The concrete will never freeze. But don’t worry, we tested the air anyway. Let me ask you a simple question. If the concrete is not exposed to freezing and thawing, why are we putting air in it? That question came up during my conversation with D…

The pour started on schedule. The concrete had other plans. The truck shows up. The slump looks fine. The crew starts placing. Then everything speeds up. The concrete stiffens in the chute. The pump operator starts fighting it. The finishers l…

Cloud Computing, 1946 Style | Credit: U.S. Army photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. I got the idea for this blog post from the No Agenda podcast, which I donate to every month. Hint, hint. Now would be a great time to stop reading and do…

What was in this mix?  Type I/II cement is making a comeback. At least that is what the market is asking for. Contractors want it. Ready-mix producers want it. Owners want concrete to act like concrete again. After years of frustration with…

The energy didn't disappear. It moved. | OpenAI If you listened to EP #159, you heard the news: a large swath of cement manufacturers including ones in are making Type I/II cement available again. The market spoke. Contractors complained. Ready-…

Fortera ReCarb Plant | forteraglobal.com “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” – John Lubbock  The concrete industry has heard enough slogans. Low-carbon cement. Green concrete. Carbon capture. Sustainable binders. Better ch…

No end in sight. | OpenAI The latest earnings reports from Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet were released on April 29, 2026, and they tell a pretty simple story for the concrete industry. The AI data center buildout is not slowing down yet. Wal…

Imagine building this without concrete. | Getty Images "Those who talk should do and only those who do should talk."  - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Data center owners have a concrete problem. Most of them just do not see it yet. Concrete is no…

"One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas."  – Victor Hugo The Iran war isn’t just another geopolitical headline. It’s an energy reset. And if you’re in concrete, you’re already feeling it whether you …

“Good intentions tell you nothing about the actual consequences.” — Thomas Sowell Layoffs are recession behavior. Period. I do not care what economists call it. If demand slows and a company does not need as many people, headcount gets cu…

“𝗧𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.” — Robert Louis Stevenson I was watching a youth basketball game recently. One team couldn’t miss. Full-court press. Traps. Fast breaks. Running up …

“Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.” – King Canute Back in August we published a post called: “100 Cokes or 1 Mile:…

Concrete didn’t become the default building material because it was fashionable. It won because it made sense. It was durable. It was local. And for a long time, it was the economical choice when you looked at the whole building—not just one line it…

Making it look easy. Adobe For a long time, success in the concrete industry was simple. Know the spec.Hit strength.Keep the schedule moving. If something went wrong, you pointed to the drawings, the mix design, or the standard and moved on. …

CO₂ capture. Because photosynthesis apparently doesn’t matter. (Adobe) I got another message this week. Same theme as a few others.  “Anti-PLC.” “Only talking about it because it draws an audience.”  Maybe it draws an audience because almost nobody…

Fire 'em back up. (Adobe) Every now and then something crosses my screen that stops me mid-scroll. This week it was an argument that coal fly ash might help break China’s chokehold on rare earth elements.  It is not a bad thought. There is real…

Follow the Line. Follow the Money. If you’ve been following the Type IL situation the last few years, you’ve heard every excuse under the sun about why Portland limestone cement suddenly became the “future” of American concrete. We’ve been told it’…

Pipe dream. (Adobe) Every once in a while, the cement industry drops a headline so painfully obvious you wonder if anyone has been awake for the last decade.   This week’s gem?   Europe is sounding the alarm that cement prices could triple by 205…

Changing of the guard. (Adobe) Back in July, we covered the U.S. Department of Energy report A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate. It didn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. The report—written by John C…

A rare glimpse of the Creative Minds of Cement in their natural habitat - a castle. (OpenAI) It was a crisp autumn morning in late 2021 when the tolling of bells echoed through the vaulted halls of Castle Valkenhorst, perched high on a European …

Back in 2011, the cement industry told us portland-limestone cement (PLC) was no risk. The updated State of the Art Report 2024 walks that back. Now it admits PLC can have higher carbonation, chloride ingress, and admixture sensitivity—but don’t wor…

I don’t spend my days at the country club or hanging out in boardrooms. I’m a business development guy in concrete construction. That means I’m chasing projects, knocking on doors, and keeping our name out there. If I end up on a golf course, it’s o…

The Department of Energy just released a report that probably isn’t getting the attention it deserves: A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate (July 2025). It was written by a group of respected scientists—John C…

Cement plant at Lime, Oregon (Credit: Middlebury College) The EPA is trying to roll back the 2009 Endangerment Finding for motor vehicles. I haven’t heard anyone else say it, but I think there’s a chance that move could spill over into cement. The …