Environmental consciousness is at an all-time high in today’s rapidly urbanizing world. Therefore, construction companies across the world are facing the monumental challenge of constructing buildings sustainably while ensuring value for money. As Joe Cianciotto says, to achieve this goal, a wide variety of sustainable building materials and practices are used. These materials prioritize sustainability throughout their life cycle in comparison to traditional building materials.
Joe Cianciotto highlights a few popular sustainable building materials
Use of traditional building materials like concrete leads to an increase in embodied emission levels. Hence, a large number of construction companies are now turning to new, sustainable alternatives that can help lower the carbon footprint of their building projects. Here are a few popular sustainable building materials:
- Bamboo: Bamboo can grow up to 1.5 inches or 3.8 centimeters each day and is abundant in nature. Owing to its fast-growing properties, flexibility, and easy accessibility, bamboo is one of the most prominent sustainable and economical building materials. It grows in several parts of the world, and has an exceptionally high strength-to-weight ratio.
- Cork: Cork comes from the “cork oak” tree. This is among the only trees where bark harvesting causes no harm. Today, cork is not only used for items like wine corks and cork boards, but has also emerged as a recyclable, renewable building material. It is lightweight, fire-retardant, waterproof, and abrasion-resistant, making it ideal for use in the construction industry. Cork also has immense insulation capacity, and therefore, its use in internal and external cladding is steadily becoming popular. Moreover, the neutral tones and aesthetically pleasing appearance of cork has made it a preferred sustainable building material of many designers and architects.
- Hempcrete: The use of carbon-negative materials has become a popular trend in the construction industry. Such materials have a minimal embodied carbon footprint, and can even absorb carbon dioxide over their lifetime. Hempcrete is one such so-called carbon-negative material. Hemp fiber is the raw material behind hempcrete. It is similar to timber, except that it replenishes way faster. Combined with lime, hempcrete has a shape and strength similar to concrete, while being much lighter in weight. Hempcrete is primarily used in the construction industry as an insulator, since it has excellent thermal and acoustic properties.
- Recycled plastic: Single-use plastic is among the biggest threats to the environment. Hence, its reusability presents a huge opportunity when it comes to eco-friendly construction and promotes a circular economy. Recycled plastics can be used for creating plastic sheets, pipes, roofs, floors, and more. Recycling plastic helps lower the amount of waste clogging the waterways and landfills.
- Recycled steel: Due to its high durability, steel is among the most widely recycled building materials. Used steel can be as good as new steel, and therefore is widely considered to be a dependable construction material. The demand for steel is high in the construction industry, and using its recycled version can be a good way to reduce the carbon footprint of a project.
As Joe Cianciotto mentions, the use of sustainable materials significantly reduces the overall environmental impact of construction projects by conserving natural resources and minimizing waste. It facilitates the creation of structures that are both environmentally friendly and economically viable.
