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Possible solutions range from building with biobased materials, such as bamboo and straw; to building with better standards to reduce the amount of energy consumed in infrastructures. We spoke with Craig White, director of Agile Homes in the UK and Juan Manuel Vázquez, director of the Latin American Passivhaus Institute.
When we talk about carbon dioxide, we tend to focus on fossil fuels, such as oil and gas. But there is another industry that is one of the biggest polluters: construction.
These emissions arise from the creation of the materials most used to build, such as concrete, steel and aluminum. For example, just cement, which is one of the three basic materials to create concrete or concrete, emits between 5 and 10% of greenhouse gases in the world. To produce it, limestone has to be heated to over 1,400°C.
For this reason, for several years there have been initiatives to promote new materials that are sustainable with the environment, such as bamboo, hemp, sheep’s wool, blocks of straw and wood.
Other more advanced options that develop artificial intelligence are the liquid granite to replace much of the cement in the production of concrete or graphenewhich is one of the thinnest materials consisting of the union of monolayers of carbon atoms.
Contamination is not the only problem facing construction materials. The other side of the coin is scarcity. Juan Manuel Vázquez, executive director of the Latin American Passivhaus Institute, explained to France 24 that aggregates are another of the three basic elements for concrete. He argues that while the planet naturally produces 12 billion tons a year, humanity is consuming 48 billion.
And not all aggregates work for building, as evidenced by the world’s largest building: the Burj Khalifa. Although it was built in Dubai, in the middle of the desert, the sand that was used had to be imported from Australia, according to Vásquez.
Operational and Captured Carbon: Options to Reduce Construction Pollution
In addition to focusing on materials, another solution is to reduce the emissions that are generated both when building a building and when inhabiting it. These emissions are differentiated between two groups.
On the one hand, there is the so-called operational carbon, which are the emissions produced by the energy used by buildings, for example to cook, or to heat and ventilate an environment. This energy is so much that in developed countries it corresponds to 40% of greenhouse gas emissions.
An alternative may be to design the infrastructures in such a way that the heat that is trapped does not escape as quickly and that, in turn, they are properly insulated to help reduce the cold. In addition to trying to use renewable energy as sources of supply, instead of gas and oil.
On the other hand, there is the captured carbon, which is the CO2 that arises when creating and transporting construction materials. Initiatives like Architecture 2030 propose that the option is to reuse buildings that already exist instead of building new ones, reduce materials by optimizing structural designs and sequestering carbon dioxide by using biobased implements.
Thinking of infrastructures not only as CO2 producers, but as possible sinks comparable to forests or seas (keeping the proportions) is what Agile Homes is dedicated to. Its executive director, Craig White, explained to France 24 that this is why carbon is the new bargaining chip: beyond helping the planet, it will become a business.
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