Companies are revolutionizing with new ways to build things that have zero carbon footprint. The leader in zero-carbon building materials Prometheus Materials announced a partnership with global design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design and produce microalgae-based bricks and bio-concrete.
The new technology patented by Prometheus Materials replaces traditional portland cement-based concrete famous for its heavy carbon footprint with a zero-carbon bio-concrete that has low emissions impact and is able to sequester permanently CO2.
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The concrete is made using an innovative methodology with microalgae combined with water, sunlight and CO2 to create a material that is chemically similar to the calcium carbonate biodynamically generated in coral reefs and oyster shells. That mixture is then combined with aggregate to produce a bio-cement. It mimics a naturally occurring process.
As the material has the performance and properties comparable to traditional concrete, it could rapidly transform the construction industry into a carbon-free one.
“The future of the built environment is carbon-negative and, through this new collaboration, buildings have the potential to become part of the solution to climate change, not the problem. If we replaced every concrete block with a bio-based alternative in our building projects, the impact would be immense,” said Brant Coletta, SOM Managing Partner.
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The partnership is also an extension of the Urban Sequoia project – a design concept that SOM unveiled at the United Nations COP26 Climate Conference. It envisions the production of biomaterials that create a new zero-carbon economy and buildings that act like “forests” as they sequester carbon and purify the air.
Prometheus Materials also announced at the beginning of June 2022, it managed to close an $8 million Series A financing round led by Sofinnova Partners and with the participation of Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
