Materials For Energy

Construction Goes Green: An Interview with Kevin Surace of Serious Metals

More than 50% of the world’s energy-based carbon dioxide comes from building manufacture and operation, according to Kevin Surace, chair and CEO of Serious Materials, in an interview with MRS Bulletin. Realization of this high carbon dioxide footprint has inspired him and his company to find alternatives. In particular, Serious Materials produces EcoRock, a platform to make drywall out of recycled content instead of gypsum, which substantially reduces energy use by replacing the energy-intensive calcining and drying steps with a self-curing process. Paul Drzaic, Chair of the MRS Bulletin Editorial Board, and science writer Corinna Wu sat down with Surace at his headquarters in Sunnyvale, California to learn more about the commercialization of green building technologies. The interview is published in the December 2010 Energy Quarterly section in MRS Bulletin.

 

In addition to drywall, Serious Materials is involved in windows. They recently finished retrofitting more than 6000 windows on the Empire State Building, reusing the glass and improving the insulating capability fourfold. The secret, Surace says, is return on investment (ROI). Tony Malkin, who owns the property for the Empire State Building, didn’t retrofit the building until he could get a three-year payback, which he did, Surace said. How does the cost get reduced? “It’s materials science that drives the ROI down,” he said. Cheaper and less-energy intensive manufacturing of materials can make a big difference. But he also points out that a great material isn’t enough. Aerogels, for instance, are highly thermally insulating, but, said Surace, “I will be dead, and four more owners of the building will be dead before you get your money back; it’s not going to work.”

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Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Welcome

Welcome to the Materials Research Society’s (MRS) “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog. I am your host Russell R. Chianelli, MRS president in 1990 and career researcher in energy materials: batteries, catalysts, hydrogen storage and solar cells.

We all recognize the importance of energy in the coming years for global economic growth and security. We also recognize that energy production in any form has environmental consequences that must be considered. Materials research is key to the development and maintenance of reliable and safe energy sources which are affordable and environmentally acceptable.

It is the purpose of the “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog to discuss the scientific issues surrounding all areas of materials for energy: basic research, scale-up and commercialization, deployment, environmental impact including raw materials acquisition and finally disposal technologies. In order to effectively discuss these issues we have invited a series of experts as co-hosts to assist in guiding the discussions and to present current articles and resources for discussion. We encourage all interested parties in engaging in the discussions and suggest the April 2008 issue of the MRS Bulletin – Harnessing Materials for Energy.

 

 

Welcome and Blog On!!    

 

Concrete is remixed with environment in mind

A New York Times article from the March 30, 2009, issue describes current efforts to modify the composition of concrete keeping environmental concerns in mind. The article focuses on the new St. Anthony Falls Bridge in Minneapolis (see below).

The author of the article also has a related blog posting on the Green Inc. blog.

Concrete has been the focus of past MRS symposia as well as the MRS Bulletin including the May 2004 issue on Construction Materials: From Innovation to Conservation.

Credit: Bill Alkofer for The New York Times

Soaring above the Mississippi River just east of downtown Minneapolis is one remarkable concrete job. There on Interstate 35W, the St. Anthony Falls Bridge carries 10 lanes of traffic on box girders borne by massive arching piers, which are supported, in turn, by footings and deep pilings. The bridge, built to replace one that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people, is constructed almost entirely of concrete embedded with steel reinforcing bars, or rebar. But it is hardly a monolithic structure: the components are made from different concrete mixes, the recipes tweaked, as a chef would, for specific strength and durability requirements and to reduce the impact on the environment. One mix, incorporated in wavy sculptures at both ends of the bridge, is designed to stay gleaming white by scrubbing stain-causing pollutants from the air. It is a prime example of major changes in concrete production and use — changes that make use of basic research and are grounded, in part, in the need to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint.

All that concrete may seem the same. And the basic product did remain relatively unchanged since the invention of Portland cement in the early 1800s. (The ancient Romans made concrete, too, but from volcanic ash.) Producers have always tinkered with the mix to find the right proportions of concrete’s basic ingredients, but the recipe never varied much. Now the experimentation is more elaborate, designed to tailor the concrete to the need. Increasingly, that need includes the environment.

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Editor, Materials360^®
Editor, Meeting Scene
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Building a Community Dialogue on the Global Energy Landscape and Materials Innovation

It has been more than a month since the preliminary release of the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. From anecdotal evidence, the issue has been well received, with positive comments, requests for bulk quantities, and healthy single copy sales. It has been and will continue to be distributed far and wide to scientists, policymakers, energy leaders, educators, and students in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.

But our goal is not to have it “liked.” Our goal is to have it used.

It is time to look beyond the cover, and to build a dialogue in the community. By placing together the full spectrum of energy technologies from source through transformation to use and efficiency (shown in the Preface, illustration of the energy landscape, and Introduction), it is possible to see challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We can beyond worrying about the future to joining the many researchers, entrepreneurs, and corporations looking for and building robust solutions. What important challenges have emerged? What scientific approaches might speed progress? What can we learn from experiments around the world, such as sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, hydrogen in Iceland, nuclear power in France, coal liquefaction in South Africa, wind energy in Germany, electric cars in Israel, and solar in California? Will immediate implementation trump stronger developments of tomorrow? What is needed for widespread use of cellulosic ethanol, white LEDs for general lighting, nuclear breeder reactors, carbon sequestration, methane hydrates, organic solar cells, or plug-in hybrids? I ask the readers of this blog to give thoughtful input to the unanswered questions and unquestioned answers related to materials and energy. Start with a look at the introductory content in the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. Where should materials research go next?

Please add your comments here. In future posts, we will examine other articles in the issue. We also welcome suggestions for future blog coverage, which can be e-mailed to materialsforenergy@mrs.org.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society

MRS Bulletin Special Issue "Harnessing Materials for Energy"

The Materials Research Society and the MRS Bulletin are pleased to announce the availability of the April special issue of the MRS Bulletin "Harnessing Materials for Energy" on the web.

The MRS Bulletin special expanded issue, “Harnessing Materials for Energy,” focuses on the most important materials research challenges that need to be addressed to move toward secure, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy to meet the world’s accelerating energy needs. The issue follows the full energy chain including production, storage, distribution, use, and efficiency. The articles are designed to present an objective and global view of the energy challenges within each energy sector and the promising transformational materials research directions for meeting these challenges as far into the future as is scientifically feasible to consider (targeting 10-, 25-, and 50-year outlooks).

A related Energy Forum is slated for Monday, March 24, at the 2008 MRS Spring Meeting.

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Welcome to the Materials for Energy Blog!

This blog is brought to you by the Materials Research Society (MRS), an organization of materials researchers from academia, industry, and government that promotes communication for the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research to improve the quality of life.

The MRS Bulletin is one of the most widely recognized and highly respected publications in advanced materials research. Published monthly, it features technical theme topics that capture a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of material research. In addition, the Bulletin delivers timely commentary, news, trends and event listings to keep the materials community apprised of information important to their research and their profession.

This blog complements the MRS Bulletin special Energy issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy, to be published in April 2008, and will build on MRS’s growing programming on energy. The focus will be on building ongoing dialogue and community related to addressing the most important materials research challenges that need to be addressed to move toward secure, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy to meet the world’s accelerating energy needs.

In the coming days and months, we will be posting news, links, reports and commentary relevant to the broad spectrum of issues covered by the articles in the MRS Bulletin special issue on Energy. We look forward to a healthy dialog and discussions by readers, and we encourage posting of comments and feedback.

 

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)