Latest news with #SublimeSystems
TechCrunch
30-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Trump administration to claw back $3.7B in clean energy and manufacturing awards
The Department of Energy announced today that it would be clawing back $3.7 billion worth of awards made under the Biden administration for clean energy and manufacturing. Large corporations and growing startups were caught up in the decision. Energy secretary Chris Wrights said the moves were 'due diligence' on the part of the Trump administration. His statement did not cite specific reasons why the projects were canceled, but pointed to a memorandum he issued on May 15, which suggests that the department may attempt to use its audit powers to rescind the awards. In total, 24 projects are affected by the move, including ones being developed by oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil, food manufacturer Kraft Heinz, industrial heat startup Skyven, cement and alumina startup Brimstone, and cement startup Sublime Systems. Here's a sampling of some of the awards in jeopardy: American Cast Iron Pipe Company (metal manufacturing): $75 million Brimstone Energy (low-carbon materials): $189 million Calpine's Baytown Energy Center (natural gas power plant): $270 million Calpine's Sutter Energy Center (natural gas power plant): $270 million Eastman Chemical Company's Longview Plant (molecular plastic recycling): $375 million Exxon Mobil's Baytown Olefins Plant (chemical plant): $331.9 million Skyven Technologies (heat pump steam generation): $15.3 million Sublime Systems (low carbon cement): $86.9 million Sublime told TechCrunch that it was caught off guard. 'Sublime was surprised and disappointed to receive the news about the termination of our Industrial Demonstrations Program award, given the clear progress we've made in scaling our American-invented technology, partnering with some of the Western World's largest cement producers, and generating a bankable customer base,' spokesperson Rob Kreis said via email. The startup is evaluating its options to continue scaling up its operations. Brimstone is hopeful things that things could be resolved with the DOE. Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW 'Given our project's strong alignment with President Trump's priority to increase U.S. production of critical minerals, we believe this was a misunderstanding. Brimstone's Rock Refinery represents the only economically viable way to produce the critical mineral alumina in the U.S. from U.S.-mined rocks,' Brimstone spokesperson Liza Darwin told TechCrunch via email. 'As the first U.S.-based alumina plant in a generation, our project — which would also make portland cement —would clear a 'mine-to-metal' path for U.S. aluminum production, fortifying the U.S. critical mineral supply chain and creating thousands of jobs,' she added.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Why Microsoft just signed a deal for green cement
HighlightsMicrosoft Corporation is partnering with Sublime Systems to purchase up to 622,500 metric tons of low-carbon cement products over six to nine years, allowing Microsoft to claim the associated carbon reductions in its emissions accounting. Sublime Systems' innovative electrochemical process significantly reduces emissions by eliminating limestone, a major contributor to carbon dioxide release during traditional cement production, achieving a 90% reduction in emissions compared to conventional cement. The deal highlights the challenges in the construction industry to adopt low-carbon alternatives due to risk aversion and higher costs, emphasizing the need for verifiable environmental attribute certificates to ensure the legitimacy of claimed carbon reductions. Microsoft Corp. is partnering with Sublime Systems to reduce its indirect greenhouse gas emissions through a first-of-a-kind deal to buy low-carbon cement products from the startup. Under the contract, Microsoft can purchase up to 622,500 metric tons of Sublime's cement over a period of six to nine years. Microsoft can claim the carbon reductions associated with that cement in its own emissions accounting, even if it doesn't use the material itself. If Microsoft passes on buying the product, the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Sublime can sell it to local buyers but the software giant still gets to claim the carbon savings. Sublime uses an electrochemical process that eliminates limestone, which is cement's main ingredient and releases carbon dioxide when it's heated up and broken down. Microsoft's push to build more data centre s supporting artificial intelligence has driven the company further away from its goal of becoming carbon-negative by 2030. That AI expansion has helped boost the tech giant's emissions by 30% since 2020. More than 96% of the company's emissions are Scope 3, or indirect, and materials like cement used in data centre construction make up a big share of them. It's Microsoft's first time doing a deal like this for building materials, though the company and others have used the same approach for sustainable aviation fuel and renewable energy. Called an environmental attribute certificate, it allows the purchasing company to make a sustainability claim based on environmentally friendly goods — like clean jet fuel, renewable electricity or low-carbon cement — that it didn't use directly. But these certificates often promise more than they deliver, research shows. 