S.-based plant by more than 50% from 2020 levels and announced that it will carry out a suite of commercial-scale decarbonization demonstration projects using ultra-low-carbon concrete solutions.
- Summit Materials is working with Amazon Web Services to scale up promising concrete decarbonization solutions, including material processors equipped to provide LC3 or lower-emission calcined clays. The teamwork fosters objectives of AWS, which stipulated reduced carbon concrete in the construction specifications of 36 data centers commencing or under way in 2023.
- Sublime Systems announced that it had received $75 million in funding for its first commercial facility, as well as a pre-paid reservation for the cement produced at that plant, which will ensure deployment of its product once it starts full-scale production.
- Emerging concrete and cement technology startups made pledges to help users adopt cleaner concrete solutions. C-Crete Technologies, Pozzotive and Sublime Systems each pledged to conduct five demonstration projects using materials with 50% reductions in emissions and to share performance results, while Queens Carbon committed to new transparency and data disclosure standards.
Energy Update
Coinciding with the third anniversary of its Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) released its annual U.S. Labor-Energy Input Survey of member companies.
According to the survey, 2023 was the most energy-efficient year yet for the U.S. cement industry. Other noteworthy trends include alternative fuel usage rising in 2023 to a 16% share of the industry’s fuel mix, up from 14.6% in the previous year’s report. Companies also experienced a growing consumption of natural gas and a decline in the use of coal and petroleum coke last year.
Additionally, natural gas’ share of total fuel consumption jumped to 31% in 2023 from 25.3% in 2022, representing the highest reliance on natural gas among cement manufacturers since 1976. Some of the increased reliance is likely accrued to the decline in its price. Concurrently, coal and petroleum share of the fuel mix fell to its lowest level since 1974.
The association said these developments in the industry’s energy consumption come in the context of U.S. cement manufacturers increasing the production of blended, lower-carbon cements. In 2023, half of the cement consumed in the country was blended. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s latest publication in July, blended cement’s share of cement consumption reached 63%, reflecting an all-time high.
“For a product that’s so essential and so prevalent, of course there is the challenge of carbon emissions. And as everyone relies heavily on the materials we provide, PCA member companies are doing more now than ever to reduce those emissions in accordance with the Roadmap,” said Mike Ireland, PCA President and CEO. “But to reach our goal, we absolutely need the assistance of our value chain members, the public, and most importantly – the policymakers – who we hope will continue implementing clean energy and industrial decarbonization provisions included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.”
