In this compelling episode of the Construction Disruption podcast, hosts Todd Miller and Ethan Young of Isaiah Industries sit down with Tim Sperry, the visionary founder behind Carbon Limit and Smog Armor. The discussion delves into Tim's pioneering journey into carbon capture, highlighting revolutionary technologies that convert CO2 into stable minerals within concrete, enhancing durability while combating climate change. Explore the groundbreaking CoolCrete additive, designed to boost solar reflectance and mitigate urban heat islands.
Tim sheds light on the industry's shift towards sustainable materials, the financial implications of carbon credits, and future regulatory landscapes. Insightful and inspiring, this episode reveals not only the technical intricacies of carbon capture but also Tim's personal motivations and philanthropic ambitions. Whether you're a construction professional or a sustainability enthusiast, this episode offers a profound look at the future of green building solutions.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:59 Meet Our Guest: Tim Sperry
01:45 The Science of Carbon Capture
03:13 Exploring Google Scholar
05:51 The Importance of CO2 Capture
08:02 Concrete Innovations
13:47 Quantifying Carbon Capture
16:47 Market Strategy and Future Outlook
22:38 Introducing CoolCrete
23:14 Addressing Urban Heat with Cool Crete
24:16 Benefits of Cool Crete in Reducing Heat
25:30 Energy Savings and Broader Applications
27:27 Future Innovations and Partnerships
31:09 Rapid Fire Questions with Tim Sperry
37:16 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Connect with Tim Online
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-sperry-57b14aa/
Website: https://www.carbonlimit.com/
For more Construction Disruption, listen on Apple Podcasts or YouTube
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn
This episode was produced by Isaiah Industries, Inc.
Construction Disruption was recently featured in this 15 Best Podcasts for Contractors list!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
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Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
00:00:00
Intro: Welcome to the Construction Disruption Podcast, where we
00:00:04
uncover the future of design, building, and remodeling.
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Todd Miller: I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer
00:00:20
of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.
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Today my co host is Ethan Young.
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How are you today, Ethan?
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Ethan Young: I'm doing pretty good, Todd.
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How about you?
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Todd Miller: I'm doing real well also.
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So I heard an interesting statistic the other day.
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Um, I heard that the average dog barks 273 times a day.
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Ethan Young: Wow.
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Okay.
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Todd Miller: Of course, that is just a rough estimate.
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Ethan Young: Oh, geez.
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Okay.
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Todd Miller: Okay.
00:00:46
I don't know if I've told that before or not.
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I hope I haven't.
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Anyway, it's an oldie but a goodie, so it's classified as an oldie
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but a goodie if I have told it.
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Well, let's go ahead and get things rolling here with this
00:00:57
episode of Construction Disruption.
00:00:59
Um, today's guest is going to talk to us about something, um, that I think
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is just being talked about increasingly in the world of architecture,
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engineering, and construction.
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And I think sometimes it's talked about a whole lot more than it's understood.
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And that is carbon capture, helping to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere
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by capturing it in a non damaging way.
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Increasingly, we're seeing some products out there that are said
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to reduce smog and C E C O 2.
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And today we're going to learn about that from our special guest, Tim Sperry.
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Tim is the founder of Carbon Limit and also of Smog Armor.
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Tim, welcome to the show today.
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Thanks for having me on.
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Great to be here.
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Well, we're anxious to learn and glad to have you here today.
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So, um, I think it's You're an interesting guy in that you don't really have a
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degree or formal background in chemistry.
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Um, yet you're on this leading edge technology.
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Uh, love to hear a little bit about yourself and your background and what
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brought you to where you are today.
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Tim Sperry: Sure.
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So, um, yeah, you're absolutely right.
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And I will say in preface this, yeah, half of my family are collegiate level
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educators and the other half are inventors and entrepreneurs, a majority of them
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are self taught and invented some pretty.
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incredible things, uh, from capacitors and gyroscopes and other things
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for hollow spaceship and, uh, international space station to the
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equipment that makes some classified military, uh, equipment and weaponry.
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And I will also say this, you know, I'm an entrepreneur at heart,
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although I did go to college, found the path of material science.
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And midway through, and I even took a zoology course and kind of, you know,
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went, went on the path of material science because I've always been an
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inventor and then made a U turn when I saw how effectively segregated, uh,
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you had your science and business, uh, you know, you were almost on,
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in most universities, it just seems to be there on separate sides of the
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universe and separate sides of campus.
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So I didn't really want to go and live in a lab nor create notches on the
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belt for how many publications and how many patents that I could create.
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So I took the path of Google Scholar, uh, you guys familiar with Google Scholar?
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Yeah, definitely.
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I am not.
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You're going to have to help me out.
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Yeah, most people aren't.
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Um, so if you Google Google Scholar, you don't have to just do it that
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way, but you'll get a new search box and it looks like a regular Google
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search page, uh, and it'll say Google Scholar above the search box.
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Now, every time you plug something in there for a search, it actually
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gives you all of the relative and related publications that
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have been created globally.
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Um, different scientists, different universities.
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It's a mine.
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It's, it's a gold mine of just incredible technologies, um, tests.
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Uh, different materials.
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Uh, it's really, it's really pretty awesome.
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I, I geek out on it quite a bit, but you could go down Google scholar,
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send your 10, 000 hours there and you would become an absolute master at
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whatever it is that you want to do.
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If you're studying, you know, negative emission technologies via inorganic
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materials, as I did, um, getting into negative emission technologies.
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And then to your point of carbon capture, I love to go down the path of carbon
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capture utilization and storage CC us.
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So I pretty much went that pathway to get there.
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Uh, and it's, it's been a really incredible journey.
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And I think I went down that path a little bit before it became so popular
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in the media and such a big deal.
