Written due to popular demand, here is an outline of the second hour of the Reimagine Buildings: Biomaterials conference! Hosted by Chris Magwood (RMI), who described the hour as “a feast of materials”, panelists Lindsey Love (Regen Building), Jacob Deva Racusin (Builders for Climate Action / New Frameworks), and Lindsay Rasmussen (Third Derivative) focused on potential alternatives for conventional concrete, flooring, insulation, and cladding. (Members of the RB Collective can go the library to watch the session and revisit other events!)
As Magwood notes, these categories are some of the biggest sources of embodied emissions in many new builds. In fact, between 60% and 70% of the embodied emissions in a new home will often be contained in the building’s concrete, as well as the insulation and cladding systems. For interiors, flooring is oftentimes the leading contributor of embodied emissions.
For those who did not attend, last Friday’s conference was all about the use of biomaterials in construction. Biomaterials typically include agricultural residues (e.g., straw), specific crops (e.g., bamboo, hemp), timber, and lab-grown materials (e.g., algae). These materials pull carbon from the atmosphere as they grow (via photosynthesis), and then release that carbon back into the atmosphere once they die and decompose. By using these materials in our buildings, we can effectively disrupt that cycle and prevent the carbon contained in the biomass from returning to the atmosphere for an extended period of time.
This is just an introduction to these materials and products. It’s just a snapshot. We’ve included any links from the slides at the bottom of the article so that you can learn more, but this should just be the trailhead that begins your journey into the world of biomaterials.
One final note: If you have experience in the field using any of these materials or products, feel free to touch base with the Accelerator’s writing staff because we’d love to learn how your project turned out. You can reach us at [email protected]!
