Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this episode of the World Cement Podcast, Senior Editor David Bizley is joined by Mike Ireland, President and CEO of the ACA or American Cement Association.
Listen in as Mike and David dive into a range of topics, including:
Listen in as Mike and David dive into a range of topics, including:
- The ACA’s recent rebranding efforts
- Low carbon cements and CCS
- The impact of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ and policy in general
- How AI will shape cement demand over the coming years
- Looking ahead at the market
Make sure to subscribe if you haven’t already done so!
Creators and Guests
What is World Cement Podcast?
The World Cement podcast: a podcast series for professionals in the cement industry.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the World Cement Podcast with me, your host, David Bizley, senior editor of World Cement. In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Mike Ireland, president and CEO of the ACA Today, we're going to be diving into a range of topics, including the ACA's recent rebranding efforts, decarbonization, policy and legislation, and the impact of AI on cement demand, to name just a few. I just wanted to take a moment to remind you to register for WorldCement. It's free of charge and gives you access to the latest issues of World Cement, both in print and online. Every issue comes packed full of regional analysis, technical articles, project case studies, and the latest industry news.
David Bizley:Simply head over to worldcement.com, click the magazine tab, and register today. It's as simple as that. Happy reading. Mike, welcome to the World Cement Podcast, delighted to have you here with us.
Mike Ireland:It's great to be here.
David Bizley:So as always, we like to kick things off with a bit of background, so for our listeners from around the world, quickly, who are the ACA and what is it that you guys do?
Mike Ireland:Well David first, thanks for inviting me on your podcast and thank you for the many, many great articles World Cement has written over the years about this global industry and for including updates about what's happening in The US with our association. We really appreciate working with you and your team. ACA, which is headquartered about three minutes from The U. S. Capitol, represents and support America's cement manufacturers in every way we can.
Mike Ireland:We are the premier policy, research, education, and market intelligence organization for The U. S. Cement industry. We all believe in this industry. We love the people who work in cement plants around The U.
Mike Ireland:S. And we appreciate the essentialness of materials our member companies manufacture.
David Bizley:Of course, many of our listeners might have heard of you under your previous name, the PCA or Portland Cement Association. And after being the PCA for over one hundred years, why did you decide that now was the right time for a name change?
Mike Ireland:That's a great question. All of us who work in The US industry knew it was high time to rebrand the association. The organization took the name Portland Cement Association one hundred and nine years ago, when Portland cement or traditional cement was the only game in town. So much has changed since then. First and foremost, our member companies have diversified the materials they produce.
Mike Ireland:They no longer only manufacture Portland cement, so the name of the association was no longer accurate. Demand for lower carbon cement has grown tremendously, even just within the past five years. Businesses like Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others all want to build sustainably, and they are influencing smaller companies. State governments also want to lower carbon cements on construction sites. Just two years ago, all 50 state DOTs approved Portland limestone cement for use in infrastructure projects.
Mike Ireland:Aside from ACA companies moving away from Portland cement production, we also had location issues with the word Portland, as Portland is actually the name of two cities in The US, Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine. People who are unfamiliar with the industry usually assumed our association only represented cement manufacturers in one of those two cities as opposed to representing cement companies across The US. This was working against us in terms of getting some media to recognize us as the go to source who can speak to cement manufacturers nationwide. And media visibility is crucially important for ACA companies. The more visibility in the media, the more policymakers at the state and national level will approach us for member company opinions, as well as their input on legislation affecting the cement business.
David Bizley:Okay, so you've got a range of very good reasons there for the name change. You also announced a new slogan: Sustainable Cement for Resilient Concrete. What was the thinking behind this choice?
Mike Ireland:In 2021, ACA's member companies unanimously agreed to launch the association's roadmap to carbon neutrality, and that announcement was transformational. It became the top priority for The entire US cement industry and remains ACCA's number one goal today. The member companies are squarely focused on what we've dubbed the ABCs of decarbonization: alternative fuels, blended cements, and carbon capture utilization and storage, or CCUS. Sustainability and resilience go hand in hand, flip side to the same point, if you will. Until we get to a carbon neutral planet, most scientists agree and we are seeing more severe weather events across the globe.
