CarbonCure Closes $3M Round

Green Construction Is Now Mainstream

When it started in 2007, CarbonCure was involved in the niche green building materials market. It’s now working in the mainstream construction products industry.

Green building materials are now the industry standard.

“It doesn’t cost more to build green so it just becomes a question of why wouldn’t you do it?” said CarbonCure CEO Robert Niven.

The green building material grew out of the realization that buildings themselves are responsible for carbon emissions and other pollutants because so much energy goes into making a building.

There were skeptics at the beginning, and Niven has long said CarbonCure and its peers have to compete on price because environmental performance alone won’t capture sales. But in the last decade, economics and popular opinion have combined to drive sales. Top-of-the-line green materials will lower the building owner’s operating costs and make for a healthier work space for occupants.

Sales of green building materials have risen 20 per cent annually even through the recession, said Niven. And there are new sources of funding.

More family offices (managed funds for wealthy families) are interested in the sector, and there is more offshore money, especially from China, flowing into the sector.