The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $39 million to 18 technology development projects for transforming buildings into net carbon storage structures.
The Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program selectees will overcome barriers related to carbon-storing buildings. The aim is to store more carbon in buildings to create carbon sinks that will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than what is released during the construction process.
Teams, representing universities, private companies and national laboratories, will develop building materials and net carbon negative whole-building designs.
Among them is the National Renewable Energy Lab, which has received $2,476,145 to develop cost-effective, bio-based insulation. The team at the lab will combine cellulose and mycelium to create carbon-capturing and storing foams and composites.
Purdue University has received $958,245 to develop a transformational “living” wood, as strong as steel and with a self-healing capability and the combined carbon-sequestering benefits from wood and microbes.
SkyNano will use the $2 million awarded to it to develop a composite panel containing bio-derived natural fibers with mechanical and functional properties while also maintaining a carbon-negative footprint.
Among the recipients is the University of Pennsylvania, which will design a carbon-negative medium-size building structure. It will create a high-performance floor system, capable of carbon absorption due to the use of a carbon absorbing concrete mixture and other bio-based carbon-storing materials.
“There’s huge, untapped potential in reimagining building materials and construction techniques as carbon sinks that support a cleaner atmosphere and advance President Biden’s national climate goals,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This is a unique opportunity for researchers to advance clean energy materials to tackle one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors that is responsible for roughly 10% of total annual emissions in the United States.”
Other entities engaged in similar carbon storage research include the University of California-Davis and University of Washington.
