In the search for low carbon solutions, a fellow Horizon 2020 project – ISOBIO – is going back to nature to give some age-old building materials a very modern twist. CITyFiED partner ACCIONA is a member of both projects and used a recent workshop on bio-based insulation to explore possible synergies.
By combining mud, clay, straw or hemp with binders, sol-gel and resins, ISOBIO is developing new sustainable construction materials with an extremely low embodied energy. These ‘eco-friendly’ durable composites are still niche, but proving to be sustainable and affordable materials with high performance.
CITyFiED found it useful to illustrate and discuss possible application contexts for these bio-based materials, together with other technologies, in order to reduce the environmental impact calculated through the life cycle assessment approach.
Acciona also participated in a session lead by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products ASPB who bring product manufacturers and distributors, designers, contractors, academics and other building practitioners on these topics.
Watch out Laguna de Duero, a high tech straw house as build by one of the ISOBIO consortium could be a future project!
18 September 2016