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Cement industry giant Lafarge announced on Thursday a set of new goals in order to continue its agenda of reducing CO2 emissions. The goals are divided into two main areas: straight emissions reductions and a sustainable construction development. In developing the first goal category, Lafarge worked within a framework developed in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund [...] On June 3, the Lehigh Permanente Cement Company, located in Cupertino, California, announced the launch of a new system to reduce mercury emissions at the plant by ninety percent. The system utilizes a powdered activated carbon (PAC) injection system to capture the mercury and ultimately trap it in the resultant concrete. The move comes in anticipation of [...] As widely reported this week, the EPA has passed a long anticipated set of rules regulating the emission of mercury and other pollutants from cement plants. Reactions have been predictable: dire predictions that the regulations “can’t be met” with existing technologies for certain plants and claims of the billions of dollars the new regulations will cost the industry. Industry spokespersons [...] In 2009, industrialized nations across the world took serious steps toward reducing their carbon footprints and reducing emissions as compared to 1990 levels. The global average decrease of seven percent was fueled mainly by the economic crisis and its lack of energy demand. However, despite this heartening improvement, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NEAA) has said [...] The European Union’s climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard is pushing to increase the 2020 emissions reduction goal from the current twenty percent to thirty percent. The heavy industries, including cement and steel, have lobbied the EU against such drastic cuts successfully in the past (ever since the United Nations talks in Copenhagen failed this previous December) on [...] 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 [...] 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 [...] 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, [...] During this year alone, the cement industry is expected to spend approximately $3.5 billion to help control atmospheric emissions. By 2015, spending is predicted to rise to nearly $5 billion annually. Each region of the world is facing different challenges and taking different steps in order to meet increasing emission standards. In the United States, most of [...] Members of the Portland Cement Association (PCA), lobbying on behalf of the cement industry as a whole, are pushing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to not add new regulations limiting the amount of mercury and other pollutants emitted from cement plants. Their argument is based on the subsequent rise in production costs which would seriously hamper [...] |
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