Carbon dioxide spews from the smokestacks of power plants, refineries, and factories, ending up in the atmosphere, where it causes global warming.

Many companies are researching methods to capture some of that CO2 and store it in a safe way.

Constantz: “In our case, we turn it into limestone.”

Brent Constantz is CEO of Blue Planet. The company has developed technology for capturing CO2 from power plants or other sources. They then use it as a raw material for making synthetic limestone, which can be used to make concrete for roads, bridges, and buildings.

He says turning carbon into a mineral is a permanent way to keep it out of the atmosphere.

Constantz: “You can tear down the building, you can do whatever you want, it’s still in the limestone, it’s not going anywhere.”

Making concrete this way also cuts back on the need to mine and transport natural limestone, so it reduces the concrete industry’s own environmental impact.

Blue Planet’s materials have already been used as part of a new terminal at the San Francisco Airport. And there’s a worldwide market for concrete.

Constantz: “And so it can pay for itself. So you don’t need to go to government for a subsidy or invoke a tax or tariff to do it.”

So you might say this is a concrete way to reduce global warming.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media.