Environment
In practice
We design with the future in mind. What will our products look like 25 years from now, 50 years? How about 200 years? I know many think that this is ridiculous. Nobody builds things to last even 10-15 years from now. What’s the point of try to design elements that could still be usable 200 years from now? The point is, what if everyone thought like this? What is more sustainable? A disposal but also recyclable product or one that never need to be replaced?
Concrete has the ability to be a sustainable and green product despite the high amounts of initial energy that are required to produce the portland cement used in its formation. Our take at Concrete Cat is that concrete is just as “green” as any other product depending on who the user is and how they decide to use the product.
MATHOur formulas for calculating how much concrete is needed for each piece are broken down to the decimal point and are diligently used to make sure as little concrete as possible is wasted in our creation process. RE-USE MATERIALS
Concrete Cat NEVER throws out building materials without first looking at where this material could be used again. RECYCLE CONCRETE
Old and excess concrete can be used in many interesting and industrious ways like for boat anchors, bowls, road crush just to name a few. RECYCLE AGGREGATE
Waste pieces of glass, old metal and re-bar and even old broken concrete can all be used in the formation of new concrete. ELBOW GREASE
Not everything needs to be done with machinery, some jobs can easily be done by hand. RECYCLE WATER
We use recycled rain water for much of our concrete and to clean up around the shop. TIMELESS DESIGN
By creating something that should never need to be replaced we hope design in and of itself can help make a product “green”. LOCALLY SOURCED
We support local business whenever possible and are proud to say over 95% of our product is locally sourced.
These are only a few ways in which we can be an environmentally responsible company but what we hope to demonstrate with these examples are ways in which we can change our environmental impact locally.
The Dream
Our biggest concern right now is that there is no carbon negative products for kitchen solid surfaces. Our company has been built to address this concern. We strongly believe that concrete is the only building material that has the real potential to become carbon negative. I envision as future where the more you build with concrete the more your building has the ability to heal the environment. Some think it’s a just a beautiful vision but I’m willing to bet my career on it.
The biggest lies most of us have been taught is that being environmentally simply has too many trade-offs. It’s simply not true, we have the means to be environmentally friendly and not give up anything at all. Yes it has taken early adopters and in the past been more expensive than a less carbon friendly product. But we are rounding a corner where the more carbon friendly product will also be cheaper . Solar energy will eventually be cheaper than carbon based fuels. It is not an “if” it is a “when”. The kicker is that the cost will only continue to drop as we continue in technological advancements. Imagine a what we could do if our main source of energy was almost free and had zero emissions. Energy across all industries would cost nothing. Now imaging in that same world if every building you built healed the planet and made it more fertile. If we could essential turn back all years of damage we had done to our planet when we were ignorant beasts and at the same time increase the quality of life for all the inhabitants of the planet. This is the vision for the future I work to make possible not just for my own children but for everyone’s.