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Uh, I just, it always been something that has been driven from my personal passion
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to want to solve air pollution as I lost family members due to Air polluted, uh,
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that's unfortunately before their times.
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Uh, and I just recently had a child and I'd love for her to enjoy the world
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the way we all have been able to do so.
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Uh, and also thrive in a healthy place that supports her.
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So my driving passion and my reasons why.
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Todd Miller: Very interesting.
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And that's fascinating.
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I mean, I love it when an entrepreneur.
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You know is driven by their passions.
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I think sometimes entrepreneurs are driven by The field that they ended up in and
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suddenly they thought okay I'll just stay in this field, but uh, I love that and
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I need to check out google scholar for sure And just so our audience knows And
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I forgot to mention this earlier, we are doing challenge words this episode, and
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I think in the future, I may use Google Scholar to find my challenge words.
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But anyway, each of us on the show has been given a word by one of the
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others that we've been challenged.
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To work into the conversation.
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So you, the audience can be listening to see what those are.
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Maybe you already heard one or two.
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I don't know.
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Um, but at the end, we'll tell you whether we were successful or not at
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working in, uh, our challenge words.
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So, um, well, let's just for our audience, um, start at ground zero.
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I mean, tell us some of the basics.
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Uh, why is CO2 capture important?
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Um, what is the overall goal of what you're doing?
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And I love that you're driven partly by this little baby you have at home.
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So that's exciting also.
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Tim Sperry: Absolutely.
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Yeah, no, thanks so much for that.
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Um, you know, as As we really look at the world today and we're
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emitting about 50 billion tons of CO2, which is a pretty big number.
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Um, just as we're developing countries and as we're increasing population, I think
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it's a challenge unless we get to absolute net zero, which today we effectively could
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never do that and get off hydrocarbons.
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As the way the world is currently set up, you know, it's going to take some time.
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So as we're continuing to emit more and more CO2, it's
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not actually getting better.
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It's getting worse from increased, uh, extreme heat, uh, extreme weather events.
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You know, we've, we've broken some really bad records this year.
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We've been above 1.
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5 degrees Celsius of warming for over 18 months.
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Not a great place to be because that's what we were trying to
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refrain from doing, uh, up till 2100.
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And.
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The real consensus is now in order for us to really help the planet to
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help do things about the climate, climate crisis, we need to remove CO2
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and removing CO2 is a big challenge.
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Um, there's a lot of novel technologies out there today, but they're able to
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do this much and we need a lot more.
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So it's really important that this It's getting a lot of attention, um, in all
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different circles, as you mentioned in the beginning, uh, and really the idea for
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removing carbon is how can we take carbon that's already in the atmosphere and
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then put it into a solid format where it can't re emit itself into the atmosphere,
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whether that's capturing it and then utilizing it in some form or fashion
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where it won't re emit, or whatever.
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Uh, make it into a super critical liquid state and injecting it down a
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class six well, which is a mouthful.
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Uh, and not the easiest thing to do either.
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Not a lot of classics wells and companies that can do that yet.
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Uh, so really, the idea is how can we.
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More effectively capture and remove some of the carbon that
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we've already put out there.
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And what are those technologies and how can we get them to scale?
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Todd Miller: Very good.
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So I know that originally, as you went down, down this path,
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you were using paint and coatings to capture carbon, capture CO2.
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And now you've moved on to concrete.
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Um, I assume the technology between the two is kind of similar.
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I mean, which is more effective?
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effective.
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Uh, tell us a little bit about the difference between
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those two different paths.
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Tim Sperry: Yeah.
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I mean, even though I'm, you know, the surface, they may look similar,
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they're a hundred percent different.
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Uh, you have a coating that has physical and chemical absorption capability of CO2.
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So it's bonding the CO2 molecules in and around and on the surface and in
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the matrix of, of whatever you have there from a paint or a coating.
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But it's not utilized.
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The CO2 molecules still stay intact.
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And if you were to heat that surface up enough, it would
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start releasing those generally.
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I don't think we're going to get to a point of heating it up enough,
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unless it's on fire or it's put into some extreme heat situation where
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it would release all of that CO2.
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Um, but the difference with that and what we're doing at carbon limits
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with our capture Creek technology, which is a CO2 capturing concrete.
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When the CO2 is absorbed, similarly to how it is on the coating, it's
00:09:14
actually then interacting with the, they call them hydration products in
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the concrete, so the cement and the other, uh, materials in the concrete.
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And it's, transforming, and it's actually a chemical reaction that turns
00:09:27
the CO2 molecule into a solid mineral.
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So it's changing its chemistry and making it into a solid mineral where that will
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stay in solid mineral form unless you heat it above 550 degrees Celsius, which is
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Todd Miller: So I'm curious, how does the amount of, you know, through your
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process and what you're doing, how does the amount of CO2 or carbon you can
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capture compare to the amount of CO2 made in the production of concrete?
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Tim Sperry: So that depends.
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Um, if you look at.
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Traditional concrete and you look at these new concretes.
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I'm sure you guys have have seen and heard and had had some experience.
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Their original Portland cement was generally mixed with sand, gravel, air
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and water to create concrete today.
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It's more.
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Limestone based cements, natural puzzle on basements, fly ash and
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slag that are actually reducing some of the carbon in there already.
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And our product just further makes it more sustainable.
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From a percentage basis, it's hard to say we can capture X number of kilograms
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of CO2 per cubic yard, and that that number can really go on a sliding scale.
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So we could, in effect, maybe capture an additional couple of
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percent, 10, 20 percent of what was made in that original volume.
00:10:52
Carbon event when you're making the cement, because that's majority of that
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carbon footprint comes from, uh, it's just really dependent on the type of concrete,
00:11:00
the use case, the compressive strength.
