Latest / Winning With Winans! / “We’re running out of cement — and the stuff we use only lasts 60–80 years.”
Transcript
- speaker-0: he's seen Vegas go through these amazing changes. But now we want to switch, and we all know the place is growing like a weed. Now let's talk about the realities that we're facing in construction overall, and it will eventually affect Las Vegas. speaker-1: Yes. Actually worldwide, Ken. You have to really look at it. That we our populations are growing and our construction is not. we have only so much limited resources and that pretty well directed into the industry that I'm focused on now. speaker-0: Well, you told me l let's just be blunt here. we're running out of cement. You've told me that a couple of times that we are literally running out of cement natural resources. speaker-1: More more sand than cement. Cement is made by burning limestone. The problem being is the CO two that it takes to burn that limestone is getting more expensive. And then we also have to look at some concrete is the second used material on the planet, only second to water. It's an enormous amount. And burning all that CO two just to make a material, it only lasts sixty to eighty years and then cracks and falls apart. speaker-0: And you can't really recycle it, right? speaker-1: No, all you can do is crush it and use it as road base, except for our technology. so basically, I don't know even know where to start with this. going through all the experiences I had in Las Vegas, they use a lot of new technology. And I was able to lock in on some materials that I found very interesting because I didn't realize the drawbacks on Portland concrete. It's really a crappy material because it's so cheap and it's always cost per square foot. so I started studying to find out what were those things that we used before Portland? speaker-0: you went back in history. Yes. Like well like w what the Roman Jews didn't. speaker-1: traveled quite a bit in my life. I grew up in Puerto Rico. We have a fort that was made 900 over 900 years ago. And if you look at the concrete, it's in perfect condition. Yeah, because it wasn't made with Portland. So after researching quite a bit, I found a place in France called the Geopolymer Institute. speaker-0: I okay, so w what you saw in Puerto Rico sparked this entire quest that you've been on. speaker-1: B well, it reminded me in my life as a crane operator, you're sitting there a lot thinking, and I remember it is like, why does this not fall apart? So I started the research and that's when I found geopolymer. And basically I can just change the word geopolymer and make it ceramic. It's been around for thousands of years. Our forefathers have used it, and that's why the European structures are still standing. a lot of the Roman architecture still standing. not necessarily just Roman cement, but the ceramic cements that were developed. and we we shied away from because there's a new cheap player in town, and that's Portland. And we've had it for only two hundred years, so everything over two hundred years wasn't made with Portland. speaker-0: Wow. So you're saying that if we if we go back to some of the older cities on the East Coast that speaker-1: No, we're two hundred and fifty years in the US. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: But the old Spanish forts, absolutely. and the old Roman cement, they took seashells and cooked them to make the quick lime and then added poislins from volcanic ash to get the silica and everything in it. and then that kind of took us off on a terracotta and ceramic and porcelain. And that's the line that I work with is more of the ceramic, the geopolymer material. speaker-0: All right, so now here you are, you have your gotcha moment. You're gonna so when did you form your company? Now your company's called GeoPolymer. speaker-1: That's Geopolymer International. you can find us on the website with www.gpi.earth to make it easy, or geopolymer international dot com. and basically I'm bringing the materials back. And having retired, I had the opportunity to start playing with them. I cast them. they're great material for repairing Portland concrete because we know it's gonna fall apart. I also three D print it and spray it. So I found a lot of characteristics that are very valuable with our society and and those sustainable issues that are important now. speaker-0: Right. So I mean I seen the house that you out in your test range. Yes. Which is out in Amargosa. It's a good place to test things, you know.