Chevron-Backed Blue Planet is Revolutionising Construction
The construction industry is a cornerstone of the modern world, but is responsible for 38% of global CO₂ emissions.
Quarrying for aggregate is the largest extractive industry on earth by far, resulting in the destruction of farmland and virgin habitats and more construction and demolition waste is generated than any other type.
It is also estimated that the industry consumes 50% of all raw materials globally.
Blue Planet Solutions, backed by Chevron, Mitsubishi and HOLCIM, wants to transform the industry to become more sustainable.
David Gottfried, Chief Commercial Officer at Blue Planet, says: “We can do much more in the Scope 3 area to reduce embodied carbon and ramp up efficiencies in older buildings or replacing them while deconstructing their existing carbon into new buildings in a circular way.”
About Blue Planet
Blue Planet says it is on a mission to “mineralise billions of tonnes of CO₂ per year in the built environment”.
Founded in 2013, the California-headquartered company produces aggregate, concrete and limestone using CO₂ and waste.
Blue Planet can make use of CO₂ from any source, unlike some other CCU solutions that require liquid CO2.
Each tonne of Blue Planet aggregate contains 440kg of sequestered CO₂ that will never escape into the atmosphere.
The company says its limestone aggregate sequesters so much CO₂ in concrete that it can make an entire building carbon negative.
It upcycles used concrete in its process, extracting calcium to make a circular solution.
Blue Planet limestone exhibits very high solar reflectance, exceeding the reflectance of average roof shingles nearly three times.
This not only helps to keep interior areas of a building cooler, but also reduces electricity usage and power plant emissions associated with cooling.
Testing, both external and in-house, has demonstrated that Blue Planet CaCO₃ Aggregate performs as well as or better than quarried lightweight aggregates like pumice and manufactured aggregates such as expanded clay.
Blue Planet’s backers
Blue Planet has been backed by some giant companies, including American multinational energy company Chevron.
Barbara Burger, VP of Innovation and President of Technology Ventures at Chevron, says: “Carbon capture, utilisation and storage, or CCUS, is viewed to be essential to advancing progress toward the global net zero ambition of the Paris Agreement.
“This investment is made through our Future Energy Fund which focuses on startups with lower-carbon technologies that can scale commercially, and we welcome Blue Planet to this portfolio.”
“Chevron is a leader in scouting and identifying innovative and game-changing approaches to lower-carbon intensity,” says Brent Constantz, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Blue Planet.
“The investment may also provide future opportunities to incorporate Blue Planet’s approach into Chevron’s projects.”
Another supporter of Blue Planet is Marathon Petroleum, an American petroleum refining, marketing and transportation company owned by Marathon Oil.
Brent says: “We are pleased to have the technical and commercial support of Marathon Petroleum at this critical phase of the scale up and commercialization of our low and negative embodied carbon building materials.”
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