Bet most of you never really thought about this. But since Portland cement (i.e., concrete) is responsible for about 8% of our CO2 emissions- and often needs repair, it’s been on my horizon, even if it’s not one of my primary interests. Especially since we produce about 12 billion tons of concrete (which yields 12 metric tons of carbon dioxide) a year. And, while we consider concrete to be a solid mass, it’s really pretty porous (consider a bunch of small balls packed together, with voids between the balls, akin to a dry sponge. And, when rain or snow slips among the voids0 and then freezes- kerplow, the concrete splits apart.
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Way, way back, right about the time our predecessor company was being formed, a major piece of legislation was passed. The Toxic Control Substance Act (TSCA) of 1976. The stated goal (which really never was achieved) was to categorize the chemicals being made and sold as to whether they were safe, slightly dangerous, or highly dangerous. That was about the time that we also had to worry about the biological experiments we were running (a different federal regulation was involved), since it was possible that some of the microbes we created could create havoc in the world. (There were four levels of containment required to ensure the public safety.)