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.
Energy & Green Tech
Circular-economy thinking is becoming increasingly important in the construction sector. It helps reduce raw material consumption and emissions and can provide a well-thought-out reuse and recycling scheme to cut costs.
Sep 10, 2026
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Energy & Green Tech
Plastic packaging is designed around appearance, convenience and function, but what happens after disposal is often considered separately—yet managing this waste is key to building a circular economy, since good recycling ...
Sep 9, 2026
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Energy & Green Tech
The UK could meet its housing targets of up to 300,000 new homes each year by swapping high-carbon building materials for straw without running out of supply, according to new research.
Sep 8, 2026
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Engineering
It is hard to imagine the modern world without concrete. Enormous quantities are used in construction worldwide, and the production of cement—its main ingredient—generates a great deal of CO₂, a greenhouse gas that accelerates ...
Sep 7, 2026
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Engineering
A novel approach for making carbon-carbon composites could replace the slow, labor-intensive manufacturing process that has constrained the material's availability and driven up its cost.
Sep 4, 2026
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Engineering
A new study challenges one of the most deeply rooted assumptions in civil engineering: that using recycled materials in structural concrete inevitably means sacrificing strength. Researchers from Escuela Superior Politécnica ...
Aug 28, 2026
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Energy & Green Tech
A study by the University of Bayreuth examines the material requirements of wind energy expansion in Germany and identifies ways in which resource consumption can be reduced in the future. The study focuses on the material ...
Aug 27, 2026
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Engineering
Cement is one of the most consumed materials globally, second only to water. However, the world's enormous appetite for cement also has an environmental cost: Its production generates more than a billion metric tons of carbon ...
Aug 25, 2026
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Engineering
Concrete slowly absorbs small amounts of carbon dioxide from the air over its lifetime, a natural process sometimes proposed as a solution to the cement industry's heavy carbon footprint. But a new UCLA-led study finds that ...
Aug 24, 2026
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Energy & Green Tech
As extreme weather intensifies, Reese Greenlee is testing the limits of 3D-printed concrete to create stronger, more accessible storm shelters for vulnerable communities.
Aug 20, 2026
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