The industry is fighting climate change with wood, Lego-style bricks, new materials

The problem of stolen sewer covers in Turkey may seem like an unlikely starting point for a new way to make buildings earthquake-resistant and solve the construction industry’s environmental problems, but when a Turkish businessman heard about a new material that prevents theft, it sparked an idea. .

Cast iron is traditionally used to make hatch covers that protect drainage systems. But as recently as 2010, cases of theft of scrap metal caps in Turkey meant that an equally strong material had to be used to secure them. When Engin Yeşil read about this super-strong composite in the news, he wondered if it could be used in the construction of earthquake-resistant buildings — A significant risk in Turkey.

Green began manufacturing a composite known as Renco (short for “renewable composite”) that contains up to 40% recycled materials, including resin and fiberglass. Since 2011, more than 200 buildings have been built in Turkey using Renco blocks, which fit together like Lego bricks and are attached with glue.

Yeşil wondered if Renco had potential in the United States, and after more than a decade of research and testing, Renco was used to build an apartment complex in Palm Springs in 2023.

In addition to being able to withstand catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes (the highest rating in the world Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale and an increasing phenomenon due to climate change), Renco claims to be greener than other building materials. The construction sector is the largest greenhouse gas emitter of any sector. According to the 2023 UN reportaccounts for 37% of global emissions.

According to one report, Renco weighs about 80% less than concrete, meaning more can be transported per truck, and it also has 82% less carbon than structural steel. Athena Institute of Sustainable Materials Ordered by Renco. Embodied carbon refers to the emissions released during the production, transportation and disposal of building materials.

Renco is also 100% recyclable, according to Patrick Murphy, managing director of Renco USA. According to him, the new composite shows a step change in construction materials. “There’s basically three ways of building in construction, right? You have concrete, steel and wood, and it’s been the same thing for 100 years … so it’s really a fourth way of approved construction,” he said. video call.

This year, Renco will begin production in the United States for the first time, and in the coming weeks a factory will open in Florida that can produce enough building blocks for about 9,000 medium-sized apartments.

As with other materials used in construction, Renco is not environmentally friendly, with blocks currently being shipped from Turkey to the US while the Florida factory is being completed. And while Renco’s manufacturing plant in Turkey is powered by renewable energy, about 12% Most of the electricity generated in Florida comes from nuclear power plants.

By 2024, building with wood rather than steel or concrete could achieve a 19% reduction in emissions. A study by the University of Arkansasand a 2023 UN report urged the construction industry to switch to bio-based building materials such as sustainably sourced wood and bricks to decarbonize the built environment.

“The idea that we can build from renewable materials has become something that has become increasingly important to us,” said Andrew Waugh, founder and director of Waugh Thistleton. “And the more you do it, the more you realize it has health and wellness benefits, in fact people are happier and healthier surrounded by natural materials than surrounded by polystyrene ceiling tiles and … drywall (wall panels). Waugh told CNBC via video call.

But the UK has been slow to adopt wood as a building material, which Waugh says is “disappointing”. Around 60% of waste produced in the UK comes from the construction industry 2022 government reportwhereas Waugh notes A building made of wood generates little waste. Again, wood construction is not environmentally concerned: the wood used in Waugh Thistleton projects is often imported from Europe.

Another phenomenon caused by climate change rising ocean levels — is also compounded by land subsidence.

In the independent coastal state of Monaco, a newly built “eco-neighborhood” known as Mareterra, known as a playground for the rich because of its low taxes, has put sustainability at the center. “With climate change, building on water will become a strategic approach for certain coastal areas,” Guy-Thomas Levy Soussan, Mareterra’s managing director of development, told CNBC in an email. The development aims to be a “model” of how coastal cities can grow responsibly, Levy Soussan added.

During construction, 27-meter-high reinforced concrete structures were built in Marseille, France, using a technique known as the “caisson” method, which floated to Monaco in order not to disturb marine life. In addition to acting as flood barriers, they are habitats for marine organisms, Levy Soussan said.

“Eco-reef villages” were also built. Consisting of more than 300 modules, they are installed in the offshore area where the development is located. Ecological “corridors” mean fish can reach villages, while a protected species of seagrass known as posidonia has been transplanted to support the ecosystem. These eco-measures will be monitored for at least a decade and the Monaco government will use the insights to guide future marine projects, Levy Soussan said.

The UK Green Building Council It has urged the British government to go further in its environmental targets for new homes, for example in Singapore the government has added proposals to the Mandatory Energy Improvement regime to include older buildings. He previously focused on new construction or buildings undergoing major renovations.

Murphy said the industry would have to “reduce” its emissions. “The industry has flown under the radar in a lot of ways, hasn’t it? People talk about airplanes and cars and cows, you know, a lot of other … emissions. A lot of people don’t realize how bad cement is and how bad it is in the built environment.” .

It has been a focus for embodied carbon US Environmental Protection Agency and construction company Skanska USA developed a tool known as EC3 to help construction projects measure their emissions.

Steve Clem, Skanska USA Building’s senior vice president of project planning and sustainability, said the tool has encouraged some suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint.

When Skanska was evaluating concrete companies for a large project in Seattle, it used EC3 to show how each firm’s materials compared to each other in terms of embodied carbon. “When various suppliers saw how their blends stacked up, they voluntarily took steps to improve their blends at no cost to the consumer,” Clem told CNBC via email.

The vice president looks positively at the future. “The construction industry is doing more for sustainability now than at any other time in history, or at least since the industrial revolution… My hope for the future is that sustainable construction is the norm and more people have the opportunity to live, work and play in carbon-free buildings,” – Clem said.