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You've heard of hybrid cars. Now meet a hybrid cement plant.
You’ve doubtless heard of hybrid cars, but what about a hybrid cement or glass plant? Likely not, since nearly all of them today run on fossil fuels. But that might change soon — one startup has developed a way to incorporate electric heat into existing facilities. And like a hybrid car, it lets companies save money while also using fewer fossil fuels. “We hybridize industrial processes,” Carlos Ceballos, co-founder and CEO of NOC Energy, told TechCrunch. “Most companies are willing to electrify, but they don’t want to get rid of fossil fuels yet. In the energy transition, they want to have the opportunity to choose the lowest cost.” NOC has developed a form of electric heating that can bolt onto existing fossil fuel-fired facilities. Heat from its system can be piped into a glass kiln or various parts of the cement production process. If the cost of electricity rises, the operator can switch it off NOC’s equipment and rely solely on fossil fuels. Perhaps more important, the startup can deliver heat at temperatures reaching 1,200˚ C, and Ceballos said the company is working toward 1,500˚ C. Those temperatures have been hard to achieve with anything other than fossil fuels or hydrogen, the latter of which is currently too expensive in its non-polluting form. The field doesn’t have many entrants so far — Startup Battlefield alumnus Electrified Thermal Solutions stands out as one potential competitor. NOC recently raised a $2.7 million seed round, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The round was led by 360 Capital with participation from SOSV and Desai VC. NOC’s first customers will likely choose the hybrid format, though they won’t have to if they don’t want to. NOC’s system can store heat for hours on end, allowing companies to use more electricity when the price is cheap — like when the wind is howling or the sun is beating down — and draw on the stored heat when the price spikes. There are a few elements to NOC’s system that make both hybridization and electricity price arbitrage possible. The first is the induction heating element, which is similar in concept to induction stoves installed in kitchens around the world. Induction heaters use metal coils, usually made of copper, to produce magnetic fields when electricity courses through them. Those magnetic fields cause atoms in certain nearby metals, like steel, to vibrate quickly, generating heat. Techcrunch event San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 A cutaway view shows the induction c...
Adding seaweed to cement could forever change construction - Earth.com
Researchers report that seaweed can be turned into a concrete ingredient that replaces some cement while storing extra carbon as the material hardens.That finding pushes an ordinary coastal crop into a new role that could cut pollution from concrete before a building is even finished.Seaweed powder into wet cement In these test mixes, the algae began in hatchery tanks and ended up as a dark powder spread through wet cement.At the University of Miami, civil engineering professor Ali Ghahremaninezhad guided changes that let the material replace more cement without losing the project’s central promise.That promise depended on more than simply adding algae, because the untreated material could interfere with how the concrete set and held together.The result opened a larger question the rest of the article needs to answer, whether this lower-emission recipe can perform like concrete people already trust.From algae to biocharOn Virginia Key, a barrier island off Miami, UM’s hatchery grows the native algae used in the experiments.After harvest, the algae becomes biochar, a charcoal-like carbon material, when heat drives off most gases in low oxygen.Its pores can hold water and give cement products more places to form, which is why treatment matters so much.Once the algae reaches that stage, the project stops being about seaweed itself and starts being about engineering.Cement and carbon emissionsMost of concrete’s climate burden comes from cement, whose production accounts for about 7 to 8 percent of global carbon emissions.Manufacturing it releases carbon both from fuel burned in kilns and from limestone that breaks apart under intense heat.Every bag of cement removed from a mix cuts pollution before a building even starts to serve its purpose.Replacing even part of that ingredient matters because concrete is used so widely that small recipe changes add up fast.Making more replacementEarlier biochar tests in the same lab showed that dosage can improve crack healing or reduce strength.That tension explains why the Miami group is treating algae char before blending it, instead of just pouring more in.A separate algal biochar study found that a 30 percent cement replacement caught up in strength after several weeks.Those results do not guarantee success here, but they show algae-derived carbon can behave like more than waste.Locking carbon insideThe team also uses carbon curing, exposing fresh concrete to concentrated carbon dioxide while the mixture hardens.That ...
Do Hybrid Cars Need To Be Charged? The Complete Guide For Every Type ...
Learn whether hybrid cars need to be charged, how different hybrid types work, and which option is best for your driving needs. Hybrid cars are often seen as a middle ground between traditional gasoline vehicles and fully electric cars.
A New Kind of Hybrid Car Is About to Hit America's Streets
New electric cars can now run for 300 or even 400 miles a charge, which is more than enough to pull off a road trip without having to make lots of extra stops.