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Uh, and if it's a road versus a building, uh, if it's a concrete
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block, which is much more porous.
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Uh, so there's not 1 clear answer.
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It's just depends on the type of concrete and the use case there.
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It captures a good amount of CO2, uh, compared to concrete that's
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capturing a very limited amount of CO2, because concrete naturally does
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absorb CO2, but once it absorbs it and it gets in and on that surface
00:11:29
and creates more impenetrable barrier.
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It's kind of like a steak.
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If you're grilling on the outside and you sear it out, you're not going
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to get too much on the inside there.
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From a sear level, you're going to cook it, but it's not going
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to go all the way through.
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Todd Miller: Gotcha.
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Well, I think that's interesting.
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I think one thing, I think a lot of folks, when you think of concreting,
00:11:46
you think of your driveway.
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And people don't realize how many buildings are simply concrete based.
00:11:53
in their structure now as well.
00:11:55
Um, so that's really kind of what you're going after, I assume, is
00:11:58
more that, you know, where it's being used to actually build the building,
00:12:01
maybe not necessarily someone's driveway in the front of their house.
00:12:05
Is that correct?
00:12:06
Or am I off on that?
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Tim Sperry: Um, honestly, we want it everywhere.
00:12:09
Gotcha.
00:12:10
You know, we, we just worked with, uh, with a housing developer here
00:12:13
in Florida, and we did an initial flat work product, uh, project.
00:12:18
So you're thinking sidewalks, you're thinking driveways, then you're
00:12:21
going, uh, to your concrete slabs, uh, for the foundation of the houses,
00:12:26
you can go into exterior stuff.
00:12:27
And then down here in South Florida, we have a bit of, uh, quite a bit of
00:12:31
concrete tiles and rooftop pavers that you can put on there as well, which
00:12:37
lasts up to 50 years, which could capture a lot of CO2, as you have.
00:12:40
Uh, much thinner concrete that has much more exposure and
00:12:43
ability to actually capture, uh, and, and, and utilize that CO2.
00:12:49
Todd Miller: So does what you're doing change the physical property
00:12:53
of the concrete in any way?
00:12:54
Does it, you know, maybe make it stronger over time or any
00:12:58
change at all like that happen?
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Tim Sperry: Exactly.
00:13:01
So we, when we made this.
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The whole idea was, hey, how can we capture as much carbon as possible and
00:13:06
then store it into concrete where it'll stay for up throughout the service life
00:13:10
and even at the end of its service life when you break it and grind it down.
00:13:13
But what we found was that Because the CO2 being captured is creating
00:13:18
solid carbonates, filling in some microcracks, some of the pores, it's
00:13:22
actually making the concrete stronger.
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So we can actually increase the compressive strength, making it
00:13:27
stronger, potentially last longer, uh, and greener and more sustainable,
00:13:31
and potentially able to mitigate and, and reduce the amount of maintenance.
00:13:36
It as a byproduct of its capturing co2 increases compressive strength.
00:13:40
Todd Miller: This may seem like a silly question, but i'm going to
00:13:43
answer it anyway or ask it anyway How do we know what you're doing works?
00:13:47
I mean, how do you measure this?
00:13:49
It seems like a tough thing to to really measure or or uh quantify.
00:13:53
Tim Sperry: Yeah Um, so there's a whole consortium.
00:13:57
It's it's called it's with nist and it's actually government academia industry
00:14:03
It's all of these, um, different groups coming together to determine a one, I
00:14:10
don't know, one solution pathway for, okay, how do we quantify the amount
00:14:15
of carbon being taken up, because they also want to integrate that into what
00:14:18
happens naturally into concrete as, you know, look, We love cement and
00:14:24
concrete manufacturers because we see ourselves having a great partnership and
00:14:28
relationship with them to help make their, make their offerings more sustainable.
00:14:32
They're doing the world a great service and giving it platform and giving it the
00:14:37
foundation to actually live on, which is, you know, all of our roads, all of
00:14:41
our bridges, all of our homes, all the concrete that kind of don't see, you know,
00:14:45
we're, we're all probably sitting on some concrete slab right now, effectively.
00:14:49
Um, so we've, we've actually been working with universities
00:14:55
like University of Miami.
00:14:56
We initially were working, um, with a couple of other universities when we were
00:15:00
based up in Indianapolis, and we're also working with third party labs that take
00:15:06
the concrete and then they determine how much solid carbonates are built up in it.
00:15:11
compared to another piece of concrete without our technology, how much
00:15:15
solid carbonates are built up in there over the same period of time.
00:15:18
And then they just create whatever that delta is, how much more CO2
00:15:22
are we capturing and storing?
00:15:24
So you're actually able to quantify those solid carbonates, i.
00:15:27
e.
00:15:28
the amount of CO2 that's been mineralized into the concrete.
00:15:32
Now the test methods are ASTM, but they're still challenging to really
00:15:38
fully, uh, you know, everyone's wrapping their head around there.
00:15:42
Having a consensus on on those.
00:15:44
Ethan Young: Um, you mentioned something about the, uh, like, you know, They
00:15:47
can still capture concrete throughout a service life Is there sort of
00:15:50
like a saturation point where it's captured like the maximum amount of
00:15:53
co2 it can capture and then it's no longer Is it continuously, you know?
00:15:57
Tim Sperry: That's exactly right So it's effectively like a sponge and you can only
00:16:01
put so much water until that sponge is overwhelmed But we did uh, we've received
00:16:06
Two grants from the, uh, Department of Defense, uh, in partnership with the U.
00:16:12
S.
00:16:12
Army Corps of Engineers.
00:16:13
To actually create feasibility reports, studies, R& D, and show them what we're
00:16:18
doing compared to regular concrete.
