Tim Sperry is the founder and CEO of Boca Raton, Florida-based Carbon Limit, the maker of CaptureCrete. He founded the company in 2020 after recognizing the enormous environmental cost of concrete: it accounts for about 6% of annual global emissions. CaptureCrete is a powdered concrete admixture that pulls up to 220 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton from the air and locks it into the concrete as a stable mineral. The impact of CaptureCrete, after subtracting the CO2 it absorbs, is only about 25% of traditional concrete. But this wasn’t Tim’s first foray into carbon capture for the built environment. He previously developed a paint additive that absorbs CO2 and other pollutants. Carbon Limit was named GreenBiz’s Startup of the Year on Verge 2023.
Building and operating homes, skyscrapers, factories, and highways generates about 10 gigatons of CO2, or about 40% of the emissions associated with energy use on the planet. The ability to attach carbon credits to construction and infrastructure projects is essential. When you can sell a carbon removal credit for about $200 per ton, the cost of a building can change quickly. For example, if you build a skyscraper that is 40 stories high, you might need 4,000 or so cubic yards of concrete, which represents about 5,700 tons of the material. With carbon credits costing $200 per ton, that concrete represents a potential $1.1 million dollar subsidy for the project. If we’re talking about a mile of highway, which requires about 17,200 tons of concrete, the credits generated by CaptureCrete’s carbon absorption could be worth $3.4 million per mile of road. That’s real money, real savings that can help projects reach breakeven faster over the life of the building. You can find out more about CaptureCrete and Carbon Limit at https://www.carbonlimit.com/
Dive into the Earth911 archives and discover the possibilities for low-carbon construction, architecture and concrete:
