Author: Alessandra Barbieri

A raincoat for our houses

From the use of Gore-Tex-like waterproof fabrics to the development of “breathable” bio-based materials, the construction industry is chasing breakthrough solutions to insulate buildings and keep living areas free from damp and mould

Today, one of the new challenges for the construction industry is the use of textiles, coming from the clothing and footwear industries. Gore-Tex-like membranes, which are usually found in weather-proof jackets and trekking shoes, are now being studied to build breathable, water-resistant walls. Tyvek is an example of one such synthetic textile being used as a “raincoat” for our homes.

Camping tents, which have been used for ages to protect against wind, ultra-violet rays and rain, have also inspired the modern construction industry, or “buildtech sector”. This new field of research focuses on the different fibres (animal-based such as wool or silk, plant-based such as linen and cotton and synthetic such as polyester and rayon) in order to develop technical or high-performance materials, thus improving the quality of construction, especially for buildings, dams, bridges, tunnels and roads. This is due to the fibres’ mechanical properties, such as lightness, strength, and also resistance to many factors like creep, deterioration by chemicals and pollutants in the air or rain.

“Textiles play an important role in the modernisation of infrastructure and in sustainable buildings”, explains Andrea Bassi, professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA), Politecnico of Milan, “Nylon and fiberglass are mixed with traditional fibres to control thermal and acoustic insulation in walls, façades and roofs. Technological innovation in materials, which includes nanotechnologies combined with traditional textiles used in clothes, enables buildings and other constructions to be designed using textiles containing steel polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE). This gives the materials new antibacterial, antifungal and antimycotic properties in addition to being antistatic, sound-absorbing and water-resistant”.

Rooflys is another example. In this case, coated black woven textiles are placed under the roof to protect roof insulation from mould. These building textiles have also been tested for fire resistance, nail sealability, water and vapour impermeability, wind and UV resistance.

Production line at the co-operative enterprise CAVAC Biomatériaux, France. Natural fibres processed into a continuous mat (biofib) – Martin Ansell, BRE CICM, University of Bath, UK

In Spain three researchers from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) have developed a new panel made with textile waste. They claim that it can significantly enhance both the thermal and acoustic conditions of buildings, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the energy impact associated with the development of construction materials.

Besides textiles, innovative natural fibre composite materials are a parallel field of the research on insulators that can preserve indoor air quality. These bio-based materials, such as straw and hemp, “can reduce the incidence of mould growth because they breathe. The breathability of materials refers to their ability to absorb and desorb moisture naturally”, says expert Finlay White from Modcell, who contributed to the construction of what they claim are the world’s first commercially available straw houses, “For example, highly insulated buildings with poor ventilation can build-up high levels of moisture in the air. If the moisture meets a cool surface it will condensate and producing mould, unless it is managed. Bio-based materials have the means to absorb moisture so that the risk of condensation is reduced, preventing the potential for mould growth”.

The Bristol-based green technology firm is collaborating with the European Isobio project, which is testing bio-based insulators which perform 20% better than conventional materials. “This would lead to a 5% total energy reduction over the lifecycle of a building”, explains Martin Ansell, from BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials (BRE CICM), University of Bath, UK, another partner of the project.

“Costs would also be reduced. We are evaluating the thermal and hygroscopic properties of a range of plant-derived by-products including hemp, jute, rape and straw fibres plus corn cob residues. Advanced sol-gel coatings are being deposited on these fibres to optimise these properties in order to produce highly insulating and breathable construction materials”, Ansell concludes.

 

By Chiara Cecchi

21 December 2016

Skills and standards in the construction supply chain – ISOBIO Workshop

The experts of the ISOBIO project will hold a third stakeholder workshop, titled ‘‘Skills and standards in the construction supply chain’’’ on Wednesday, 22nd of March 2017 in Brussels, Belgium.

