Tuesday, June 25

Dear Reader,

In 1967, Dot’s family of origin moved into a new neighborhood. Houses were being built, sod was being placed, trees were being planted, and sidewalks were being poured. Into those still-wet sidewalks, my new friends and I immortalized our handprints and initials in the concrete. 

But those seemingly friendly sidewalks have a heavy carbon footprint. Concrete — for buildings, roads, bridges, dams, and sidewalks — is responsible for about eight percent of annual global carbon emissions.

Which is why it’s a material ripe for innovation. Consider “the mineral olivine, which also forms the green gemstone peridot, into an alternative for cement and other construction materials,” suggests one report. 

The BBC further reports that we might be able to turn this ubiquitous building material into giant batteries to store energy.

And Bluedot’s own tech reporter Alec Ross has outlined loads of innovations in his story, The Quest for Low-Carbon Concrete. 

Much of what happens will come down to economics, the same way renewable energy has. If green concrete will compete on price, well, then, we’re in business!

Solidly,

Dot