We warned about water stress in 2024. It has hit home. | AI generated. "Data centers use millions of gallons of water every day." You've probably heard that statement before. Maybe you've even repeated it. But let's stop for a second. What is a…

RGGI headquarters in NY | Wikipedia In a recent post, I wrote about 10 Reasons Virginia Power Bills Are Going Up, and Data Centers Are Just One. The point was simple. Data centers are part of the story. They are not the whole story. Virginia’s …

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-…

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 press con…

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…

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…

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 the data cente…

"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 this f…

“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:…

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 merger still 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.”  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…

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 you read thro…

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…

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 …

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 won’t have to hi…