ISOBIO aims to develop new bio-based insulation panels and renders, and bring them into mainstream use to create more energy efficient buildings. The aim is to deliver products with at least a 50% reduction in embodied energy and CO2 emissions at component level, a 20% improvement in insulation properties, and a 30% reduction in life cycle costs.

The event will bring together industry and the researchers of the ISOBIO project, and will focus on the theme of skills and standards in the bio-based construction sector with the aim of identifying opportunities and challenges for the future, as well as sharing best practices. ISOBIO innovation partners will present the project’s approach, intermediate project results, and discuss the innovative bio-based products under development.

The agenda and further details will be circulated in January 2017.

Homes storing CO2, just like trees

Houses built with bio-based materials, such as timber, straw and hemp, act as CO2 banks. Experts explain how citizens can become custodians of atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus help reduce air pollution

Domestic efforts play an important role in curbing global warming. Besides producing and using renewables, homes can also act as banks that store CO2. This innovative building model exploits bio-based materials, such as timber, straw and hemp, which act as “carbon sequestrators.”

Carbon is banked through photosynthesis made by plants during their lifetime. “Photosynthesis is the means with which plants absorb atmospheric CO2 molecules, and split them into their component atoms. The carbon atom is retained making complex organic sugars that are the building blocks of the cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin found in plant cell walls. The oxygen atoms are released back into atmosphere as a by-product. Therefore, photosynthesis converts atmospheric CO2 into carbon-based materials that we can use to build and insulate our houses”, says Finlay White, expert in low energy “passive” buildings.

When plants die, the ground absorbs the stored carbon dioxide, which then finds its way back into the environment. However,  if we use bio-based materials in construction, the CO2 remains “imprisoned” in the buildings made.

But how much carbon dioxide can be stored in a carbon sequestration house? White explains that “depending on the extent of the renewable materials used, the gross amount of CO2 equivalent stored could be as much as 55 tonnes for a typical 80m2 house. Such dwellings would typically use timber framing for the superstructure and for the internal walls and floor, straw bale insulation in the roof, timber for the cladding and finishes, and other bio-based materials for use elsewhere.”

“The gross amount is the actual CO2 absorbed by the bio-based materials used in the building. The net amount will need to take account of the energy used and subsequent CO2 emissions associated with dealing with the forests and crops, and turning the materials into useful building products and delivering them to site. This is known as embodied carbon”, he adds.

“Therefore the calculation for a bio-based house will be the gross CO2 captured minus the CO2 emissions embodied in making the house. A typical 80m2 bio-based house with a gross CO2 capture of 55 tonnes might well mean a net amount of 33.6 tonnes.”

White works for the Bristol-based green technology firm Modcell, which contributed to the construction of what they claim to be the world’s first commercially available houses built using straw (more info in this BBC report).

They are also collaborating with the European project Isobio, which is developing “new products that include compressed straw board that can replace plasterboard, cereal fibres combined with bio polymers to make components for door cores etc.”, says White, “Once a designer becomes aware of the use of bio-based materials, the potential for their use expands rapidly.”

Carbon sequestration houses still remain a niche market in Europe.

Callum Hill, senior visiting research fellow at the University of Bath, another Isobio expert in the field, points out that “the building industry tends to be very conservative in its approach and prefers to use what it is familiar with. Bio-derived materials are often perceived as being perishable, flammable and short-lived. These perceptions are not supported by facts”. Compressed straw bales used for building envelopes, for example, are not flammable because they contain less oxygen.

Hill thinks that governments should recognise this alternative storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide and “provide a financial benefit for custodians of it. “It is a way of storing atmospheric carbon dioxide that can be readily achieved and without financial penalty (unlike carbon capture and storage)”, he says, “This is something that can be done to the benefit of society and the environment. Anthropogenic carbon emissions are undoubtedly changing the climate and these will have huge financial implications”.

 

By Luigi Serenelli

17 November 2016

Armourers & Brasiers’ Gauntlet Trust Award 2016 – TWI PhD & ISOBIO Top Prized!

The National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC) announced the winners of The Welding Institute and the Armourers & Brasiers’ Gauntlet Trust Awards 2016.

The best PhD student prize was awarded to Marion Bourebrab, from TWI innovation partner and ISOBIO coordinator, who has been awarded for her study “Enhancing bio-materials’ properties: bringing hydrophobicity and fire retardancy”, which tackles the inherent risk of bio-based materials of low fire resistance and water penetration.

Water repellence and fire retardancy will be achieved through ISOBIO innovation achievements with a single sol-gel based treatment of the bio-based materials, without affecting the materials’ breathability to prevent condensation within the panels.

To learn more, visit NSIC website.

ISOBIO achievements in treating hemp shivs

ISOBIO research is achieving promising results in treating hemp shivs. The latest development by the innovation partner TWI lead to impressive results in terms of water repellence (up to 130° of water contact angle) and of hydrophobic properties (water contact angle, above 90° and maintaind for over 20 minutes).

These achievements are promisingly converging towards the main objective of developing bio-based materials with high insulating properties, low embodied energy, low embodied carbon and hygrothermally efficient.

Beyond research, towards the market

ISOBIO is emerging from the research phase and taking its first steps towards its target market. Bringing innovation and research outcomes to the attention of experts and stakeholders is essential to tackling some of the possible challenges in the industrialisation phase.

Against this backdrop, ISOBIO innovation partners held a workshop on 14 September this year at the University of Bath. The aim was to stimulate discussion about bio-based insulation materials and the associated environmental and LCA issues. The workshop took place alongside an event held by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP), focusing on embodied carbon issues and providing useful insights and strategies for reducing it.

ISOBIO had the opportunity to share knowledge about major topics such as life cycle assessment and cost analysis, key results of demonstration actions (including, carbon sequestration, waste minimisation, efficient energy and raw material use) as well as a case study of a nearly-zero energy residential building made with straw bales and timber. This highlights a strong link among bio-based building systems, energy efficiency and indoor comfort, allowing strong connection between the bio-economy and energy sectors to be created. The workshop was also an opportunity to hear about ASBP activities associated to the challenges of applying LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) to external thermal insulation composite systems and to embodied carbon policies and decision making tools.

LCA and LCC are essential aspects that can bring research outputs closer to the target market. Engaging with stakeholders, sharing knowledge and best practices is key to stimulating stakeholders’ acceptance of the designed bio-based material, which aims to turn a niche innovation into a mainstream product of the construction sector. ISOBIO is taking its first steps in this direction and, little by little, it will need to address all challenges of industrialisation, firmly drawing on its particular strengths and exploiting the opportunities ahead.

 

13 October 2016

Drivers of the European Bioeconomy in Transition

The bioeconomy comprises sectors that use renewable biological resources to produce food, materials and energy. It is at the centre of several global and EU challenges in the near future such as the creation of growth and jobs, climate change, food security and resource depletion.

Several policy and action plans have been endorsed, among which the Bioeconomy Action Plan (2012) takes a particular integrative approach, comprising all those sectors of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, sh, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy.

The Drivers of European Bioeconomy in Transition report includes a detailed contemporary ‘business as usual’ projection to 2030 with accompanying alternate narratives representing two hypothetical policy pathways. Employing a useful decomposition technique, the reader is given insightful access to the relative role of economic and policy drivers in shaping market trends. Furthermore, by comparing policy narratives with the reference scenario, the report assesses both the resilience of EU’s bioeconomy in fulfilling a diverse portfolio of policy goals and identifies potential policy conflicts and trade-offs.

Read the full report HERE.

ISOBIO Workshop and ASBP event: September 14th 2016

ISOBIO experts are pleased to invite you to the next stakeholders workshop on bio-based insulation materials, which will be hosted by the University of Bath on Wednesday 14th September 2016.

