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From Luisa Zenker
Dresden. The sun shines through the curved windows and illuminates the bright concrete wall. It is only 22 centimeters thick. That is half the thickness of conventional concrete walls. The reason: the entire building on the university campus in Dresden is made of carbon concrete. A building material that requires 50 percent less concrete and thus saves 70 percent of greenhouse gases.
Manfred Curbach, Professor of Solid Construction at the Dresden University of TechnologyHe and Professor Peter Offermann from the Institute of Textile and Clothing Technology at the TU are regarded as the founders of the material of the future and have used it to build the world's first house in Saxony: the Cube. "I'm proud of the building, but I'm not proud that it took 30 years." Scientists were already researching the material made from textile fibers in the 1990s. However, the strict building regulations delayed its implementation for decades.
The professor therefore cites German building law as the reason why the revolution in the construction industry is not happening. But it needs to start. As quickly as possible. The professor is certain of this: the construction sector contributes 11 percent to gross domestic product (GDP), at least 25 percent of emissions are caused by construction, but only 0.65 percent of research funding is invested in this area, he lists. "It really is urgent, Germany wants to be climate neutral in 21 years."
The first idea was
That's why the engineer wants a Research center for the building revolution. He had actually applied for the structural funds in Lusatia, at that time still under the name LAB Lausitz. "I was very disappointed that they didn't go for something more socially relevant," he says in hindsight. Because his idea was subject to the Research Center for Astrophysicswhich received the million-euro grant.
Curbach stuck to his idea. And was proved right by the government. Last November, the federal budget approved funding of 68.6 million euros for the next five years. On the Saxon side, the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz have also agreed to support the development with up to 450 million euros from structural change funds. Thuringia and Brandenburg are contributing a further share. However, little has happened since November: The federal budget only approved the funds in June. In August, Curbach received the first 3.6 million euros.
While the chip manufacturer ESMC Curbach will establish the lab at the turn of the year and enter phase 1. The focus will then be on financing, personnel and finding a location. In ten to 15 years, the founders expect more than 1,000 scientists to be working for the lab. The main location is to be in Bautzen The final decision has not yet been made. "The construction industry has the prejudice of being conservative," says Manfred Curbach. A lot of time is lost before modern materials are approved. That's a good thing, as you don't want bridges to collapse. But it doesn't help to drive the construction industry forward.
Global cooperation
Nevertheless, Curbach does not want to wait any longer. Next year, the research group will focus on four main topics: Neutrality - i.e. saving emissions; new construction - where new materials and methods such as 3D printing and extrusion are to be tried out; refurbishment and preservation of old buildings; and circularity. The latter means reusing waste. 38 percent of waste is generated by the construction industry. Dresden economist Edeltraud Günther therefore proposes a "house made of waste". This is now being designed by experts from various disciplines. Günther is the director of the United Nations University Institute in DresdenIt specializes in resource conservation worldwide.
This is because the center is not just a TU Dresden project, but cooperates globally. UN Under-Secretary-General Professor Tshilidzi Marwala from South Africa therefore emphasizes the importance of construction research, especially in the rapidly growing global South: "In 2022, over 80 percent of cement production will take place in the countries of the global South."
And to ensure that the research doesn't just stay in the parlor, the aim is to train craftsmen and engineers and inspire them for the new way of building. But so far, a lot of things are still in the drawer. The professor has more than 50 ideas for the future of construction, he says. Carbon concrete is not the only solution. "We need hundreds, thousands of ideas."
He wants to learn from the pandemic so that the construction industry can quickly become sustainable. Vaccines were approved for the first time using the rolling review process, which speeds up approvals. Vaccine candidates were evaluated before all the data required for an application had been collected. Curbach wants this for construction materials.
In the end, one question remains: who can afford sustainable construction at all? The professor answers: "How much longer will we be able to afford not to factor in the price of CO2?"
Curbach is now back outside in front of the carbon concrete house. Part of the cube was manufactured in a standardized way - similar components could be assembled quickly on the construction site. This also reduced costs.
Nevertheless, the Cube would certainly have cost 2.3 million less with normal reinforced concrete. But Curbach calls for the entire life cycle to be considered. After all, buildings made of carbon concrete are more durable and more resistant to rust. Expensive refurbishment could therefore be reduced. This is his approach to low-cost construction.