00:16:20
And let's say you have a block of regular concrete, and there's a lot of
00:16:24
carbonation on the top, but it doesn't allow any more CO2 to seep in any further.
00:16:28
Versus ours, which accelerates and increases that depth and
00:16:31
increases the amount of carbonation.
00:16:33
We may have gone 70 percent in, and they only went 30 percent in.
00:16:37
So if we go to a hundred, it's just going to stop.
00:16:41
And then it's just, you know, people are, well, what, what
00:16:43
happens to the concrete then?
00:16:44
Well, it serves its purpose.
00:16:45
It's still concrete.
00:16:47
Todd Miller: So what is your go to market strategy?
00:16:50
How are you bringing this technology to market?
00:16:52
It seems like, uh, such a vast market out there.
00:16:55
I'm just kind of curious how you tackle that.
00:16:58
Tim Sperry: You really, really cognizant of the producers themselves, you know, a
00:17:03
producer that's been making concrete the same way for, uh, 20, 30, 50, 100 years
00:17:09
doesn't want to do new stuff, right?
00:17:11
So how do we integrate without, you know, changing that process with adding,
00:17:15
adding a whole bunch of new equipment?
00:17:17
And then also, how do we make them the heroes?
00:17:20
How do we help them, uh, from an adoption standpoint and benefit them?
00:17:24
So we've seen our pathways going the licensing path.
00:17:28
Uh, to actually license our formula to say, Hey, take material A, which is our
00:17:33
natural pozzolan that works this way and has this functionality and material
00:17:37
B, which is our catalyst and add them to the concrete and their specific
00:17:43
concrete at a certain dosage rate to create that carbon capturing effect.
00:17:47
So we work with them hand in hand to say, okay.
00:17:50
Here's how you can make CO2 absorbing and CO2 capturing concrete.
00:17:54
And then we in turn generate carbon credits every time they deploy a
00:17:58
cubic yard of concrete or build a road or a bridge or something else.
00:18:02
Uh, and then we share some of those proceeds as a revenue share for the
00:18:06
carbon credits, and those carbon credits are great for two reasons.
00:18:10
One, uh, carbon credit, uh, signifies a ton of CO2 that's
00:18:15
being captured, stored, or removed.
00:18:18
And two, uh, it's a third party, uh, quantification, and then you also then
00:18:24
can monetize those and sell them to your big tech companies, governments,
00:18:28
and, you know, financial institutions, investors, others that are buying
00:18:31
carbon credits for whatever purposes they have, reducing their carbon
00:18:35
footprint, or meeting ESG goals,
00:18:38
Todd Miller: So what do you figure ends up being the final cost to, uh, you
00:18:43
know, however the concrete is being used?
00:18:46
Tim Sperry: So that's a really good question.
00:18:48
Everybody wants to be green and sustainable, but guess what?
00:18:54
No one wants to pay for it, right?
00:18:55
Absolutely.
00:18:56
Yeah.
00:18:57
And, you know, that was, uh, that was one of our biggest pieces with, all right,
00:19:01
how do we work out these financials?
00:19:03
How do we do the economics here where we can create either cost neutrality?
00:19:07
Or a slight green premium, or maybe even a green, uh, an actual financial return.
00:19:13
So in some instances, we're able to And for different products, maybe for a
00:19:18
concrete product, we have some precast companies that work with us to create
00:19:22
products, they can charge a green premium, or they can just charge the higher tier
00:19:25
of pricing because it's green, it's sustainable, it's capturing CO2, And
00:19:32
for them, it's easier to kind of chew on a little bit of cost, but for the mass
00:19:35
market, and for the ready mix market, which is the majority of what's being
00:19:39
deployed, we got to try to be really understanding and trying to be really
00:19:42
sensitive to those prices, at least today.
00:19:45
You know, there's a small percentage that will pay for more.
00:19:47
So our main, our main objective was, okay, well, how do we get
00:19:50
these materials cheap enough?
00:19:52
And then how do we get a value proposition of a carbon credit that might be able
00:19:55
to pay for those materials when we share those revenues to create the cost
00:19:58
neutrality, or there's some instances, uh, to your question about how does
00:20:03
it affect, you know, the concrete.
00:20:05
If it increases performance enough, you can actually take out some of the
00:20:08
cement to create a cost savings that counteracts that additional cost.
00:20:13
So those are kind of our pathways that that we've found successful.
00:20:16
Todd Miller: What are you seeing down the, the pike?
00:20:19
I mean, I assume that you're seeing, you know, eventually mandates and
00:20:23
things are going to really support what you're doing, uh, and encourage it.
00:20:27
Um, can you talk to us a little bit about, you know, how, how you might
00:20:30
see that playing out in future years?
00:20:32
And maybe it's a crapshoot right now.
00:20:35
I don't know, but, uh, what, what
00:20:37
Tim Sperry: are your thoughts there?
00:20:37
What I'm seeing more from my side of my perspective is there's a
00:20:41
huge customer driven demand, right?
00:20:43
Everyone wants more, and I'm sure you guys are seeing a little bit of this too,
00:20:46
you know, sustainable building materials, sustainable that, or more at least
00:20:49
transparency around, um, you know, an EPD, uh, an environmental product declaration.
00:20:54
So as the competitor A has a sustainable solution that maybe is more marketable
00:20:59
and giving them a leading edge for getting more business and winning
00:21:02
more bids, competitor B is looking for another solution or that solution also.
00:21:06
It's a great.
00:21:07
So we're seeing that competitive landscape actually creating some
00:21:10
opportunity for more adoption.
00:21:12
Uh, and then the carbon credit piece is big because you can quantifiably
00:21:17
convey an environmental attribute of, Hey, this concrete has 50 percent
00:21:21
less CO2 than traditional concrete.
00:21:23
It's great.
