Low-carbon construction materials encompass a broad class of building products engineered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption, and environmental impact across their life cycle. Approaches include alternative binders such as geopolymers and low-clinker cements, incorporation of recycled aggregates and industrial by-products, and development of bio-based and engineered living materials that can self-heal or sequester carbon. These materials are applied in concrete, masonry, pavements, insulation, and structural components, often integrating circular economy principles and digital design or AI tools for performance optimization.
Engineering
A new AI system that can automatically identify contaminated construction and demolition wood waste has been developed by researchers from Monash University and Charles Darwin University (CDU).
Jun 3, 2025
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Electronics & Semiconductors
Between upgrades and breakdowns to cellphones, tablets, laptops, and appliances, so many electronics are getting tossed in the trash that they've taken on a name of their own: e-waste.
Jun 3, 2025
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Engineering
For weeks, the whiteboard in the lab was crowded with scribbles, diagrams, and chemical formulas. A research team across the Olivetti Group and the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) was working intensely on a key problem: ...
Jun 2, 2025
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Energy & Green Tech
To reduce radiation across Japan's northern Fukushima region after the 2011 nuclear disaster, authorities scraped a layer of contaminated soil from swaths of land.
Jun 1, 2025
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Engineering
With global population growth accelerating urban expansion, construction activity has reached unprecedented levels—placing immense pressure on both natural resources as well as the environment. A cornerstone of modern-day ...
May 29, 2025
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Engineering
Soil liquefaction—the process where saturated soil loses its structure and transforms to a fluid-like state—can have devastating outcomes, as evidenced by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Large-scale liquefaction ...
May 28, 2025
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Engineering
The construction industry accounts for approximately 37% of global CO₂ emissions. Traditional materials like cement, steel, and bricks contribute over 70% of its footprint, with cement production making up an especially large ...
May 21, 2025
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Engineering
Grout is a mixture commonly used to fill joints between tiles in small domestic projects, and usually features a simple composition of water, cement and sand. However, this is not its only application: in structures that ...
May 15, 2025
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Engineering
Brick manufacturing is a central component of the economy in South Asia, but also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, as the practice releases carbon dioxide (CO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ...
May 8, 2025
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Energy & Green Tech
More than 90% of paved roads in the U.S. are made of asphalt, which is constructed with nonrenewable materials such as petroleum. One way to make paving more sustainable is to recycle old pavement. When roads break down and ...
May 8, 2025
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