'Our priority, first and foremost, is always buying and installing low-carbon materials physically that are already on the market today,' said Katie Ross, Microsoft's director of carbon reduction strategy and market development. 'But the challenge is they don't exist at the scale or in all of the locations that we need to procure today.' The companies declined to say how much the deal is worth. The challenges of green cement It's not just a Microsoft problem. Although cement accounts for about 8% of global emissions, it's hard to decarbonise partly because construction is a risk-averse industry with thin margins and high safety standards, according to Nik Sawe, a senior policy analyst in the industry program at Energy Innovation Policy and Technology LLC, an energy and climate think tank. That means construction companies have been reluctant to take up cement alternatives developed by startups, which are cleaner but also currently more expensive and untested in the real world. At its 250-ton-per-year pilot plant in Somerville, Sublime has reduced emissions by 90% compared to traditional cement, according to Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Leah Ellis. Sublime will start delivering on its deal with Microsoft when its first 30,000-ton commercial plant is operational. It's slated to be completed in 2027. Cement is heavy, and transporting it over long distances doesn't make sense economically, Ellis said. The deal allows Microsoft to support the scale-up of Sublime's technology even if it doesn't have a construction project near the startup's plant, she added. Do environmental attribute certificates work? In the past, some of these certificates have supported renewable projects that would have been developed anyway, meaning they didn't help bring additional wind and solar online as promised, studies show. Microsoft has said it plans to phase out its use of unbundled renewable energy certificates in future years. If deals like the one the company signed with Sublime proliferate, the clean cement industry will need to prove that the certificates it is offering are verifiable and avoid carbon emissions that manufacturers would have generated otherwise, according to a 2024 report on structuring demand for lower-carbon materials co-published by RMI and Microsoft. That includes ensuring that the products' environmental benefits aren't double-counted, or claimed by multiple entities as a reduction on their emissions ledger. 'Checks must be in place along the way to increase confidence that every purchase of a certificate will deliver its expected outcome,' the report's authors wrote. For this deal with Microsoft, other customers who buy Sublime's cement won't be able to lay claim to its environmental benefits, Ellis said.
Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Sublime Systems and Microsoft Sign Binding, Long-Term Purchase, Transforming the Market for Clean Cement
SOMERVILLE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In its latest move to shape its future supply chain, Microsoft is contracting with Sublime Systems to verifiably reduce construction emissions through a binding purchase of low-carbon cement manufactured with Sublime's breakthrough American-invented technology. 'We need breakthrough, reimagined products like Sublime Cement at scale to reduce emissions—both at Microsoft and globally," said Jeff Leeper, Vice President of Global Datacenter Construction at Microsoft. Microsoft's purchase will deploy up to 622,500 metric tons of Sublime Cement® over a six- to nine-year period. Deliveries will come from Sublime's first commercial factory in Holyoke, Mass. and its subsequent full-scale production factory. Sublime's Holyoke plant is designed to eliminate scale-up risk to progress to full megaton-scale Sublime plants—a trajectory accelerated by Microsoft's purchase. Sublime's manufacturing process avoids conventional sources of carbon emissions and other pollution, a 'true-zero' technology that forgoes the need for carbon capture, enabling cost competitiveness at full-scale production. 'In designing creative transactions such as this one with Sublime, Microsoft aims to accelerate the mass production and adoption of clean construction materials, enabling innovators to overcome the real, acute challenges of scaling in heavy industries with existing manufacturing capacity,' said Jeff Leeper, Vice President of Global Datacenter Construction at Microsoft. 'We need breakthrough, reimagined products like Sublime Cement at scale to reduce emissions—both at Microsoft and globally.' 'This purchase enables Microsoft to access Sublime's low-carbon cement technology regardless of where their construction is,' said Sublime Systems CEO and Co-founder Dr. Leah Ellis. 