US$ 20 Million Prize Awarded to New Recipes Of Low Carbon Concrete

May, 2021 - By SMI

Two startups from North America were crowned as winners of NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize each earning US$ 7.5 million.

The six year-long competition Carbon XPrize came to a draw after two groups from North America were successful in demonstrating how their modus operandi can reduce significant amounts of carbon dioxide from concrete, which performs far better than the conventional material. The competition aimed to capture carbon emissions from working power plants and convert it to useful products. Participant teams with their extremely creative ideas came up with products that were useful and lessened carbon footprints in significant amounts.

Started with almost 50 worldwide teams in 2016, the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize was down to ten talented teams in 2018. Then the teams were made to show their technology at any one of the power plants between natural gas fired in Calgary Canada and coal fired in Wyoming. The two winners crowned were CarbonCure Technologies, a Canadian startup and CarbonBuilt, a team representing University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Their technologies ensured a minimum use of natural resources and the carbon footprint was also low.

“Concrete is one of the world’s most abundant materials, and a crucial frontier in the fight against climate change," stated Xprize's Vice President of Climate and Energy, Marcius Extavour. "The production of Portland cement, the key ingredient that binds concrete and gives it its strength, accounts for approximately seven percent of global CO2 emissions. Concrete is also a material that can be readily made using CO2 as an input, which the winning teams have demonstrated really clearly. Now, deploying their technology to avoid and reduce emissions from heavy industry will be a game changer for global decarbonization in the fight against climate change.”