Event Link: https://vlab.org/events/carbon-friend...
Date and Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PDT

---Moderator
Marcius Extavour, Ph.D., Executive Director, NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, Xprize Foundation
---Panelists
Brent Constantz, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Blue Planet Ltd.
Tom Schuler, CEO, Solidia Technologies Inc.
Jeremy Gregory, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub, MIT
Arvind Gupta, Partner, Mayfield Fund

---Event Description
Record-breaking temperatures. Millions of acres engulfed in wildfires. Storms that are stronger and more frequent than at any time in recorded history. The effects of the rise in greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere seem to be more devastating every year.

While many of the major contributors to the climate crisis are familiar to most of us — automobiles, power plants, factories, agriculture, etc. — there is one source that may surprise you: concrete. With the explosion of construction in developing and developed countries around the globe, the production of concrete accounts for approximately 7% of annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

As the demand for more construction globally continues unabated, the world is building the equivalent of twelve New York Citys every year! Several companies are exploring ways to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete and cement — and even make them carbon-negative. These new technologies could scale to trap up to 25% of yearly CO2 emissions. When the market size for concrete and cement is $440B worldwide, there is ample potential to make money and make progress toward saving the planet.

How are startups maximizing the potential of carbon-negative concrete and cement?
Will synthetic materials fill a role in the construction industry?
How will concrete and cement be able to terraform our planet?

---Event Team
Event Chair: Shannon Fiume
Event Co-Chair: Bill Paseman
Event Team Members: Kevin Chen, Tito Jankowski, Sunil Sethi