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 frustr…

The energy didn't disappear. It moved. | OpenAIIf 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.R…

 I was driving home from work the other day and was almost to the entrance of my neighborhood. The right lane was coned off, and there were four or five Dominion trucks lined up.Crews were setting new power poles.Nothing dramatic. No pres…

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 captur…

Imagine building this without concrete. | Getty Images "Those who talk should do and only those who do should talk." - Nassim Nicholas TalebData center owners have a concrete problem.Most of them just do not see it yet.Conc…

What a load of GOB | Credit Cardinal News"The economy is a derivative of energy."- Doomberg I am part of the 7x24 Central Virginia Exchange Education Committee. It's a committee that is part of 7x24, a networking group for…

"Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them."- Nassim Nicholas Taleb If you live in the U.S., Australia looks like the place that should have t…

“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. Tr…

“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:…

When the lights get expensive, everything else follows.For the last few years, Europe has been trying to run an industrial economy on wishful thinking.It looked fine in speeches. It looked even better in press releases.Then the bill showed up.…

Proven technology. Georgia Power.The Trump Media + TAE Fusion Power mergerstill reads like a deal someone dreamed up in the airport bar during a 3-hour delay.A social media company with meme-stock metabolism merges with a f…

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.”…

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 though…

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 concr…

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 cou…

Progress. (Adobe)Dominion Energy just filed its 2025 Renewable Portfolio Standard plan with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. It’s their roadmap for meeting Virginia’s renewable energy mandates under the Clean Economy Act.If y…

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—…

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 Euro…

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…

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&…

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 …

 The EPA is moving to roll back the 2009 Endangerment Finding — at least for motor vehicles — and with it, scrap the CO₂ limits that were supposed to tighten the screws on model years 2027 through 2032. If this happens, automakers…

Three Gorges Dam | DoombergI was recently catching up on my favorite Substacker Doomberg's insightful piece titled "Five Dams in Tibet," discussing China's colossal Medog hydroelectric project. Scrolling through the comments, I stumbled upon a sta…

 The U.S. just took a big swing in the fight for supply chain independence.Through a $400 million investment, the Department of Defense became the largest shareholder in MP Materials, the only company mining rare earth elements in the Unite…