Lafarge Beats Its CO2 Goals

French cement company Lafarge set a goal for itself to reduce its carbon footprint by twenty percent by 2010.  The company has recently announced that it has beaten its goal by a full year.  Lafarge claims to have reduced its footprint by 20.7% as of the end of 2009.  Lafarge plans on continuing its green trend [...]

Lagging Behind: America’s Green Technology

Michael Rock, an economics professor at Bryn Mawr College, held a lecture this past week concerning America’s lack of continued green technology development.  He fears that we are on the way to losing our place as the forerunner of this industry just as we did in the automobile industry.  Daniel Weiss, director of a DC-based climate [...]

Pac-Man of Exhaust Scrubbers: CO2-eating Algae

One of the world’s most abundant organisms, algae, may be the solution to CO2 emissions for the cement industry.  Two Ontario, Canada-based companies have developed a process in which carbon-eating algae is used to scrub exhaust gases of the greenhouse gas.  St. Mary’s Cement (SMC), part of Votorantim, and Pond Biofuels have been working on the [...]

Industry Improvement Strategies

In September 2009, a group of agencies and industry representatives (including the Cement Energy and CO2 Reduction Group and the US DOE) convened for a two-day conference to discuss reducing the carbon footprint of the US cement industry.  The cement industry provides tens of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, so government agencies are seeking to work with [...]

From Trash to Treasure: Turning Waste into Fuel

The Japanese have been trying to implement a method of converting refuse organic waste into usable fuel for some time now, but have encountered formidable barriers in their path.  Their refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is produced from raw garbage, an adhesive, and lime in pellet form.  However, the heat output of the RDF is very low compared [...]

Cemex receives Energy Star recognition

Control Engineering reports that Cemex has been awarded the Energy Star Partner of the Year award for a second time. Cemex has been an Energy Star partner since 2004, and in 2009 saved more than 1.1. million MMBTU on energy, cutting an equivalent of 107,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

In a time of economic stress, Cemex, [...]

Current Woes, Future Hopes

Despite predictions that the global recession is beginning to slowly right itself, many cement companies are still experiencing tough financial situations.  Many large producers have posted losses in the 2009 fourth quarter, but are holding high hopes for increased business throughout 2010.

French-based company Lafarge posted a loss of $51.76 million dollars (38 million Euros) after earning [...]