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Bio-fabricated Concrete and Bricks
As you will hopefully realise from reading the title this is not my area…
I was actually listening to a TEDtalk (click to listen!) the other day that put me onto this that discussed more general the uses of bio-fabrication across pretty much every industry from medical to fashion to construction.
The speaker mentioned bio-fabricated bricks and concrete. The benefits come for both the sustainability/climate change perspective and the actual properties of the brick. The cement industry currently contributes 8% of all global CO2 emissions – more than all planes and ships each year. Cement and bricks also require high temperatures to be produced, bio-fabricated bricks and concrete are created at room temperature in a couple of days. These concrete bricks are also nearly 3 times stronger than tradition fired bricks. Finally, these bricks then store more carbon than they produce.
If all 1.2 trillion fired bricks that are currently produced annually were replaced with bio-bricks, we would reduce CO2 emissions by 800 million tons a year.
After hearing this I had a short research into it and found that the US Air Force is using the same company, BioMason, to look at building runways with the same principle, article here. Essentially meaning a high quality runway can be built anywhere in the world in a relatively short time with minimal equipment.
Has anyone seen or heard anything about these bio-fabricated materials? The information I have read is obviously biased, does anyone have any info that argues against?
Also I recommend TEDtalks in general, they aren’t focused on construction or military, but I personally find them all very interesting. Spotify now has TEDtalks Daily and the TEDtalk Interview.
Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) Virtual Environment
As I have arrived at the design office the Mechanical section has just got a new design program called IES (https://www.iesve.com/). Until now they have been using a manufacturer specific free to use program which obviously comes with some significant restraints, mainly that you can only use that manufacturers equipment. It seems they have been using this for some time to estimate design loads for the LEED reports which seems very inefficient to me!
I have been tasked with learning how to use IES, teaching it to the rest of the section and using it to complete the Mechanical 65% design for a fire station. One of the main focuses of using IES is that it will generate the LEED report based on what I design in the program, perfect for hitting my sustainable development competency! Appropriately the IES tagline is “Make every element of your building sustainable”.
So has anybody had any experience with IES? If so, any pointers on some good tutorials?
Is IES any good? How does it perform compared to other programs anyone has experience with?
Also, what design programs are people using outside of AutoCAD and Revit?
UK Spec – Sustainable Development
Jambo’s comment on A Blog on Blogging below has actually given me the inspiration for my first blog!
Working over in the ‘freest country on earth’ sustainable development just hasn’t come up as an area to gain experience. In order to be so free Americans avoid Federal Government ‘meddling’ as much as possible leaving it to the states and individual counties, which business then takes advantage of. Examples can be easily found in H&S as well as environmental impacts of how this can cause a race to the bottom in certain areas.
The only time I have seen sustainable development is a tick box form to question if light bulbs meet minimal efficiency standards and if the manufacturer uses sustainable methods where Unknown was an acceptable answer. This form was a requirement as it is a government contract however nobody was interested in the answers, just that the form was complete.
How are others getting on with this competence?
Is sustainable development taken seriously in the UK and Aus, or just individual projects (if at all)?
@bnrbwoods, I expect BP aim to have buzzwords like sustainable development covered off to help with their image? Is this realistically a tough sell?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all!
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