NS: Funding cements Lafarge’s plans to pursue green venture

[PLEASANT VALLEY, NS] — A pilot project recently announced by Premier Darrell Dexter will see the Lafarge cement plant become the first in North America to produce a lower-carbon cement.

The plant is to receive $670,000 in funding for the project through the ecoNova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change.

“The funding allows Lafarge Canada Inc., to move forward installing new equipment to continue to make top-quality cement using fewer raw materials and reducing fossil fuel demands,” said plant manager Scarth MacDonnell. “This initiative extends the life of the Brookfield quarry, reduces fossil fuel consumption and plant emissions and expects to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions by more than 70,000 tonnes a year.”

To put that in relative terms, the project ultimately should reduce carbon output equivalent to making half of the Town of Truro carbon neutral, MacDonnell said. “So, it’s a big, big scale thing … and a first of its kind.”

The announcement was part of an overall plan to commit $2 million in funding to climate change and clean air projects in five municipalities, including Colchester County and Truro, and five businesses.

Dexter described the program as an initiative that “… has put us on the path to reduce over 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and another 204,000 tonnes of air pollutants…” while also helping to create more than 100 permanent jobs in the province.

“The renewable energy industry is a big opportunity,” he said.

Josh DeCoste, an environmental engineer at Lafarge, said the company, through its trial efforts with producing a lower carbon cement, has already resulted in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2,500 tonnes. But that is only the start, he added.

“Our ultimate goal? To replace 100 per cent of our general-use cement in the market with these new types of low-carbon cements. By doing this, we reduce the environmental footprint of this plant by 76,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. That’s equivalent to about 10,000 cars coming off the road.”