Mike Ireland:When we build, or must rebuild, we must do so with concrete. So in our opinion, remains the safest, most reliable, and resilient building material. So sustainable cement for resilient concrete is an accurate and solid slogan, one that today's industry and its products live up to.
David Bizley:Okay, so one of the reasons you've given for this sort of branding change is that increasing range of lower emissions cements that your members are now producing. With that in mind, are you using any specific metrics to define what lower emissions or low carbon cements mean? And how do you keep those terms meaningful?
Mike Ireland:Well, approximately 65% of all cement consumed in The US is now blended cement. The growing use of blended cements has happened incredibly quickly. At the start of 2020, blended cements accounted for a mere 2% of The US cement market. These cements are lower carbon because they are produced with less clinker per ton of cement. This translates to a reduction in cement's carbon footprint by up to 10% compared to traditional Portland cement.
Mike Ireland:ACA tracks blended cement consumption as well as the industry's clinker ratio so we can actually calculate how much carbon The U. S. Cement industry avoids each year. The impact of the increased use of lower carbon cement is tangible and significant. Over the past three years, The U.
Mike Ireland:S. Cement industry avoided more than 10,000,000 metric tons of carbon, with 4,500,000 metric tons averted in 2024 alone, roughly equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of a million vehicles in a year.
David Bizley:Wow, okay. Staying on the topic of decarbonization and low carbon products, with cement being a hard to abate sector, it's inevitable that carbon capture is going to play a significant role in decarbonizing production. What would you say are the major hurdles currently facing the rollout for carbon capture in The US cement industry? And what are the steps needed to get this Keystone technology online?
Mike Ireland:As I said earlier, the C in our APCs is CCUS and it remains a key priority for the cement industry to reach our carbon neutrality goals by 2,050, particularly in that home stretch in the last ten to fifteen years. The industry sees three major hurdles for implementing CCUS and permitting, power, and pipelines. Permitting reform is necessary to scale up all aspects of the CCUS lifecycle, including the permitting of complex carbon capture systems at cement plants and other facilities, the permitting of large scale pipelines to transport captured CO2, and the permitting for sequestration sites where CO2 will be permanently stored. Without pipelines there is no real method to transport CO2 once it is captured to be utilized for enhanced oil recovery or permanently stored at a sequestration site. Carbon capture systems also require immense amount of electrical generation, so policies are needed to increase electric power generation and ensure a more reliable electric grid.
Mike Ireland:To overcome these hurdles and scale up technologies, public private partnerships are needed to conduct the necessary research, development and deployment of carbon capture technologies, so it can be more widely deployed for industrial decarbonization.
David Bizley:Okay. Moving then now to the topic of policy and legislation. The Trump administration recently secured the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is a fantastic name for a piece of legislation. We don't get that kind of thing over here at all. What is the ACA's view on this piece of legislation and how do the pros and cons stack up for the cement industry?
Mike Ireland:Well, I wish I could give you a more literate answer, but the passage of the OBB provides several offensive and defensive wins for U. S. Cement companies. The law also includes some setbacks on programs important to the industry. When President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, nine forty pages worth of language became enacted.
Mike Ireland:With such sweeping legislation comes a guarantee that every industry in America will experience some wins as well as some losses. No industry is unaffected. Despite the scaling back of clean energy and some decarbonization projects, the cement industry appreciates the substantial tax provisions included in the OVB that will bolster manufacturing, lead to job creation, and pave the way to an improved regulatory environment, allowing ACA member companies to continue to flourish. I should also mention the law preserves the carbon sequestration tax credit, also known here as the 45 Q tax credit, and even improves upon it. 45 Q provides a performance based tax credit for carbon management projects allowing manufacturers to write off the cost of certain carbon sequestration methods to a degree.
Mike Ireland:This was a critical win for our member companies.
David Bizley:Okay, fantastic. Looking ahead and keeping in mind the ACA's aim to promote increased cement production whilst also meeting decarbonization targets, If you had a policy wish list designed to secure those goals, what would be at the top?