The workshop will bring together industry and producers of bio-based insulation and the researchers of the ISOBIO project, and will focus on the theme of Environmental and LCA issues in the production of bio-based insulation (“Environmental and LCA considerations in the production of bio-based insulation“). ISOBIO innovation partners will share their experiences, present the project’s approach and the first 18 month’s results, as well as discuss and gather feedback on the innovative products under development. The workshop will be followed by a session organised by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products; “Embodied carbon and strategies for reduction”.

Successful engagement with stakeholders at all levels is part of ISOBIO innovation. Therfore, your inputs are warmly welcome and beneficial for setting the agenda for the workshop. Take some time to fill in the ISOBIO short survey and please follow the link: SURVEY

The preliminary agenda can be acessed here.

The workshop is free of charge, however, the registration is required. To register please click on the button below. Registration closes on 01 September 2016.

Register here.

For more details please contact Nadia Sid at: Nadia.sid@twi.co.uk.

ISOBIO looks forward to seeing you in Bath!

Materials for Clean Air

Sustainable, affordable materials play an important role in improving air quality in cities. In the framework of COP21 goals, the EC launched a contest to develop an innovative and well-designed material solution that will reduce the concentration of particulate matter in the air.

The desing of innovative materials have an impact not only on the bioeconomy and energy sector, but in the health sector and tackling climate change issues and ecosystems likewise.

The contest will be open untill January 2018. For further info, visit the Horizon Prize website.

The Social Life of Bricks

A celebrity in the materials world, Mark Miodownik dreams of colour-changing walls and looks at the future of renewable buildings

Mark Miodownik will never forget the day he became obsessed with materials. He was a schoolboy in 1985 when he was stabbed in the London Underground. “When I saw that weapon in the police station later, I was mesmerized. I had seen razors before of course, but now I realized that I didn’t know them at all. (…) its steel edge was still perfect, unaffected by its afternoon’s work,” he writes in his bestselling book Stuff Matters.

Growing up, Miodownik turned his fixation into a successful career. He became a materials scientist at the University College London, the director of the UCL’s Institute of Making and a widely known speaker and BBC presenter. His research interests include biomaterials, innovative manufacturing, and sensoaesthetics, a science that investigates the intricate relationship between people and the materials they use.

We asked Miodownik to share his views about the rediscovery of traditional materials in modern architecture, and how tomorrow’s buildings will cross the border between new and old technologies.

 

Do you think there is still value in using wood, straw, wool, or other traditional materials for buildings?
I don’t see being “traditional” as a value per se. The choice of materials has to be assessed with modern criteria, which include sustainability and energy consumption. If you ask me whether traditional materials are appropriate for modern buildings, I think the answer is yes. Partly because traditional materials have a portfolio of properties that are sometimes better than anything we have created recently: wool, for example, is a fantastic insulator.

Partly because it’s the whole ecosystem that matters. In the old days, the building materials we used were part of the landscape, and they were easier to recycle. New materials are not usually like that. When it comes to sustainability, traditional materials are often more efficient.

 

Construction experts point to limits in the public perception. Some described the three little pigs syndrome, a misconception by which buildings made with traditional materials, such as wood, would not be not as stable or durable as concrete. Is this vision widespread? And does our cultural background influence how we perceive materials?
There is no simple answer. Anthropological studies show that different cultures favour different materials, but the ways people relate to materials is extremely complex. The texture, the feel, the colour or even the imperceptible smell of an object can affect our emotional state. The materials we choose for our house, or the clothes we wear, not only represent us are but they also change how we are. Therefore, the materials we choose for a building can have subtle social consequences.

However, I don’t think that the “three little pigs syndrome” you describe is so widespread. People generally trust the engineers and rarely think about buildings collapsing, unless they live in an earthquake zone.

Rather, I believe that the influence of the global culture is predominant. People worldwide associate concrete, glass, and steel with modernity – think of the iconic image of a skyscraper – and this cuts across many cultures, especially in countries that are switching from rural to urban.

