Page 36 - BusinessWest March 4, 2024

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Sublime
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wealth, it is also an economic-development story and an example of the kind of company Holyoke is trying to attract with its strong blend of clean, lower-cost hydroelectric energy; large inventory of old mill space; and accessible location off several major highways.
“Sublime Systems’ low-carbon cement manufactur- ing project is not just a business development — it is a major stride towards the Holyoke we envision — inno- vative, prosperous, enterprising, and future-oriented,” Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said. “By supporting this initiative, we are fostering a new paradigm where economic growth and the health of our planet are seen as interconnected and interdependent, not sepa- rate or mutually exclusive.”
Cleaner and Greener
As noted, this is a story with many elements, both figuratively and literally, the most obvious being a fun- damental change in not only how cement is produced, but how such production impacts the environment.
“The founders wanted to de-carbonize cement,” Gablets said. “Cement is a huge emitter, a high-pollut- ing industry just as a function of how it’s made, and it’s been made the same way for about 200 years — by taking limestone, a mineral that is half carbon diox- ide by weight, and breaking that down into reactive ingredients.
“When you break it down, all that CO2 gets released into the air,” she went on. “And the way you break it down is with a very high heat process — a fos- sil-fuel kiln that needs to reach about 1,400 degrees Celsius. All that contributes to very high carbon emis- sions for the industry.”
Sublime takes a much cleaner and greener approach, using an electrochemical process that can turn abundantly available non-carbonate rocks and centuries of industrial waste that don’t release CO2 when they are decomposed into cement at ambient temperature — eliminating the need for fossil fuels entirely.
“We can use minerals that don’t have CO2 in them, so there’s no emission on that side,” she explained. “And we can do it at low heat and with a fully electri- fied process, so there’s no emissions there, either. So
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the cement has the same chemical makeup as the old stuff, as the more polluting, Portland cement, as it’s called, and it can be used in concrete the same way.”
The company has taken production to a pilot level — about 250 tons per year — in Somerville, Gablets said, adding that the next step is essentially scaling up. And that’s where Holyoke becomes a huge part of the story.
Elaborating, she said most cement plants currently operating in this company produce 1 million tons per year. Sublime wants to someday get to that level of production, but in the meantime, it will take the incre- mental, or intermediate, step of creating what could be called a demonstration facility.
As it commenced a search for where to build that facility, the company considered a number of factors. For starters, she said the company wanted to be close to sources of raw materials, and also close to its head- quarters in Somerville. Meanwhile, it would require
a large footprint on which to build, and sites of the size eventually found in Holyoke, about 14 acres, are becoming increasingly difficult to locate.
Other ingredients include accessibility, an ample supply of customers within a short distance of the demonstration facility, as well as a community that would welcome such a large-scale industrial manufac- turing facility and had the zoning and permitting for it, she went on, adding that not all cities and towns are welcoming.
And then, there’s the company’s desire for clean energy to power that plant.
“Because what we do is meant to be as green as possible, powering our electrical process with renew- ables is really important,” she told BusinessWest. “So finding a place with a really green grid was at the top of our list.”
As was a desire to address some of the goals of the Justice40 Initiative, said Pat Boudry, a Holyoke native now serving as the company’s Project Development manager.
He described his recent work as a “reality check” to determine if Sublime’s facility was something Holyoke residents really wanted and needed in their community. After months of meeting with various con-
stituencies, including residents, officials, nonprofits, labor, and economic-development agencies, he said the answer to that question was a resounding ‘yes’ — for many reasons, he said, but especially a desire to write a new and exciting chapter in the city’s long and distinguished industrial history.
“Even though a lot of people in the city don’t have a direct history of working in the paper mills, they grew up hearing stories from their parents about what it looked like then and the opportunities that abounded downtown,” he told BusinessWest. “And I think people are ready to go back to the future with a cutting-edge industry.”
Rising Interest
There were a few other options to consider for locating the plant, Gablets said, but Holyoke’s assets, overlaid with the guidelines of Justice40 Initiative, steered the company to the Water Street site, which was home to a series of paper mills that were con- solidated over time but had been dormant for several years and were eventually demolished.
Construction, as noted, is expected to begin in early 2025, with the plant coming online in 2026. The cement it produces will be an in-demand item, she noted, adding that end users, be they municipalities or private businesses, are increasingly looking to incor- porate green building materials in their projects, thus reducing their overall carbon footprint and what are known as scope 3 emissions, indirect greenhouse-gas emissions that occur in an organization’s value chain.
“Many large companies are working to reduce those scope 3 emissions. And when building a new facility, whether it’s a large data warehouse or some- thing to house any sort of operation, if they can build that facility in very a low-carbon way, that’s one way to accomplish that goal,” Gablets said.
She added that Sublime is already seeing solid interest from large infrastructure owners and end companies that fall into that category.
“Because today’s cement is so high-emitting — for every ton of cement made, a ton of CO2 gets released — this is a very effective lever for reducing those emis- sions.” BW
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tor, and if you ever need this or that, you take the card off the refrigera- tor and call that person.”
The Right Stuff
The Home Builders and Remodelers Assoc. is almost 100 years old and continues to represent contractors so they can understand state and national regulations, as well as keeping the general public informed of what services are available in the region.
“All the businesses that run a good business — meaning they plan, they advertise, they keep the right insurances, and they keep their licenses intact — are doing fine because they have a responsibility to their employees and to their livelihood,” Crane said of today’s business climate. “So when they attend education and learn how to write or rewrite contracts as laws change, that protects the public, and it pro- tects them.”
At the same time, “when a person is shady in any business, they don’t put themselves out in front of the public. They kind of skirt the system, so to speak. So the people you’re going to meet at the Home Show are putting themselves out in front of everyone for the world to see, so people know they’re in business, they’re legit, and you can count on them being educated,” he went on. “So you’re not just hoping for the best. You’re ahead of the curve with your selection process.” BW
Curio
Show
Change and Consistency
But Michael emphasizes more than forward thinking; he was also quick to acknowledge that trust is a key element in a successful home-improvement business.
“That’s one thing that I always stress with customers, even at the first meeting. I say, ‘this is a relationship. If you don’t trust me, the job’s never going to work.’”
Once that relationship is built, he added, most customers have no problem going out and leaving the crew at the house.
“Once you reach that point, you know it’s going to be a good fit and everyone’s going to be happy, and that’s the name of the game,” Michael went on. “If you do a good job for a customer, that customer’s going to tell 10 people. If you do a bad job, that customer is going to tell everybody.”
Curio also stressed that trust element. “The only thing we can do is give people a plan, a contract, and a sample of what the
kitchen’s going to look like. So in reality,
it comes back to people trusting you, and when they place that trust in you, you can’t shortchange them. So regardless of what we do, whether we make money or we lose money, the job has to be done right, period. That’s it.”
Clearly, these are values that have remained consistent over 50 years, even as styles have shifted dramatically in floor- ing materials, cabinet and appliance col- ors, and dozens of other elements.
“A lot has changed over the years,” Frank said. “When my brother founded the company in ’74, he was building cabi- nets in our parents’ basement part-time. The technology has significantly evolved, particularly with appliances. Styles have changed dozens of times over the years, and some of them are starting to come back again. But the two things that never changed were our dedication to quality and customer service.” BW
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