Jurvetson went through the buffet line in a hurry, snagging an upscale grilled gruyere cheese sandwich and a tomato gazpacho soup, along with a healthy serving of leafy butter lettuce salad. Our foursome sat down on the outside porch with the backdrop of the sparkling San Francisco Bay in the near distance and oil tankers foghorning their passage. But eyeing the roasted asparagus on my plate, Jurvetson returned inside to stock up on what appears to be one of his favorite veggies. I made small talk about how I had used one of Jurvetson's Flickr images on a blog I run about Hawaii (some eagle rays off the Kona Coast). A minute later, he was back and the pitch session started. Like his gait, Jurvetson's mind moves at lightening speed. I am sure he deals with dozens of pitches every day and has to make snap judgments on what makes sense and what doesn't. Evans began with his basic pitch. Novacem makes a new type of cement that, he claims, will absorb CO2 as it cures. This is something other cement companies are also trying to do. One example is Calera Corporation, a startup funded by cleantech VC heavyweight Vinod Khosla . Novacem, however, has other important differences. Its product, says Evans, is based on magnesium oxide. Unlike Portland cement, the current industry standard, Novacem's manufacturing process requires lower temperatures. That means less fuel required to heat up cement in the process and minimal CO2 emissions. Because the magnesium oxide compound absorbs CO2 and the production process emits dramatically less greenhouse gases, Novacem could actually be the first carbon-negative construction product. Evans emphasizes that the product could be transparently inserted into the construction supply chain. "It behaves the same way as Portland cement," says Evans. "You

Source: Daily Finance (blog)