In the industrialised countries, I see much more of the opposite syndrome: many people don’t like concrete and are looking for alternative materials to build their homes.

 

My sports shoes have a new waterproof layer and a classic leather upper. Will buildings go the same way, layering technologies and crossing the border between old and new materials?
Doing this will require more interaction between experts from different industries, and I would like to see more of it. The construction sector is not very diverse in its approach, and I think we have a problem with asylum mentality in general, but real innovators will cross the boundaries between disciplines.

Textiles, for example, are fascinating for architects because they can do things that normal construction materials cannot do. You can see this with the lightweight pneumatic panels that cover many stadiums. Temporary structures are another sector that could benefit from innovative textiles. Millions of refugees need decent housing. Smart constructions made with resistant and lightweight fabric could be quickly sent, packed and reused.

In the future, building materials will be more diverse because people themselves are so diverse with their needs and desires, and constructions will reflect that.

 

You suggested replacing school libraries with workshops where students could get in contact with materials. Does a digital generation really need the physical experience of touching and feeling stuff?
I think the digital world is just one aspect of life. It clearly isn’t the answer to everything. Humans are physical beings; they need food, sleep and shelter from the weather. My radical proposal came after seeing the massive decrease in the facilities for learning with materials. For some schools, digital technology has been an excuse to reduce the resources for physical workshops because they are more expensive.

Whenever we introduce students to physical stuff they love it. And if we combine their digital skills with material knowledge, we can actually empower them. Professionals, too, need to cope with the wealth of new stuff. The number of materials from which designers can choose has almost quadrupled in the last 15 years.

This is why we are now seeing more materials libraries: facilities that collect samples so that designers and engineers can find out how materials could be used.

 

What would be your dream material for a building?
I’ve always fancied buildings that harvest their own energy. On a more immediate scale, I would like constructions to be thermochromic, meaning that they would change their colour with temperature.

Buildings could turn white in summer reflecting more sunlight, and thus reducing the need for cooling. And they could become darker in winter to absorb more heat and thus save energy.

Thermochromic glasses are already on the market. My laboratory developed a thermochromic brick about 10 years ago. We couldn’t get any company interested, but we showed that such a brick was possible.

This material makes total sense from an environmental perspective. As an extra, I would love to be in a city where the buildings change with the seasons.

 

By Sergio Pistoi

21 April 2016

ISOBIO profiled in 5th EeB project review

The fifth edition of the EeB PPP Project Review, published in March 2016, gives an overview of 110 co-funded projects within the Energy-efficient Buildings Public Private Partnership (EeB PPP) under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) as well as 17 new co-funded projects under the Horizon 2020 programme.

The review highlights current results and achieved or potential impact of the EeB PPP projects with demonstrations of scientific and technological excellence from early stage conception to almost ready-to-market innovations. The projects also illustrate the diverse innovation approaches and the importance of embracing all aspects of the building and construction sectors.

The review includes the following topics:

  • EeB PPP Impact
  • Design
  • Technology building blocks
  • Advanced materials and nanotechnology
  • Construction process, end of life, cross-cutting information
  • Energy performance monitoring and management
  • ICT
  • BIM/ Data/ Interoperability

EeB PPP is a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the Energy Efficient Buildings (E2B) Committee of the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP).

Download the review on the ECTP site

Back to basics – Setting the path towards making bio-based materials mainstream: opportunities offered by nature are facing cultural, technical and market challenges

ISOBIO aims to develop new bio-based insulation panels and renders, and to scale them to mainstream adoption in the building and construction industry. A purpose driven by a common vision: the less we intervene on materials, the more we achieve.

In ISOBIO, innovation is coming straight from nature: fibres and straw are some of the raw materials at the core. Scientists and stakeholders do acknowledge this but demonstrating this vision presents a number of research and technical challenges. This could be a niche market, and a highly eco-friendly one.

