Tim Sperry is the Founder and CEO of Boca Raton, Florida-based Carbon Limit, the maker of CaptureCrete. He founded the company in 2020 after recognizing concrete’s huge environmental price — it accounts for about 6% of annual global emissions. CaptureCrete is a powder additive for concrete mixes that extracts up to 220 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air per ton, locking it into the concrete as a stable mineral. CaptureCrete’s impact, after accounting for the CO2 it absorbs, is only about 25% of traditional concrete. But this wasn’t Tim's first shot at carbon capture for the built environment. Previously, he developed a paint additive that absorbed CO2 and other pollutants. Carbon Limit was named GreenBiz’s Startup of the Year at Verge 2023.

Building and operating homes, skyscrapers, factories, and freeways and generates about 10 gigaton of CO2, or about 40% of the emissions associated with energy use on the planet. The ability to tie carbon credits to building and infrastructure projects is key. When you can sell a carbon removal credit for around $200 a ton, the cost of a building can change rapidly. For example, if you’re building a skyscraper that’s 40 stories tall, you might need 4,000 or so cubic meters or concrete, which represents about 5700 tons of the material. With carbon credits that cost $200 per ton, that concrete represents a potential subsidy for the project of $1.1 million dollars. If we’re talking about a mile of freeway, which requires about 17,200 tons of concrete, the credits generated by CaptureCrete’s absorption of CO2 might be worth $3.4 million per mile of roadway. That’s real money, real savings that can make projects reach break-even sooner during the life of the building. You can learn more about CaptureCrete and Carbon Limit at https://www.carbonlimit.com/