With few low carbon alternatives, construction’s quest to decarbonise has long been hampered by its reliance on concrete.
Affordable, durable and easy to produce, concrete is the most widely used man-made material on the planet. Over the last three decades, production has increased fourfold as urbanisation grows and economic development accelerates around the world. But our concrete reliance has a heavy cost, generating 2.8bn tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Only two countries, China and the United States, emit more carbon than that.
Founded by three Chemistry PhD students, LCM wants to clean up construction. It makes OSTO, a carbon-negative alternative to traditional aggregate, one of concrete’s main ingredients. Today, LCM is working with the industry to create a new zero carbon concrete block with OSTO making up 10 percent of its overall weight.
LCM hopes that OSTO will become essential to building projects in the UK. If it does, the impact will be vast. The UK Government has said it wants to build 300,000 new homes each year. If just ten percent use OSTO, 65,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions would be avoided in just five years. House-building is just the start. LCM has also tested OSTO’s suitability for other objects commonly made from concrete, like curbs, street furniture and paving stones. Block by block, LCM wants to get construction to net zero.
By 2030, we choose to ensure that, for the first time in human history, the natural world is growing – not shrinking – on our planet.
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By 2030 we choose to ensure that everyone in the world breathes clean, healthy air – at World Health Organization standard or better.
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By 2030, we choose to repair and preserve our oceans for future generations.
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By 2030, we choose to build a world where nothing goes to waste, where the leftovers of one process become the raw materials of the next – just like they do in nature.
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We choose to fix the world’s climate by cutting out carbon: building a carbon neutral economy that lets every culture, community and country thrive.
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