CREDIT: EMILY GREEN; SQFT NASHVILLE
“We have used materials in every room, but the main area seems to be the kitchen,” she says, noting walnut as a popular choice for kitchen island tops. “As this is the main room people always seem to congregate in, reclaimed materials serve as conversation starters.”
For example, cities are beginning to adopt materials reclamation policies. These laws require certain buildings to be deconstructed rather than demolished so valuable materials can be reused. Reclaimed products are helpful for the environment and allow construction companies to dodge supply chain shortages, particularly for lumber. For example, the Kendeda Building at the Georgia Institute of Technology was built in part using 25,000 linear feet of reclaimed lumber from film sets around Atlanta.
Source: New Home Construction Expectations for 2022 – Appraisal Buzz
(Image credit: Leanne Ford)
This minimal reimagining of the farmhouse kitchen celebrates exposed trusses and beams, abundant wood, soaring ceilings and reclaimed materials.
[Photo: courtesy Lanoba Design]
But in a world where Americans throw out more than 12 million tons of furniture per year, it has also championed circular design by breathing new life in Danish castoffs, carving itself a cozy (dare I say hygge) niche in an oversaturated furniture market.
Source: Danes don’t want their vintage furniture. This company has upcycled 10
Illustration by Javier Jaén
Kolomoisky is alleged to have bought it, along with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of other midwestern properties, as part of a money-laundering operation. According to Michel, who said that Kolomoisky declined to comment on any of the allegations in the book, the oligarch needed to move cash that had been obtained illegally into something “real,” in order to hide its origins (and perhaps use it as collateral for legitimate loans).
Source: Review: ‘American Kleptocracy’ and ‘Kleptopia’ – The Atlantic
How the sunlight-controlled CO2 separation installation works. Credit: Shiming Zhang, Renmin University of China.
In a study published in the journal Green Energy & Environment, a group of researchers from Renmin University of China propose a new method to capture CO2 using sunlight as the energy source and modified sawdust as the CO2 absorbent
Source: Scientists use sunlight and modified sawdust to reversibly capture carbon dioxide
An old building is a kind of ever-morphing history book; chapters are caught between layers of paint and architectural features offer clues about the people who lived in them long ago. In this seminar, join Lauren Northup for a cross-disciplinary approach to unlocking the language of buildings, drawing from architectural history, microscopy, historic preservation, and archaeology.
Source: When Walls Talk: Decoding a Building’s History With Lauren Northup – Atlas Obscura Experiences
For reference, the current “tallest tree” in the world is said to be Hyperion at roughly 380 feet tall. Today we will focus on trees (with measurements given) from the 1800’s that stood over 400 feet tall (and take a look at their unique photographs).
The building’s facades are made using timber offcuts and approximately 700 windows donated by the community. The fixtures were measured, repaired and assigned a position using computer software, creating a seemingly random yet precise patchwork effect.
Source: Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center is built using waste materials
‘Body shops operate in the shadows, with no accountability,’ one union leader said. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
It’s not an idle threat: New York imprisoned individuals nearly three times the national average in 2019 for technical parole violations, consisting of 40% of all individuals admitted to prisons in the state. Body shop employers exploit those work requirements to pay parolees’ low wages under unsafe working conditions.
Images showing how trees grow more strongly when planted in diverse forests, compare the size of the trees at 11-years-old. The tree on the right was planted in a more diverse area. Author provided
There is no human technology that can compete with forests for take-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and its storage. Darwin’s idea of growing lots of different plants together to increase the overall yield is now being explored by leading academics, who research forests and climate change.
Source: A 150-year-old note from Charles Darwin is inspiring a change in the way forests are planted
Brad Day and his neighbors in California’s Sonoma Valley have noticed a real estate startup is turning houses in their community into limited liability corporations. A group has formed to oppose the company’s moves. Day’s favorite sign reads, “The Pacaso house is the big one on the right with no soul.”
Brad Day
The company was co-founded by a Napa resident, and it converts houses into LLCs. Pacaso then sells shares of these corporate houses to multiple investors. Gardner Googled Pacaso, and, sure enough, the house on their cul-de-sac was on its website. The company had named the house “Chardonnay” and was now selling investors the chance to buy a one-eighth share of it for $606,000.
Source: Pacaso Is Turning Houses Into Corporations : Planet Money : NPR
In the 12 years since its launch, ThredUp has garnered a whopping total of 1.34 million active sellers, making its reach pretty damn high. But its impact on you — and on a much grander scale — the future of the planet is even greater than we previously thought, thanks to its Resale as a Service (or RaaS), a program that encourages retail partners to adopt a resale-first mindset and move towards a circular economy.
Source: Will ThredUp’s Retail Partnerships Really Achieve a Circular Economy?
Anchorage, Alaska, resident Hans Dow built his own sawmill and began milling his own boards after lumber prices skyrocketed over the past year.
Emily Schwing for NPR
“You can’t pay these kind of prices,” he says. “It’s like going to the grocery store and spending $200 and leaving with one bag of groceries.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce says it will seek to double tariff rates on most Canadian softwood lumber, angering home builders.
Ever wondered what happens to all your stuff when you throw it out? A lot of it – from sauce sachets to mobile phones – ends up in landfill or gets burned. Or it ends up in our environment, causing damage to the natural world on which we depend.
