Displaying items by tag: US
Terra CO2 supplies OPUS supplementary cementitious material for indiGO Auto Group car dealership in Texas
25 August 2023US: Terra CO2 has performed a successful demonstration pour of its OPUS silicate-based supplementary cementitious material (SCM) at a construction site in Texas. Terra CO2 supplied the SCM to indiGO Auto Group for the construction of its Porsche Sugar Land car dealership in Houston. It says that the product delivers durability, strength and functionality on a par with other, traditional SCMs. Tonne-for-tonne, the use of OPUS reduces projects’ CO2 emissions by 70%, and their NOx emissions by 90%, compared to ordinary Portland cement (OPC).
Terra CO2 CEO Bill Yearsley said "Our work at Terra CO2 is about forging a viable path for sustainable construction. We're set on creating a blueprint for the future where performance, cost-effectiveness and sustainability coexist seamlessly across projects. We're moving beyond the lab, beyond the processes that have held us back as an industry, and introducing a sustainable solution to real-world applications."
Cementos Argos to expand facilities in the US and Colombia
24 August 2023US/Colombia: Colombia-based Cementos Argos is carrying out expansions to two cement plants in South Carolina and West Virginia. While not specifically named, these would appear to be the 1.1Mt/yr Harleyville and 1.8Mt/yr Martinsburg cement plants. The producer says that the expansions will increase its cement capacity in the eastern US by 450,000t/yr.
Additionally, Cementos Argos plans to expand the capacity of its Cartagena cement terminal in Colombia by 35% to 4Mt/yr. The producer says that this will serve as a platform for subsequent growth. It is targeting the US market, where an expansion is also underway at its import facility in Houston, Texas. The Cartagena terminal achieved its current capacity following a recent US$42m expansion.
US: Block-Lite plans to install a system to cure concrete blocks using direct air capture (DAC)-sourced CO2 at its Flagstaff, Arizona, concrete block plant. The upgrade will implement CarbonBuilt’s low-CO2 concrete production technology and AirCapture’s modular DAC technology, across five or six capture units. Direct air capture will thus remove 500 – 600t/yr of CO2 from the atmosphere, while process changes will reduce CO2 emissions from the Flagstaff plant by over 2000t/yr. The project has attracted fundraising from the 4 Corners Carbon Coalition (4CCC), with a goal of US$50,000. The Arizon Daily Sun newspaper has reported that Block-Lite plans to supply its first shipment of low-CO2 blocks to a 50-home development by Habitat for Humanity in Flagstaff.
Rondo Energy raises US$60m from investors
18 August 2023US: Heat Battery developer Rondo Energy has concluded a financing round with US$60m raised in investments, Renewables Now News has reported. Investors included Siam Cement Group and Titan Cement Group, as well as Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, the Climate Innovation Fund, Rio Tinto, SABIC, Aramco Ventures, SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust and John Doerr. Rondo Energy’s Heat Battery is a means of connecting cement plants and other industrial facilities to a constant supply of electricity ultimately derived from renewable energy sources.
CEO John O'Donnell said “Our Strategic Investor Advisory Board will help Rondo focus on the simplest, fastest ways to power their operations with low-cost clean energy and shape our priorities for ongoing research and development.”
US: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor has found that Buzzi Unicem USA failed in its duty to implement safe practices, after a 50-year-old employee died at work in February 2023. The victim was working on a Mississippi River barge belonging to Buzzi Unicem USA subsidiary River Cement Sales when he fell overboard, leading to his death. OSHA concluded that Buzzi Unicem USA had committed multiple serious safety violations. Those connected to the tragedy in February 2023 included failures to ensure that workers wore personal floatation devices and to install guardrails. The administration said that the failures ‘cost a worker his life.’ Safety inspectors proposed a fine of US$62,500 for the breaches.
US: Heidelberg Materials North America has reached an agreement with the administration of Santa Clara County to decommission its quarry in the county, near Cupertino. Silicon Valley News has reported that the quarry historically supplied limestone for cement production at Permanente cement plant, which came offline in April 2020. The county administration says that the deal signals that it has achieved its aim to ensure final closure of the Permanente plant.
Heidelberg Materials North America spokesperson Jeff Sieg said that the company is ‘pleased to formalise our agreement not to restart the kiln at our Permanente cement plant.’ He continued "We remain focused on working collaboratively with the community and other stakeholders on the development of a long-term strategy for the property, so that it can continue to provide value in the future.”
CRH diversifies shareholding
17 August 2023Ireland: 26 hedge funds have bought or expanded stakes in CRH since 30 June 2023. Bloomberg has reported that existing shareholders that expanded their holdings included US-based Baupost Group and Soros Fund Management.
CRH is due to complete its transition into a primarily US-listed company in late September 2023.
Carbon border adjustments being considered in Australia
16 August 2023Australia’s Climate Change Minister announced plans this week to look at a potential carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Chris Bowen told an Australian Business Economists forum in Sydney that policies were needed to ensure a level playing field for Australian firms. Mentioning the European Union’s (EU) CBAM by name, he said that his department would prepare a review to assess carbon leakage risks, develop policy options and look at the feasibility of an Australian CBAM, particularly in relation to steel and cement.