00:21:23
That's a good thing for everybody.
00:21:25
Um, so I think we're seeing, I think we're seeing that more than some of
00:21:31
the potential regulations and mandates.
00:21:35
And once those regulations and mandates come in, and I think there's
00:21:38
a little bit of a hold back for some of those regulations and mandates.
00:21:42
And I've seen some, some, some data on this, that there's just
00:21:46
not enough sustainable material to satisfy the whole of the concrete.
00:21:50
Let's say everyone wanted to go to fly ash and slag.
00:21:53
If the whole industry went to fly ash and slag to reduce 25 percent of
00:21:56
their carbon footprint, we'd run out of fly ash and we'd run out of slag.
00:22:00
Potentially.
00:22:01
So if that was the case, then you're mandating something that
00:22:03
couldn't effectively be done.
00:22:05
So you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.
00:22:07
Gotcha.
00:22:08
So I think it's, it's getting there, but the solutions need to scale up.
00:22:12
And the other piece is how does ASTM and these other specification agencies, Keep
00:22:17
up with the rate of innovation, you know, they're generally not great at that.
00:22:22
Todd Miller: Yeah, yeah, you're right.
00:22:23
That's all that all is a process and takes time.
00:22:26
Very interesting.
00:22:27
This is just a fascinating field that you get when you find yourself in and
00:22:31
you're really, truly a pioneer kind of figuring out all the angles of this.
00:22:36
So I'm impressed.
00:22:38
Well.
00:22:38
You've also introduced a product recently called CoolCrete, which I understand
00:22:44
is a concrete additive that helps to enhance solar reflectance and emittance.
00:22:50
Um, sounds pretty fascinating.
00:22:52
Tell us a little bit about that as well.
00:22:54
And I, I assume that just kind of rides right along with the carbon capture.
00:22:59
Tim Sperry: Uh, you're right.
00:23:00
And in fact, it does.
00:23:02
Uh, I would just call this the sister technology.
00:23:04
Really excited about CoolCrete because.
00:23:08
You know, today, this year, we've had the most 110 degrees plus
00:23:12
days in recorded human history.
00:23:14
We've also experienced the two hottest days in recorded human history as well.
00:23:18
Uh, back in July, which again, not, not good things, but as the world's
00:23:23
getting hotter, how do we adopt to some of these things to help us live better
00:23:29
lives and not have any issues with, you know, potentially heat related illnesses
00:23:34
and, you know, potentially worse.
00:23:37
So cool.
00:23:37
Crete was Made as a potential solution to urban heat island effect where
00:23:43
when you have a very densely populated area with a lot of concrete building
00:23:47
materials and it's a hot sunny day, those materials not being organic materials
00:23:51
are actually absorbing this heat and then radiating it out your downtown
00:23:56
where I am close to downtown Miami.
00:23:59
The city could be 10, 20 degrees hotter than ambient temperature
00:24:02
in the middle of the city.
00:24:03
So instead of 100 degree hot, humid day, which sucks down here, by the
00:24:07
way, been in South Florida this time of the year, um, it could be 110, 120.
00:24:12
And now that's not just uncomfortable, but it's potentially dangerous for us.
00:24:16
So with cool Crete, we're using, it's the first, first that we know of, uh, cement
00:24:23
replacement that replaces cement, lowering the carbon footprint 10, 20, 30, 40%.
00:24:30
And then it gives the concrete the properties of being highly reflective
00:24:33
to the sun and the UV coming down.
00:24:36
So it doesn't absorb that heat.
00:24:37
It doesn't radiate that heat.
00:24:38
It's more effective at releasing that heat.
00:24:42
And then the thermal admittance is.
00:24:44
How effectively does it minimize the amount of thermal conductivity,
00:24:47
the amount of heat that's radiated into a building or a home?
00:24:51
Let's say that this is on the outside of a building or a rooftop.
00:24:54
Now, why is that important and why I'm really excited about it?
00:24:58
Say you have a concrete roof in a commercial building, you
00:25:01
know, uh, retail or your house.
00:25:04
If you have a darker roof, if you have a roof that absorbs a lot of
00:25:08
heat and that transfers heat into your home, your air conditioning is
00:25:12
turning on more, more frequently to counteract that heat to keep it cooler.
00:25:16
You know, not great for the AC, can definitely burn them out faster.
00:25:20
On top of that, it's not great for your electric bill.
00:25:22
So let's say you're increasing your electricity bill 10, 20, 30,
00:25:24
40 percent because of this heat.
00:25:27
We could potentially be that solution to minimize that.
00:25:30
Uh, let's, you know, our, our, our results with one of our
00:25:34
partners that's launching concrete.
00:25:35
And I, that's why I'm talking about roots is a rooftop paver.
00:25:39
And their results from the control without our technology to the paper
00:25:44
with our technology is we're reducing about up to 10 to 11 degrees Celsius.
00:25:49
You're almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit there.
00:25:51
Every 1 degree Celsius that you could cool the interior of a building.
00:25:56
You could reduce 3 to 5 percent of your electricity bill for cooling.
00:26:00
And that's a, you know, a pretty significant number.
00:26:03
If, if that 10, 10 degrees Celsius translated directly into 10
00:26:07
degrees Celsius of cooling in your building, 30 to 50 percent of your
00:26:10
cooling bill would be reduced.
00:26:12
That's a big number and we can't make a claim because every roof, every
00:26:16
installation, every air conditioning, every property would be different.
00:26:19
So you have to really see, you know, what are those variables to determine how much
00:26:23
potential energy reduction we can achieve.
00:26:26
But the other big one is data centers.
00:26:28
Data centers are super energy hungry, and if you keep those
00:26:31
hot, they need to keep cooler.
00:26:33
We can cool those down.
