Natural and Living Building Materials as Carbon Reduction Strategies in the Built Environment

Operating the built environment contributes 28% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while the extraction and manufacturing of building materials contributes another 11%. One emerging class of materials that can reduce both the operational and embodied emissions of the built environment are responsive, biomimetic and/or living materials. Such materials include synthetic biomimetic ice-binding proteins for freeze-thaw resistance of concrete, transparent cellulose-based composites to replace traditional window glazing, and engineered living building materials from lichen and cyanobacteria to regulate indoor air quality. The proposed poster will describe the advances made by the Srubar research group in engineering, characterizing, and modeling the performance of these novel infrastructure materials for use in the built environment. These “coming attraction” materials not only move the built environment towards “drawdown”, but also improve the comfort and quality of the spaces we live in. Additionally, conventional materials such as ordinary portland cement concrete and hempcrete will be discussed for their carbon storage capacity.

Day
Tuesday Poster Session
Authors
Jay Arehart
Wil Srubar
Related Conference Themes
Built Environment
Materials & Waste
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