The University of Rennes hosted the first regional stakeholder workshop on 4 February 2016. It brought together academia and research stakeholders to tackle the main challenges of the project’s objectives and to explore opportunities offered by bio-based construction materials.

Multifold barriers were identified that need to be overcome if bio aggregates are to be widely adopted across the construction sector: technically, the challenge is to do with confidence in producing raw materials and meeting the technical standards for natural insulation materials. Scientifically, water repellence and fire resistance are essential issues under the microscope.

Behind the uptake of bio-based aggregates, there is an even more substantial question: is the market ready for them? This raises the issues of public perception and market penetration.  Persuading users that they can safely benefit from bio-based materials may be as challenging as reaching the market penetration level required to replicate the solution developed while keeping the same quality level of the final product.

The workshop enabled a wide range of research and academia stakeholders to engage directly with one another and explore these challenges, in view of working together towards ISOBIO’s aim of widespread adoption and design of a bio-based product with high-insulating properties, low embodied energy and carbon, hydrothermally efficient, greening the building and construction industry.

ISOBIO innovation featured during ECO-binder event

ISOBIO, sustaining its dissemination potential during ECO-binder event.

Within the framework of the collaboration in the AMANAC Cluster, ISOBIO innovation has been featured during ECO-binder workshop held in Bilbao on February the 4th. The main objective of the workshop was the initiation and assessment of the challenges and development opportunities in the area of low embodied energy materials and energy efficient buildings.

ISOBIO had the opportunity to show its potential benefits for the society, the project objectives and expected impact as well as its inclusion in the AMANAC cluster. ACCIONA took part to the workshop and disseminated ISOBIO innovation towards experts and stakeholders in the field.

COP 21 wave – Towards a new era in the green construction sector

The impacts of the Paris Agreement on green business environment: The role of the private and public sectors, the effects in terms of legislative & legal frameworks and possible benefits for novel construction materials

“History will remember this day,” said Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, moments after the green-topped gavel, symbol of the Paris talks, was dropped on what is considered the most ambitious deal on climate change that the world has ever seen.

Households are responsible for 32% of greenhouse gas emissions and 42% of energy consumption in Europe. During the COP21 Buildings Day on 3 December, a Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction was launched, with the aim of scaling up low-carbon development in the sector.

Participating countries include Austria, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Senegal, Singapore, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Furthermore, over 60 organisations are members of the alliance.

The World Green Building Council is a key member of the initiative. “While the Paris Agreement is not itself legally binding, many countries will choose legislative and legal frameworks to support its implementation,” says Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council, a network of national green building councils in more than one hundred countries. Many of them are working closely with their national governments to develop renovation strategies.

“Some countries will opt for a ‘carrot’ over a ‘stick’ approach” adds Wills, explaining that “they will decide to offer incentives in the form of subsidies, grants for ambitious green building projects, or planning approvals for extra building space if a building complies with a green certification standard.”

The COP 21 Paris Agreement has put emphasis on the construction sector and on the adoption of novel building materials, designs and technologies.

“States should provide long-term incentives and support for emissions reductions to show real commitment to change. Policy actions could include carbon pricing, ambitious buildings standards and targeted spending on new technologies through green public procurement”, says Simon Hunkin from Greenovate!Europe. The independent expert group, dedicated to developing sustainable business, is collaborating with a research project called ISOBIO, which aims to develop bio-based materials as an alternative to traditional insulations while reducing their cost.

The researchers are developing a new approach to insulating materials, through the combination of existing bio-derived aggregates with low embodied carbon and innovative binders to produce durable composite construction materials.

With these novel composites, the aim is to cut embodied energy and carbon dioxide at component level by 50%, and to improve insulation properties by 20% compared to conventional material. The study will also seek to demonstrate a reduction in total costs by 15% and in the total energy spent over the life time of a building by 5%.