00:26:34
We could put it on sidewalks.
00:26:35
You could put it in around roads.
00:26:38
It reduces the surface level temperature everywhere.
00:26:42
Todd Miller: Well, I love that.
00:26:42
And of course, in the metal roofing industry, we've worked
00:26:45
with that for a number of years.
00:26:46
Also, in terms of coatings and things to make our products more reflective
00:26:51
and emissive, we've worked with a lot with Florida Solar Energy Center
00:26:56
there at UCF and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley
00:27:01
National Lab as well, and a lot of great research being done into that area.
00:27:07
Um, another area that we're seeing, and I'll just throw this
00:27:10
out there, that a lot of work is being done is, um, thermal breaks.
00:27:15
And so, you know, how can you include a thermal break in with a concrete
00:27:20
product in order to help minimize that heat conduction as well?
00:27:25
So cool stuff you're doing.
00:27:27
Any thoughts on what might be next to your company for your company?
00:27:30
You are, uh, uh, over.
00:27:32
What do I say here?
00:27:33
He's just really pushing the envelope in so many areas.
00:27:36
Tim Sperry: Yeah.
00:27:37
You know, um, if my team would let me, I would create nonstop.
00:27:41
Um, you know, I love coming up with these new inventions.
00:27:44
I have a bunch of them, but, you know, staying the path of, you know, keeping
00:27:48
my blinders on so we can really create a significant positive environmental impact.
00:27:53
And then we want to also inspire other companies and other founders, other
00:27:56
entrepreneurs and other inventors to create more solutions similar to this.
00:28:00
You know, I was just, we had a town hall for our company yesterday,
00:28:04
our first town hall for the year.
00:28:07
You know, I was saying at the end, look, if this was 10 years ago, Carbon Limit
00:28:11
would probably be a charity because companies like this just weren't really
00:28:16
a big deal back then they weren't really, you know, something that could create
00:28:19
massive wealth or had huge valuations because what we were doing was too
00:28:24
related on, you know, either credits or other things to actually create value.
00:28:29
Um, So for us, for what's next, it's really creating these meaningful and
00:28:35
these significant partnerships with the cement and concrete industry and the
00:28:39
producers and then also very large project developers, you know, working with data
00:28:43
centers, working with, um, and we're actually, you know, still in process,
00:28:47
but we've been in the Middle East quite a bit, uh, to work and try to find ways to
00:28:51
partner with some of these giga projects, which we're currently engaging with.
00:28:55
So just really excited about where we can go with this technology, how we can
00:29:00
help benefit not only ourselves and other concrete producers, but you know, the
00:29:05
society and the environment altogether.
00:29:08
Uh, so we just look for these win, win, win partnerships.
00:29:11
And, and we're really excited about it more so that, you know, when
00:29:15
we first started this company, um, back in 2021, Uh, when we did our
00:29:20
customer discovery, we were getting a bunch of, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:29:23
Like, sounds cool.
00:29:24
You know, no one cared.
00:29:26
Nobody cared.
00:29:27
And then October was the shift where the Global Cement and Concrete
00:29:31
Association said, okay, we're going to net zero and we're reducing 25
00:29:34
percent of carbon footprint by 2030.
00:29:37
That's tomorrow in that industry.
00:29:39
So all of a sudden, all those calls that were pretty cold called back to us
00:29:42
and they're, Hey, how about that stuff?
00:29:44
So, you know, the interest and the rate of adoption and just like the,
00:29:50
where the world is today is really exciting for a company like ours.
00:29:52
So it gives us a lot of validation.
00:29:54
It gives the team a lot of motivation.
00:29:56
And, you know, we surround ourselves with such amazing human beings that are
00:29:59
doing things that are helping not only.
00:30:01
You know, themselves, but their families, future generations in the world.
00:30:04
So it's, it's an exciting place for us.
00:30:06
Todd Miller: Well, I love the fact that you're that entrepreneur that
00:30:09
is always pushing and want to be there developing and leading the way.
00:30:13
And I know sometimes I can try that in our company and, um, people are like, um,
00:30:18
yeah, Todd, but, uh, we're carnivores.
00:30:20
We like to eat.
00:30:21
So we also have to be doing what we're doing to eat every day as well.
00:30:24
But, uh, no, that's great stuff.
00:30:26
And I think that's how the advancements take places.
00:30:29
Yeah.
00:30:29
You got to have somebody that's driving those advancements and has that kind of,
00:30:33
uh, curiosity, uh, to keep pushing ahead.
00:30:36
So cool stuff.
00:30:37
Well, um, Tim, that's been a great time talking to you.
00:30:40
We're kind of close to wrapping up what we sort of call the business end of things.
00:30:44
Is there anything we haven't covered today that you wanted to
00:30:47
be sure to share with our audience?
00:30:50
Tim Sperry: Uh, no, I think, uh, this is a great conversation.
00:30:54
Always like to share and always like to find what's relatable and what's good
00:30:57
and what will help, you know, provide more education about what we're doing
00:31:01
because we're solving an invisible problem and, you know, it's, it's,
00:31:04
it's good to create that education.
00:31:05
So, uh, I really enjoyed the conversation.
00:31:08
Todd Miller: Great.
00:31:08
Well, we have as well.
00:31:09
Well, uh, we'd like to invite you to do something we invite every
00:31:13
guest to do, which is what we call our rapid fire questions.
00:31:17
Um, Tim, these are seven questions.
00:31:19
They're going to be out of the blue.
00:31:20
You have no idea what we're going to ask.
00:31:22
Are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?
00:31:24
I'm up to challenges, yes.
00:31:26
Awesome.
00:31:27
Well, we will alternate asking.
00:31:28
Ethan, you want to ask question number one?
