Homes and buildings chilled without air conditioners. Car interiors that don’t heat up in the summer sun. Tapping the frigid expanses of outer space to cool the planet. Science fiction, you say? Well, maybe not any more. A team of
MANHATTAN, KAN. — Kansas State University civil engineers are developing the right mix to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint and make it stronger. Their innovative ingredient: biofuel byproducts. “The idea is to use bioethanol production byproducts to produce a material to
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — A new method of harvesting the Sun’s energy is emerging, thanks to scientists at UC Santa Barbara’s Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materials. Though still in its infancy, the research promises to convert sunlight into
Air leakage is the movement of air into and out of a building that is not controlled through an exhaust system but rather through factors such as wind blowing through gaps in the building envelope. Air leakage is a concern for
Screen reader version: Recycling by the Numbers 13,000 feet of framing lumber the average newly constructed home requires – that’s enough lumber to line 2.5 miles of road if laid end-to-end. 85 million tons of material recycled in the U.S.
Fashionable people may turn up their noses at jute—the cheap fibre used to make burlap, gunny sacks, twine and other common products—but new research is enhancing jute’s appeal as an inexpensive, sustainable reinforcement for mortar and concrete. The study appears
Concrete, the world’s most abundant man-made substance, ranks second to coal as the world’s dirtiest industrial material. Now, a company in Halifax, Canada, is working to make concrete plants carbon neutral, using captured CO2 to improve their product. By injecting CO2into
“Some of the most pressing occupational health hazard risks in construction” are associated with masonry operations, asphalt roofing, and welding, wrote Deborah Young-Corbett in an article recently accepted by the Journal of Civil Engineering and Management. To reduce these health
Researchers at the University of Jaen (Spain) have mixed waste from the paper industry with ceramic material used in the construction industry. The result is a brick that has low thermal conductivity and acts as a good insulator, though its
Process can help to ensure that consumer products are free of harmful endocrine disruptors PITTSBURGH—A group of scientists from North America and Europe, including Carnegie Mellon University’s Terry Collins, has developed a five-tiered testing system that manufacturers can use to
