Ellis likes to describe what they're doing as developing the "electric vehicle of cement making." An electric vehicle replaces a combustion engine with an electric motor, and that's what Sublime Systems does in the cement-making process.
She also grew up in a religious household. Her father is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi from Texas, her mother grew up on a sheep farm in South Africa, and the two met when they were both in Israel. "Jerusalem has more than enough rabbis. So he moved to eastern Canada, where they don't have a lot of rabbis," Ellis told CNBC of her father's move. Her family celebrated and encouraged having a robust intellectual life.
"It's a huge tool. I don't think Sublime is the only one that's applying electrochemistry to clean tech. I think the best way we have to get around fossil fuels is to use electrons," Ellis told CNBC. Sublime is making clean cement without the expensive additive of carbon capture and storage technologies, which is attractive because it keeps costs low, said, CEO at The Engine. "Producing decarbonized cement directly, rather than doing carbon capture, drives both energy efficiency and eventual cost parity," Rae told CNBC.