'This solves a previously intractable challenge for clean cement scale-up: the lack of long-term cement transactions contrasted with the immediate need for innovators to demonstrate bankable customers to fund their manufacturing. Microsoft is stepping up as the first customer for our future megaton-scale plant, enabling us to more rapidly build and scale Sublime Cement as a global, enduring solution for clean construction.' Microsoft has secured a priority option to purchase and deploy Sublime Cement in its construction projects when geographically possible, at their datacenters, office buildings, and other infrastructure. Through this novel contract, the environmental attribute certificates (EACs) of Sublime Cement can be purchased separately from the physical cement material—a similar mechanism to decoupling renewable energy certificates from the electron at the point of clean electricity production. This model is powerful when applied to heavy industry like cement, which is typically produced within a tight geographic radius of customer construction projects. 'To reach net zero, the world needs innovative technology solutions like Sublime Cement. At Microsoft, our focus is growing the market for these solutions,' said Katie Ross, Director, Carbon Reduction Strategy & Market Development at Microsoft. 'While we prioritize deploying physical material whenever possible, this EAC approach helps both buyers and sellers overcome geographic, supply chain, cost, and other barriers that make it challenging to introduce new technologies.' Microsoft's purchase of Sublime Cement EACs will be third-party verified, and it's expected to be managed on a future book and claim system. This follows a 2024 memorandum of understanding, where the two parties committed to developing a book and claim transaction that was verifiable, additional, and catalytic. It complements efforts from organizations such as RMI (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute), who published a white paper with Microsoft on a book and claim model for the materials sector and who is partnering with the Center for Green Market Activation on the development of a book and claim system in partnership with other leaders in clean concrete technologies. Sublime is currently developing its first commercial factory in Holyoke, harnessing rich industrial infrastructure to bring quality manufacturing jobs back to a city that was once the world's biggest paper manufacturer. With an up-to $87 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy, Sublime is working to reshore and modernize American cement manufacturing, strengthen American supply chains, increase energy efficiency, and lead innovation of an essential material. It produces Sublime Cement as an ASTM-compliant replacement in concrete for ordinary portland cement (OPC), which is made in kilns running at 1450°C to decompose the feedstock limestone, a mineral that is roughly 50% CO 2 by weight. Sublime's breakthrough electrochemical process breaks down the entirety of its rock and industrial waste feedstocks, avoiding the pollution and waste that have characterized cement manufacturing for over 200 years while improving energy efficiency. Low-carbon Sublime Cement is more durable than legacy OPC and can exhibit premium qualities such as lighter color, desirable for aesthetics and reduction of urban heat island effect. Microsoft's binding offtake follows successful commercial deployments of Sublime Cement demonstrating the material poured and placed like conventional cement. Sublime is partnering with industry-leading general contractors to further accelerate adoption through the construction supply chain. To inquire about integrating Sublime Cement into your construction, email partnerships@ About Sublime Systems Sublime Systems is commercializing breakthrough technology to manufacture cement more energy and resource efficiently. Sublime's electrochemical, ambient-temperature process breaks down low-value rocks and industrial wastes into its constituents: reactive cementitious ingredients and critical mineral co-products. It avoids the waste and emissions characteristic of portland cement manufacturing while producing a similar ASTM-compliant Sublime Cement® that is more durable, more consistent, and whiter in color than portland cement. Sublime was founded by Dr. Leah Ellis and Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, both respected experts in materials science and electrochemical systems. The company has raised over $200M in funding from leading tech investors, cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy, and three of the largest cement producers in the western world: Holcim, Amrize, and CRH. It operates a Somerville, Mass.-based 250 ton-per-year pilot, is developing its first commercial factory in Holyoke, Mass., and has secured offtakes from construction industry leaders and technology companies alike. Learn more at or contact partnerships@ to inquire about working together.
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Why Microsoft Just Signed a Deal for Green Cement
Microsoft Corp. is partnering with Sublime Systems to reduce its indirect greenhouse gas emissions through a first-of-a-kind deal to buy low-carbon cement products from the startup. Under the contract, Microsoft can purchase up to 622,500 metric tons of Sublime's cement over a period of six to nine years. Microsoft can claim the carbon reductions associated with that cement in its own emissions accounting, even if it doesn't use the material itself. If Microsoft passes on buying the product, the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Sublime can sell it to local buyers but the software giant still gets to claim the carbon savings.
