Building materials

Building materials for housing and interior have the possibility for long time carbon sequestration. That means that carbon can be stored in building materials for many years. For example, wood from trees can be used to build houses. These trees naturally capture carbon. Building with natural materials such as wood is an example of the biobased materials transition pathway. Biobased building is one of the focal points mentioned in the 2021 Dutch Coalition agreement.

Building materials consists of a wide range of different products and applications. Many are (partly) based on fossil oil and gas resources, such as paints and coatings, panels, piping and wiring, upholstery, window frames etc. Several of these are made out of non-packaging plastic. The relevance of non-packaging plastic for the building sector has recently been pointed out by the European Environmental Agency.

However, building materials can also meaningfully connect to regional, biobased production of materials. Examples are hemp for isolation, wood constructions, or typical Dutch thatched roofs.

Using biobased materials allows not only to rediscover old designs but to also combine traditional materials with new modern climate-smart building designs.

The selected cases will soon be added.