Sustainable building materials are those with minimal environmental impacts, such as natural materials like adobe, bamboo and stone as well as recycled plastics such as PET bottles.
Sustainable construction entails reducing a building’s embodied carbon footprint, such as by substituting concrete with greener alternatives like straw bale construction or compressed earth blocks.
Cross-laminated timber
Sustainable materials are defined as those which do not harm the environment during production, use, or disposal. Furthermore, these materials reduce carbon emissions, save energy consumption, promote better indoor air quality, and help create biophilic design principles aimed at connecting occupants to nature.
Cross-laminated timber, created by adhering layers of lumber together, offers an eco-friendly alternative to steel and concrete in large buildings while remaining cost-effective compared to other sustainable building materials.
Bamboo is a sustainable construction material made of natural materials without needing chemical stains or adhesives, offering a green solution to meet urbanization’s increasing need for tall skyscrapers. Regenerating as a renewable resource, bamboo can be used in structural framing as well as cabinetry applications; its durability withstands seismic forces as well. Bamboo’s popularity worldwide is on the rise – recent examples include Voll Arkitekter in Brumunddal Norway using this eco-friendly material in the Mjostarnet project which provides an eco-friendly answer to rising demand for tall skyscrapers within cities – one such project being Mjostarnet which serves both functional framing and cabinetry applications – among several projects using it is used worldwide by Voll Arkitekter’s eco-friendly solution provided as Mjostarnet Eco Skyscraper Eco solution providing eco-friendly solution while meeting the demand for tall buildings in cities.
Memory steel
Memory steel is an innovative material used to reinforce concrete structures. Composed of special alloys that feature the ability to remember their original form upon heating, Memory steel can recall and restore itself into shape after stress and temperature conditions, providing relief against structural failure caused by earthquakes. This innovation could reduce structural failure rates significantly.
As well, it helps reduce a structure’s carbon footprint and speed up construction time and is a suitable replacement for Portland cement in cladding projects. Furthermore, its thermal insulation properties help lower energy consumption and operating costs associated with buildings.
Sustainable materials are defined as those with a reduced embodied carbon footprint that incorporate recycled waste products, such as bamboo, adobe bricks, mass timber, stone and reclaimed wood. Bamboo walls, mass timber walls and hemp walls are some of the more popular choices available – all renewable resources that reduce both operational and embodied carbon emissions from buildings.
Transparent solar panels
When designing an eco-friendly home or skyscraper, use sustainable materials that generate renewable energy to maximize sustainability. Not only are eco-friendly building products beneficial to the environment, but they can also boost economic and societal health; the best eco-friendly materials also tend to be cost-effective long term.
Transparent solar panels can be seamlessly incorporated into building facades, making them the ideal solution for offices with large glass windows or tall structures that feature them. Their transparent panels can generate power while also acting as thermal insulation to cut energy costs and carbon emissions.
Researchers are developing transparent solar cells with improved efficiency. Their current version remains relatively opaque; however, researchers hope to achieve a power conversion efficiency of 10% by 2020, making these solar panels capable of powering a significant proportion of electric needs for tall buildings while simultaneously cutting energy consumption and operational costs.
Mycelium blocks
Fungi may not come to mind when considering possible building materials, but researchers and architects are discovering they could serve as an effective replacement to concrete in certain instances. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), mycelium bricks could potentially replace traditional concrete when creating walls or blocks as insulation properties contribute to energy efficiency benefits and contribute to energy conservation.
Last month, PLP Labs of London introduced biodegradable building blocks made from mycelium at Clerkenwell Design Week. PLP’s biodegradable blocks are made from renewable and biodegradable ingredients like agricultural waste and wood.
Base components come from low-value crop waste and mycelium from Ecovative, combined in molds to biologically cement over time, creating an eco-friendly building material without chemicals or waste generation. Mycelium bricks can then be decomposed into soil for natural recycling after use with no loss in structural integrity; waterproof, fire retardant and soundproof properties make mycelium bricks ideal building materials; however, their growth takes longer compared to more traditional materials.
