Archinect - News

Baking soda may help concrete absorb carbon, MIT researchers find

2023-04-11T11:54:00-04:00

New research from MIT has found that adding sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda, to concrete mixtures may make a significant dent in the material’s carbon footprint. The findings, published recently in the journal PNAS Nexus, also suggest that the addition of sodium bicarbonate may accelerate construction times through quicker concrete setting.

The research was led by MIT professors of civil and environmental engineering Admir Masic and Franz-Josef Ulm, MIT postdoc Damian Stefaniuk, doctoral student Marcin Hajduczek, and James Weaver from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute. With concrete production accounting for approximately 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and concrete being the world’s second most consumed material after water, the team sees innovation in the material’s environmental performance as being a key component to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Swiss researchers have developed a carbon-storing building insulation made from plant-based materials

2023-02-13T15:49:00-05:00

A Swiss research team from Empa's Building Energy Materials and Components Lab explores the potential for using raw, plant-based materials as insulation for buildings.

Led by scientist Dr. Jannis Wernery and researchers from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, the project is based on binding carbon dioxide in insulation materials, preferably waste products from agriculture and forestry, over the long term. This method aims to combat embodied greenhouse gas emissions in buildings by removing carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon stored in biomass can be permanently fixed through the use of heat treatment.

The resulting material, known as biochar, can store carbon dioxide throughout the life of a building and be used again following the deconstruction of a building, reports Rémy Nideröst of Empa. However, Dr. Wernery explains, "there is still a lot to do before the idea can be put into practice."

The researchers must ensure that the new insulation materials can be used as a fe...

U.S. Department of Energy grants $39 million to projects developing carbon-storing buildings

2022-07-21T19:01:00-04:00

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $39 million to 18 projects dedicated to developing technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structures.

The initiative titled the Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program is being led by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

The awardees will use the funding to develop alternative building materials and construction techniques. The decarbonization goals for the program align with President Biden’s plan to reach zero emissions by 2050, aiming to increase the total amount of carbon stored in buildings to create carbon sinks.

“This is a unique opportunity for researchers to advance clean energy materials to tackle one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors that is responsible for roughly 10% of total annual emissions in the United States,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm remarked on the initiative.

The fiel...

How 'Anthropocene mining' offers architects growing alternatives to the way we build cities

2021-12-17T14:05:00-05:00

Why don't we re-use what we've already extracted, rather than gouging the planet for ever more raw materials? This thought has spurred a growing band of architects and building firms to look at how to re-use the huge range of materials already hiding within our built environment, from concrete and wood to the metallic bounty within electronic waste

Architecturally-rich cities are both a fount of reusable materials and a way of circumventing the awful cycle of environmental and human destruction caused by mining for the raw substances needed to help mitigate the effects of the built environment on climate change.

Recent projects like the updated version of the Barbican-backed London Centre for Music replacement, which aims to reuse 90% of the site’s existing materials, or the Parisian Montparnasse Tower remodeling currently being undertaken by Bellastock offer the industry high-profile models of how to adapt to the new mandate of climate-sensitive materials usage set forth in Duncan Baker-Brown’s groundbreaking 2017 book The Re-Use Atlas.

Previously on Archinect: This house made of trash teaches a lesson in green housekeeping

"The hardest thing is to change our way of thinking," Bellastock technical director of reuse Mathilde Billet told the BBC. "We need to imagine the city as a material bank, conducive to re-use. There are no ...

Futuristic tower proposed for Roosevelt Island is 2,400 feet and covered in 10,000+ plants

2020-09-23T18:55:00-04:00

In response to the idea of the “city of tomorrow,” one that will become carbon neutral by 2050, French architecture firm Rescubika created a proposal for a 2,418-foot tower on Roosevelt Island. With wood construction materials, 36 wind turbines, 8,300 shrubs, 1,600 tress, 83,000 square feet of plant walls, and nearly 23,000 square feet of solar panels, it would be the world’s tallest “carbon sink” tower–one that absorbs more CO2 than it releases.