The Antipodean nation has past form when it comes to carbon legislation. Back in 2012 it introduced the Clean Energy Act under the Gillard administration. The legislation was intended to introduce an emissions trading scheme with a carbon pricing scheme. However, it faced opposition from rival political parties and the Cement Industry Federation warned that the local cement sector was vulnerable to overseas competitors outside of the scheme. Job losses followed and Adelaide Brighton appeared to react by focusing more on imports. The Abbott administration then abolished the act in 2014 putting forward its Clean Energy Future package instead, which focused more on investing towards change. Jump forward nearly a decade and the Albanese government passed its Climate Change Bill in 2022. This set legally binding targets, including a commitment to cut CO2 emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030. Bowen’s look at a CBAM is an obvious next step from here, addressing one of the main criticisms of the previous Clean Energy Act.
Local building materials company Boral reacted positively to a CBAM in its annual results released earlier this week with chief executive officer Vik Bansal saying that the company was “...advocating for an effective Carbon Border Adjusted Mechanism for Australia.” He also reconfirmed the group’s commitment to a target of net zero emissions by 2050. However, at the same time, Boral also reduced its emissions reduction target to 2025 from 2019 figures to up to 14% from 19% previously. This was blamed on “external factors” such as delays in securing the required regulatory approvals for the next phases of an alternative fuel program. Mining company Rio Tinto also warned in late July 2023, as part of its half-year financial results, that it might potentially miss its emissions target for 2025 unless it resorted to buying carbon credits.
CBAMs became serious in 2023 when the EU passed its own scheme into law in May 2023. The EU CBAM will now enter into a transitional phase from 1 October 2023 until the end of 2025. During this period importers of goods covered by the legislation will be required to report greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) embedded in their imports (direct and indirect emissions) but they will not have to make any financial payments or adjustments. The system will then enter its full format from 1 January 2026, with affected importers being forced to purchase and surrender CBAM certificates, which will be priced at the EU emission trading scheme (ETS) rate, currently at around Euro88/t. Other CBAMs have also been mooted in Canada and the US. In Canada the government ran a consultation on border carbon adjustments in 2021. It is currently considering its next steps. The US meanwhile has had both Republican and Democrat party senators make separate suggestions for a CBAM since at least 2021.
Just because the EU is set to implement its CBAM and other countries are considering their own versions doesn’t mean that they are necessarily a good idea. Cembureau, the European cement association, has been steadily lobbying on the details such as indirect emissions and waste incineration in the EU CBAM for years. Criticisms of CBAMs in general include potential clashes with World Trade Organisation rules, accusations of protectionism, triggering inflation, not being equitable to less developed nations and even failing to stop carbon leakage in the first place. The EU CBAM has also linked itself to the local ETS price. So, even after the transitional period, the carbon price may start to jump about in unpredictable ways once the system fully goes live in 2026.
The game-changer in recent years for international carbon emissions reduction legislation though was arguably when the US government introduced its Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. This is because it served both sustainability and self-interest on a grander scale than seen previously. The act promised US$369bn in subsidies for companies to invest in low carbon technology. However, the catch was that the investment tied supply chains to the US market, much to the ire of some of the US’ trade partners such as the EU. CBAMs offer a similar opportunity to governments around the world if they choose. They can be used to protect domestic carbon emission reduction effects in heavy industry but they can also be used for protectionism. Hence Bowen was due to say during his speech that the Inflation Reduction Act and other policies elsewhere “mean that Australia needs to act to stay in the game.” Australia has the advantage that it can watch how the EU CBAM pans out before it implements its own version.
Monarch Cement raises sales in first half of 2023
14 August 2023US: Monarch Cement’s consolidated sales were US$122m in the first half of 2023, up by 27% year-on-year from US$95.8m during the first half of 2022. The producer’s retained earnings rose by 15% to US$311m from US$271m.
Throughout the first half of 2023, Monarch Cement recorded cement sales of US$71.7m (23% of total sales), up by 29% from US$55.4m (20% of total sales) in the first half of 2022.
Breedon Group to enter US building materials business
14 August 2023US: UK-based Breedon Group says that it is seeking a ‘beachhead’ acquisition from which to build its own building materials business in the Eastern US. CEO Rob Wood said that the top 10 US building materials companies control 40% of the market there, compared to 75% of the UK market being controlled by five leading companies. The Times newspaper has reported that Breedon Group is due to join the UK’s FTSE 250 share index in September 2023. The producer noted the slow progress of proposed reforms to UK building standards, which it says would enable it to reduce its non-fuel CO2 emissions by 25%. It also said that the government may fail to co-adopt EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) measures, leaving the UK market more open for third-party exporters of cement and other heavy materials.
Wood said “The North American market has big growth opportunities, backed by the certainty of infrastructure investment.”