Mike Ireland:Well, we've got a lengthy policy wish list, but first and foremost, we need policies and initiatives that recognize the significant technology, funding, and market innovation that will get us to carbon neutrality. That means funding and tax incentives to promote greater acceptance of lower carbon cements. We also want policies that reduce regulatory barriers and provide incentives to increase the use of alternative fuels. We desperately want policies that streamline permitting barriers and provide funding for carbon management systems like CCUS. We also need well funded critical transportation and infrastructure programs that prioritize resilience and long term solvency of our Highway Trust Fund.
Mike Ireland:And another policy we'd welcome would be modernization of regulations to support energy efficiency and innovation at cement plants.
David Bizley:Okay, and whilst we're talking about increasing production output, the ACA's market intelligence team recently announced that it predicts an additional 1,000,000 tons of cement will be needed over the next few years to build AI data centers, and one of the things that's pretty common knowledge about data centers is how much power they consume. Are you expecting a related rise in demand from things like expanding energy infrastructure, plants, substations and so on?
Mike Ireland:Yes and I think that's why previously I talked a lot about the energy grid here. Data centers consume a tremendous amount of power. One query to an AI model like ChatGPT uses roughly the same amount of electricity as a light bulb being on for twenty minutes. That's a lot, right? In 2023, data centers accounted for 4.4% of U.
Mike Ireland:S. Electricity consumption. The U. S. Department of Energy predicts data centers could consume between 712% by as early as 2028.
Mike Ireland:From 2005 to 2020, US electricity consumption was essentially flat, as growing demand for electricity was largely offset by efficiency gains. Now the Energy Information Administration expects US electricity consumption to grow by an average of 1.7% annually for the next several years. This is being driven to a considerable extent by AI data centers. In turn, this will require an expansion of The US electric generating capacity. These new plants and substations will then require concrete.
Mike Ireland:Wind turbines consume a lot of concrete as well. So beyond the cement needed for data center construction itself, there is a secondary demand for cement related to increased power generation.
David Bizley:Okay, and looking at the broader picture, what is the overall cement demand forecast like for The US over the next year or so? Are there any other major trends that you expect to see?
Mike Ireland:Unfortunately, we're in our third year of declining cement shipments. Private construction has been hit hard by continued elevated interest rates. Real construction spending is expected to contract in 2025 by the most it has in fourteen years. Public construction continues to hold steady and is supporting consumption. However, construction inflation has diminished by partisan laws ability to generate increased cement consumption.
Mike Ireland:In light of the recent weak employment report, it is likely the Federal Reserve will begin gradually cutting rates in September. The effects of lower rates won't be felt right away, but will eventually aid the residential and commercial sector. While there's still some headwinds ahead, we expect a slight recovery into med consumption next year.
David Bizley:Not the best outlook right now, but looking up towards next year, before we wrap up things this episode then, do you have any final thoughts for our audience?
Mike Ireland:Well I would say one other item worth mentioning is that ACA is working to better coordinate with allied associations particularly in the concrete space. Not only do our messages of sustainability and resiliency to key stakeholders in the public private arena need to be aligned, but we can also follow the model of The UK's Mineral Products Association to reduce some redundancy, allowing us to better focus our limited resources. I hope we have something significant to announce about that in our next interview next year.
David Bizley:Fabulous. Well, that is all the time we have for this episode Mike, so thank you so much for joining us on the Well Cement Podcast and diving into that array of different cement related topics.
Mike Ireland:It's always a pleasure.
David Bizley:And as always, a big thank you to our audience. If you like this episode, please make sure to rate and review, and subscribe as well if you haven't already done so. We're now building up a bit of a back catalog, so please do also take some time to check out some of our previous episodes as well. They're just as good as this one. Goodbye for now.
David Bizley:I just wanted to take a moment to remind you to register for WorldCement. It's free of charge and gives you access to the latest issues of World Cement, both in print and online. Every issue comes packed full of regional analysis, technical articles, project case studies, and the latest industry news. Simply head over to worldcement.com, click the Magazine tab, and register today. It's as simple as that.
David Bizley:Happy reading!