Why use natural waste as materials in the industrialized construction?

Bioconstruction is a discipline within architecture that places sustainability at the center of the design, using local resources and natural materials or waste from other industrial processes to protect the environment, but at the same time offering alternatives for human development.

Society has awakened to the need to change processes we have long followed without thinking about the future, such as the manufacturing of products, the uncontrolled growth of large cities, and the exploitation of natural resources like water, oil, minerals, flora and fauna.

In our effort to stop this unsustainable growth, we look forward to solving these problems with the technical and technological tools that we have at our disposal nowadays.

The building industry involves many, if not all the problems mentioned above. For example, speaking only of the European Union, it represents:

  • 1/2 of the extracted materials
  • 1/2 of the energy consumption
  • 1/3 of water consumption
  • 1/3 of waste generation
Bioconstruction
Image credits: Canva Pro

The objectives of bioconstruction are to seek human well-being in both the physical and emotional sense; to prioritize environmental health by applying sustainable architecture criteria; and to stimulate the socioeconomic development of the region where local resources are used.

From an architectural perspective, bioconstruction integrates the objectives of environmental sustainability throughout the entire life cycle of the building (energy efficiency, low embedded and operational carbon emissions, bioclimatic solutions, ecological construction, circular economy, among others).

The Institute of Baubiologie (IEB), with more than 40 years of experience, is one of the pioneering institutions in bioconstruction issues around the world and separates the objectives of this discipline into five large blocks:

  1. Environment, energy and water. Minimize consumption and environmental impact, prioritizing renewable sources. Protect natural resources and promote traditional local building systems with sustainable materials.
  2. Construction materials and equipment. The materials for bioconstruction are natural, hygroscopic (that absorb moisture), non-toxic materials, with the least possible radioactivity.
  3. Interiorism and architectural design. Lighting should be similar to natural light, design that stimulates the senses and ergonomics, harmonious proportions and shapes.
  4. Indoor climate. Avoid polluting substances, fungi, bacteria and allergens, ventilate with fresh air and prioritize radiant heat in heating.
  5. Eco-social habitat. It balances human needs with environmental protection: short distances to jobs, schools, shops and basic needs such as public transport, green space and locations with the lowest possible levels of radiation, pollution and noise.

 

The habitat biology and, within it, bioconstruction are crucial in the fight against climate change because they contribute to energy efficiency, not only during the entire useful life of buildings but throughout the complete life cycle of the manufacturing of building materials to minimize their ecological footprint.

Bioconstruction goes beyond sustainable development and is committed to a regenerative, healthy, resistant, and adaptable culture. Without this approach, there is no future. The construction sector urgently needs to change the conventional course of waste, extraction, and exploitation.

Image credits: Canva Pro

In this sense, the SNUG project, with its focus on the development of more sustainable buildings in search of Zero Emission Buildings (ZEBs), proposes the development of four different construction solutions that will provide an improvement in both the reduction of carbon emissions by applying an industrial approach based on circular economy principles, as well as the improvement of the building envelope by developing innovative insulating system solutions with an environmental focus.

Along with the solutions already mentioned, SNUG will develop technological tools that, with the help of simulation, artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins, and databases, will support and help the decision-making of professionals in the building sector for the materials selection depending on the technical, meteorological, and economic characteristics of each project.

Within these developments, AIDIMME aims to leverage its previous experience in bio-based materials to create a construction system that provides insulating properties to both new and existing constructions. The objective is to develop a “sandwich” ETICS system, where the layers will be composed of a core insulating panel made of hemp fibers joined by bio adhesive, while the exposed layer will be made with mortar based of recycled aggregates product of construction and demolition waste (CDW). In this way, we will combine circular processes and local materials use to develop innovative solutions required nowadays by the construction sector.

In AIDIMME, we believe in the power of plant fibers as natural insulating materials – since they have been used over the years in practically all ancient civilizations, we see an opportunity to use them in an industrialized way. To achieve this, some paradigms held by companies and professionals in the sector must be transformed, but this is also our task as a Technological Institute and as part of the SNUG project team: through the use of science, we should be able to drive change.

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References:

European Commission: Directorate-General for Environment, (2021). Level(s), What’s in it for construction companies and contractors, manufacturers, asset managers, facilities managers, and occupants?, Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/94980

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