00:31:30
Ethan Young: Yeah, I can do the first one.
00:31:31
What's a product or service that you've acquired recently that was
00:31:34
like a real game changer for you?
00:31:36
Tim Sperry: Product or service that we've acquired as a company?
00:31:39
Ethan Young: Or you personally, either way.
00:31:41
Tim Sperry: So I think it was our, our CRM that we acquired because as we're
00:31:46
formalizing and going from startup to growth scale up mode, you know,
00:31:49
going from a very loosely held thing to like, Hey, we can see how actually
00:31:53
everything looks and where everything is.
00:31:55
That was, I think a huge, uh, a huge boost and a huge kind of evolution for us.
00:31:59
So.
00:32:00
It's called ClickUp and it was helping us with the CRM and kind
00:32:03
of connecting all of our teams.
00:32:04
Once, once we're bigger than fitting around a small
00:32:07
table, that was huge for us.
00:32:08
Ethan Young: Gotcha.
00:32:09
Yeah.
00:32:09
That definitely makes a big difference.
00:32:10
You said that was QuickUp or ClickUp?
00:32:13
Tim Sperry: Uh, ClickUp.
00:32:13
Oh, okay.
00:32:15
Yeah.
00:32:15
Yeah.
00:32:16
And those can be like integrated into Salesforce and other things
00:32:19
that we're, we're now looking at too.
00:32:20
Yeah.
00:32:21
Todd Miller: Well, shout out to ClickUp and, uh, we'll include a lot of this
00:32:24
stuff in the show notes as well for folks.
00:32:26
So, um, question number two, if I asked the elementary school, Tim,
00:32:31
what he wanted to be when he grew up, what would he have told me?
00:32:33
Tim Sperry: I always wanted to be an inventor.
00:32:35
I always invented things.
00:32:36
I even made like, uh, I made stuff when I was a kid.
00:32:39
So I always dreamed of really inventing things and then traveling a lot.
00:32:44
And I got both of those, but now I want to dial back that traveling a lot
00:32:48
part because I was traveling like every week and it was getting a little crazy.
00:32:52
So, uh, I, I was right on cue.
00:32:55
Ethan Young: That's awesome.
00:32:56
Alrighty.
00:32:56
Next question is kind of taking it the other direction, but what are
00:32:59
your plans after you retire from working on, you know, All these
00:33:03
energy saving technology and stuff.
00:33:05
Are you going to kind of be a philanthropist still going after
00:33:08
the same goals or you think something totally different?
00:33:10
Tim Sperry: Um right now I want to Be more on the philanthropist side as
00:33:15
well as on the creative platform for other technologies other inventors
00:33:20
Other potential businesses, you know, I've been through a lot of different
00:33:25
accelerators from tech stars to Google's climate change accelerators and a lot
00:33:29
of these other accelerators where they help these businesses become formal
00:33:32
businesses and actually go from, you know, napkin napkin sketch to actual
00:33:38
business model and financial model.
00:33:40
I'd love to help others to create these businesses and also, you know, um,
00:33:46
selfishly, I want a platform that's got all the elements around it that
00:33:49
could create all of my ideas and my inventions and rapid fire, rapid pace.
00:33:54
So I, I, I would love to just continue to help.
00:33:58
Other people achieve and realize their dreams and bring
00:34:00
other things to the world.
00:34:01
Uh, I call 'em society plus businesses.
00:34:03
Businesses that help society and that help the environment.
00:34:06
Something that's good for everybody.
00:34:08
Todd Miller: Yeah, I love it.
00:34:09
Awesome.
00:34:10
Question number four.
00:34:12
Well, you said you've traveled a lot and you enjoyed that at
00:34:14
least to a, to a certain extent.
00:34:16
But do you still have a bucket list vacation out there, something
00:34:19
you'd like to do someday?
00:34:21
I'm a lot.
00:34:22
Um,
00:34:23
Tim Sperry: yeah, a lot.
00:34:24
I want to go all over Asia.
00:34:25
Um, I haven't had a chance to do so much that, uh, specific locations
00:34:30
going into like Thailand, Hong Kong.
00:34:33
Um, I'm, I'm, I'm also more of a, even though I live in this
00:34:37
South Florida paradise and tropical area, like, I love it.
00:34:40
Like I love heat.
00:34:41
Um, I know they have this new thing that's called cool Cations where people
00:34:45
are going to like Copenhagen and cooler places because it's getting hotter.
00:34:48
I love the heat.
00:34:49
You know, so I love being in tropical places.
00:34:52
I'm from Southern California originally, so I also like to have
00:34:56
mountains in the background, which is the one thing that I'm missing here.
00:34:58
So places like that, Bora Bora, you know, cool spots like that, that I
00:35:02
haven't been to yet that I look to go to.
00:35:05
Ethan Young: Very
00:35:05
Tim Sperry: nice.
00:35:06
Ethan Young: Um, this next question, this one's always an interesting one for
00:35:08
me to hear what people's answers are.
00:35:10
But if you could instantly master any skill, what would that skill be?
00:35:14
Speed reading.
00:35:15
Mm, that's a useful one, yeah.
00:35:16
I like
00:35:17
Tim Sperry: that.
00:35:17
Yeah, I, I love reading.
00:35:19
I, and when I say reading, I mean typically listening to books because
00:35:23
I just don't have enough time to read.
00:35:24
I listen to at least a book a week, sometimes two.
00:35:27
Uh, but if I could speed read as well, um, cause I listen to, I can speed
00:35:31
listen right now really well, but the speed reading I want to get done.
00:35:36
Todd Miller: Well, that said, I'm going to change what I
00:35:38
planned for the next question.
00:35:40
Um, what is a good book you've read or listened to recently that you
00:35:44
would recommend to our audience?
