When companies or policymakers try to force green technology onto an industry, it usually does not work out. It is akin to forcing on footwear that is too small. Something is going to get squeezed or pinched, and the attempt is likely to fail eventually. In the case of shoe-horned technology, the demise usually begins after subsidies run dry.
The ideal climate-friendly technology fits — and does not fight — market forces. That means the new method or device adds value while replacing something more costly that also pollutes more. Electric lights were clearly superior to kerosene lamps.
A couple of start-ups in industries as disparate as transportation and building materials have developed green innovations that ride the market’s wave instead of struggling against it.
Illustration: Constance Chou
Nicole Glenn, who owns Candor Expedite, a broker for time-sensitive shipments, said she believes she has discovered a contraption that can save money and emissions on small shipments of refrigerated cargo. Instead of customers sending small loads of frozen or chilled cargo in a refrigerated truck, Glenn’s new venture, Candor FoodChain, would ship it in a special box that does not require cooling for up to nine days. This means that frozen goods can be shipped alongside regular freight that does not require climate control or in small vans, which are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to refrigerate.
Glenn said she stumbled upon the insulated containers, which are made in the UK, while helping customers during the pandemic who were desperate to move small batches of refrigerated goods. The boxes had been sold in Europe mostly to transport pharmaceuticals. She teamed up with the maker of the containers and a Spanish company, Cool Chain Logistics, that uses them. The secret to the reusable boxes, which come in different sizes and temperature ratings, are plastic liners filled with a paraffin liquid that can remain frozen for days. The solution allows frozen freight to be hauled by a regular truck. It also eliminates the use of dry ice, which is frozen carbon dioxide. Dry ice lasts only a couple of days in a cooler and can be dangerous, because of the gas released when it melts.
Glenn is operating in Dallas and plans to open locations in six other cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, to provide the service while keeping possession of the boxes, which require cleaning and refreezing of the liquid-filled liners. In a test with a large fast-food chain, Candor FoodChain showed it could ship chilled products and save US$2,000 on the typical dry ice solution.
Another green technology that holds promise is an alternative type of cement which uses carbon dioxide as an ingredient. The idea was developed by Fortera Corp and has moved beyond the testing phase, with the first large-scale plant already operating on the site of CalPortland’s cement facility in Redding, California.
Fortera CEO Ryan Gilliam worked for many years at a start-up that was seeking to make low-emission cement. The venture gave up on the quest, because the market was not willing to pay a “green premium” for the product. That was a wake-up call for Gilliam.
He said he realized the technology would gain acceptance only if the cement fit in the current construction ecosystem while meeting or beating the price of the traditional product.
“The goal is the same performance and the same cost,” Gilliam said in an interview. “Trying to retrain the industry that your material will set differently or flow differently just creates too many challenges.”
Fortera’s system is designed to work alongside existing cement facilities, tapping into established mining for limestone and the expensive kiln that is needed to heat the rock and transform it into lime. When limestone is heated, it releases carbon dioxide. Fortera captures that industrial gas and combines it with a liquid mixture of dissolved lime and ammonium chloride. After separating the liquids and drying the remaining solids, the result is a cementitious white powder called vaterite.
The vaterite-based cement can be used as a standalone product that is just a strong as cement and sets even quicker, Gilliam said. Right now, it is mixed with typical cement up to 15 percent of the blend to meet current industry standards. This alternative cement has 70 percent lower emissions. Concrete, which is cement mixed with water and aggregates such as sand and crushed rock, contributes up to 8 percent of total emissions.
The world is not going to reduce the use of concrete. On the contrary, demand for this key building material only increases as economies grow. Making the substance cleaner is the only option to reduce pollution.
Now that Fortera has an operational plant, the company has attracted interest and has 25 memorandums of understanding to build facilities at existing cement facilities, Gilliam said. There is upside because vaterite has a white color, and white cement is a niche product that commands a premium for its aesthetics.
Some people might be willing to pay extra for lower-emissions products, but most are not. In the day-to-day struggle to buy groceries, pay the rent and make car payments, most people cannot afford to think how their purchases would impact the planet a decade or two down the road. Going green requires more of these products that address customer needs at a competitive price in addition to helping the environment.
As with most new products, time would tell if these technologies catch on. If they do, the planet would be better off and customers would save money.
Thomas Black is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the industrial and transportation sectors. He was previously a Bloomberg News reporter covering logistics, manufacturing and private aviation.
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