But could such biomaterials be commercially attractive? “To a certain extent, these materials may appeal to businesses, contractors and homeowners. As they have low or even zero-embodied energy, there is proof of increased sustainability and energy efficiency when compared to traditional materials,” says Anthimos Pavlidis, a civil engineer and quality coordinator in the project of the skyscraper centre One Blackfriars, London.

Financial profit can be identified from manufacture through to impact across the operational life-cycle of buildings. “Nevertheless, a rationalised piece of legislation is needed in order to woo manufacturers and contractors. Integrated policy measures including incentive schemes and training seminars have to be implemented in order to achieve widespread use of biomaterials,” Pavlidis tells youris.com.

As for construction companies, they are smelling the business opportunities. “These companies – particularly those in the green building sector – aren’t going to wait for their national governments; they are simply going to act on climate change because they know it makes good business sense,” says Wills, “There is no longer any question of whether or not to decarbonise. In our opinion, this is the greatest triumph of the COP21″.

By Elias Aggelopoulos

Low carbon materials to capture the imagination of homebuilders and owners

Innovation in the construction industry will play an important role in reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency — though developing new materials and methods is only half the battle. Convincing architects and homeowners of the performance and long-term financial benefits of a new product presents a significant challenge.

In Europe, households are responsible for 32% of greenhouse gas emissions and 42% of energy. Cement production alone contributes to 5% of manmade CO2 emissions.

By contrast, bio-based insulation typically have much lower “embodied energy” levels compared with more conventional building materials. Furthermore, the source materials themselves sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthesis.

“The beauty of bio-based materials is that they are often a byproduct of growing our food. We can build with carbon. Instead of seeing carbon as a problem, we can recast our relationship with it to one of positive innovation”, says Craig White, director of ModCell, which produces straw-bale eco-homes.

The company is one of the 12 partners in academia, research and industry that are collaborating with the European project ISOBIO. It aims to deliver bio-based insulators with 20% better performance than conventional materials, leading to a 5% total energy reduction over the lifecycle of a building at reduced costs of 15%.

Producers of bio-based insulators have the advantage that users are both receptive to change and familiar with the products in some capacity. In a study conducted by the Architects’ Council Europe (ACE) for the Low Embodied Energy Insulation Materials (LEEMA) project, 94% of architects surveyed said they would consider using a new and innovative insulation material. An overwhelming endorsement for what remains a niche application in the construction and renovation industries.

Renovations present a key market for producers of new insulation materials. According to the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), more than 40% of Europe’s existing homes were built before the 1960s, when there were few requirements for energy efficiency, leading to low insulation levels.

Increasing awareness of the importance of insulation among homeowners is an important consideration. Homeowners may be inclined to, for example, upgrade appliances and install energy saving light bulbs, unaware that retrofitting wall and roof insulation leads to the greatest savings opportunities.

Veronika Schröpfer, lead author on the ACE survey, believes that bio-based insulation materials will continue to move from the niche into the mainstream and that new skill requirements will not present significant roadblocks.

Schröpfer says new building materials are often applied the same way as commonly used ones and manufacturers usually offer training when this is not the case. She states the main concerns involve pricing and regulations in different European countries.

“For architects it is important that a new material has all the necessary certificates and that the product information is transparent, to quickly compare its performance and price with traditional products,” says Schröpfer.

White believes that developers will be receptive to change. “The challenge that ISOBIO will overcome will be to bring [products] to market at scale at the price point that matches their performance to market demand,” he says.

Europe’s construction industry has experienced a turnaround over the last two years. After registering negative growth in 2013, the industry grew by 2.1% this year, and is forecast to grow by a further 2% over the next five years.

Evidence suggests that a growing minority of these builds will involve green projects. A market report from the Word Green Building Council states the proportion of architects and engineers that dedicate 60% or more of their project load to sustainable builds more than doubled over a four-year period — from 13% in 2009 to 28% in 2013.

The report states that increasingly, industry consumers not only demand that new innovations improve performance, but also reduce environmental impact. Fertile territory for the right nature-inspired solutions.

By Angus McNeice