00:35:46
Tim Sperry: Oh, I gave this out as our company Bible.
00:35:49
Um, you know, a couple of years back, uh, was Buddha and the
00:35:53
badass by vision Lafayette.
00:35:54
He's the founder of mind Valley and to have these really cool courses on, on
00:35:59
different parts of life and mastery.
00:36:01
And, uh, there's actually one by Jim quick, which is speed reading.
00:36:04
So I can get into that one too.
00:36:06
Um, so that one I, I think is usually good for a general audience
00:36:11
because it can apply to everyone.
00:36:13
It's, it's not a business book and it's called Buddha.
00:36:16
It is and it isn't a business book and it's kind of a personal
00:36:18
development book as well.
00:36:20
And it's Buddha and the Badass, but it's nothing to do with religion.
00:36:24
Um, so a really cool one that I, I, I'm always recommending
00:36:27
on a generalized basis.
00:36:29
Some of the books that I listen to are super crazy and unless you're
00:36:33
ready for it, you won't get it.
00:36:36
Todd Miller: Well, if you're that kind of volume of reading and listening
00:36:39
to books, I understand that too.
00:36:41
Good stuff.
00:36:42
Yeah.
00:36:43
Well, Badass.
00:36:44
I think I've heard of that, but I'm going to check it out.
00:36:46
Ethan Young: Thank you.
00:36:47
Um, all right, last question.
00:36:49
Um, what do you want to be remembered for at the end of your days?
00:36:52
How
00:36:52
Tim Sperry: much impact and how many people I've helped.
00:36:56
You know, I, I, I love to, I love to do things that, that I can, you know,
00:37:00
help create with others and help others become the best version of themselves.
00:37:04
Um, and I just love having these great mutually beneficial relationships.
00:37:08
And, you know, sometimes it's more fulfilling just to give than it is to get.
00:37:12
Uh, so really that impact, um, and then how many people I've helped.
00:37:16
Todd Miller: Good answer.
00:37:16
Well, Tim, this has been fantastic.
00:37:18
Thank you again.
00:37:19
For folks who would like to get in touch with you or perhaps learn
00:37:23
more about Carbon Limit or, or Coolcrete, um, how can they do that?
00:37:28
Give us some, uh, websites or whatever works.
00:37:31
Tim Sperry: Sure.
00:37:32
So I'm the worst social media person and maybe I shouldn't create a selfie.
00:37:36
The flame prophecy on that one, but I am sometimes on LinkedIn.
00:37:40
So if you want to try to reach me on LinkedIn, um, you can certainly find
00:37:43
me, Tim Sperry, uh, carbon limit.
00:37:45
And, uh, there's also carbon limit.
00:37:48
com and with carbon limit.
00:37:50
com, you can look at capture, create our CO2 capturing
00:37:53
concrete as well as cool create.
00:37:55
Uh, and that's, that's, that's generally the best way to catch me or
00:37:58
to learn a little bit more about us.
00:38:00
Todd Miller: Very good.
00:38:01
Well, um, so our audience knows, I think we were all successful
00:38:05
working in our challenge boards.
00:38:06
Ethan, your word was?
00:38:08
Mine was philanthropist.
00:38:10
You got it
00:38:11
Ethan Young: in there in your question.
00:38:12
Good job.
00:38:12
I did.
00:38:13
I modified one of the questions.
00:38:14
That's usually my trick if I can't find another spot.
00:38:17
So.
00:38:18
And Tim, your word was?
00:38:20
Tim Sperry: Zoology.
00:38:21
And I got it in like, My first, uh, little spit.
00:38:24
So, so
00:38:25
Todd Miller: what was it like taking a zoology class?
00:38:27
Did you enjoy that?
00:38:28
Tim Sperry: Uh, you know, I actually did take the class.
00:38:30
I didn't just make that up to fit the word in there, but yeah, it was good.
00:38:33
It was, it was, um, it was my first year at University of Wisconsin
00:38:37
Madison and it was interesting.
00:38:39
So, uh, I really, I really enjoyed the college experience, um, at that point.
00:38:46
So I had some really interesting classes.
00:38:48
The one that always sticks out to me is called the brain demystified.
00:38:51
And the first day of class, they had a 3d projector that they had a real
00:38:54
live human brain on and they cut it up.
00:38:56
And I was like, wow, this is cool.
00:38:58
It was the first day of class.
00:38:59
So, and I think that was right after my zoology class.
00:39:02
So it's why it stuck out so much.
00:39:04
Todd Miller: Good stuff.
00:39:05
Well, the word I had was carnivore, which I kind of worked in
00:39:08
awkwardly, but I got it in there.
00:39:10
So it
00:39:11
Ethan Young: worked.
00:39:11
Yeah.
00:39:12
Todd Miller: Well, thank you again, Tim.
00:39:13
That's been great.
00:39:14
Thank you for being on the show.
00:39:16
Yeah.
00:39:16
It's been a pleasure.
00:39:17
Really great to be on with you guys.
00:39:19
And thank you to our audience for tuning into this very special
00:39:21
episode of Construction Disruption with Tim Sperry of Carbon Limit.
00:39:26
Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.
00:39:29
Uh, we always have great guests.
00:39:30
Don't forget to leave a review or give us a thumbs up, whatever's appropriate.
00:39:34
Until the next time we're together, though, keep on disrupting and
00:39:36
challenging, looking for better solutions.
00:39:37
Better ways to doing things.
00:39:39
And don't forget to have a positive impact on everyone that you encounter.
00:39:43
So God bless and take care.
00:39:45
This is Isaiah industry signing off until the next episode
00:39:48
of construction disruption.
00:39:51
Intro: This podcast is produced by Isaiah industries, manufacturer of specialty
00:39:56
metal roofing and other building products.
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