WILL SWANSON FOR KOMAZA
“Trees are nature’s technology to handle carbon removal,” says Jackson, who was the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2013. “We want to show how to do it the right way, and we want it to be profitable.”
Source: Apple Launches Restore Fund | Reforestation and Carbon Removal
Thousands of logs seen from overhead at a timber terminal. Sweden is the world’s third biggest exporter of pulp, paper and sawn timber
‘Natural forests are not renewable. Trees can be planted, but not forests.’ They added: ‘If you plant pine trees, you get a timber field, not a forest. Real forests are complex ecosystems, a bedrock of a multitude of life and home for many species’
Source: ‘Forests are not renewable’: the felling of Sweden’s ancient trees | Environment | The Guardian
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced a “Green New Deal for Public Housing” that would provide $172 billion to retrofit existing housing.
Source: Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez introduce ‘Green New Deal for Public Housing’ | TheHill
Courtesy of Kraft Heinz
As manufacturers are working to reuse their waste products — both through upcycled products that save food items from the trash and manufacturing processes that use waste for energy — a successful test result could put Kraft Heinz in a class of its own. The company could potentially renovate its factories with its own post-consumer waste, which would be impactful.
Source: Kraft Heinz pilots recycled plastic packaging for roofs | Construction Dive
Parishioners at Christ Church in Eccleston, Lancashire, were left “horrified and grieving” after 40 pieces of stone were taken, said the vicar, the Rev Sonya Doragh
More than £400,000 worth of paving slabs has been stolen from historic churchyards and buildings over the past five years, causing “grief and horror” among parishioners.
Source: Heritage crime: Thieves target historic church slabs for patios | News | The Times
A flower is visible behind a piece of the transparent material. (Qinqin Xia, University of Maryland/Science Advances)
Researchers at the University of Maryland have turned ordinary sheets of wood into transparent material that is nearly as clear as glass, but stronger and with better insulating properties. It could become an energy efficient building material in the future.
Source: Scientists develop transparent wood that is stronger and lighter than glass | CBC Radio
SQ4D’s completed proof of concept and demo home. SQ4D says it is the world’s largest permitted 3D printed home at 1,900 square feet.
“The cost of construction is 50% cheaper than the cost of comparable newly-constructed homes in Riverhead, New York, and 10 times faster,” said Stephen King, the Zillow Premier agent who has the 3D house listing. The 3D printed house will include 1,407 square feet of living space and will be built with concrete.
Source: 3D printed house: Builders say the method will reduce new home construction costs – CNN
An ArcelorMittal steel plant. Photo courtesy of ArcelorMittal
Despite the recycling success, however, the steel industry is increasingly facing pressure to decarbonize. Recycling steel is still both energy- and cost-intensive, and both steelmakers and their customers must go further to reduce environmental impacts. One way to do this is to shift to a reuse model.
Source: Proposed model shows potential for circular practices in construction steel | Greenbiz
Buildings just north of the main Camas paper mill site sit vacant on Jan. 7. (Joshua Hart/The Columbian) Photo Gallery
Nine of the buildings to be demolished were built between 1929 and 1970, according to G-P’s demolition plan. They include a two-story, 31,360-square-foot development lab; a four-story, 31,000-square-foot nonwovens manufacturing building; a three-story, 11,000-square-foot office building; a two-story water treatment building; two warehouses; a 3,500-square-foot library; and a one-story microscopy laboratory.
Source: Georgia-Pacific to raze 11 unused buildings near downtown Camas – The Columbian
“By effecting a step change in how we use and reuse resources, the move to a circular economy will deliver major environmental and economic benefits and is an essential element of making net zero a reality.”
Source: National circular economy hub to lead way in UK bid to create a sustainable future | Mirage News
This study suggests that salvaged lumber could potentially be a new source of raw material for mass timber products, which could create new opportunities for wood waste recovery and greener building products.
Salvaged lumber from Portland deconstruction practices was collected, graded, and processed for mass timber panel manufacturing.
An analysis shows that raw materials are more likely than composite materials to be sourced from child or forced labor, with precursors and minerals posing the most risk. Furthermore, the data delves into the connection between logging practices and slave labor in certain countries, noting that a staggering 80% of timber from Russia and Peru is reportedly harvested illegally, often through exploited or trafficked workers.
The collaboration with ReTuna will help IKEA understand why some IKEA products are turned into waste, what condition they are in when thrown away, why do people choose to donate or recycle products, and if there’s an interest in buying the products that have been repaired.
Source: The FINANCIAL – IKEA opens its first second-hand store
For example, it changes the layout of the structure and it optimally selects and positions elements from existing stocks to further reduce the structure’s carbon footprint, it limits the number of new cuts and keeps the number of components to a minimum.
Source: A software application to ease the reuse of construction materials
“Once materials – raw materials – leave the biosphere and enter the technosphere because they are processed, we need to keep them in the technosphere and recycle or reuse them as much as possible,” Pralle said. “For that we need to create a deconstruction industry as powerful and elaborate as the mining industry.” Pralle said the success of a deconstruction industry
Source: A ‘deconstruction industry’ can help cut infrastructure sector emissions
Image: SenUVK
The B-Wa (h) renhaus with its shop-in-shop range of used goods is also a unique project nationwide. It is an important step on the way to ‘department stores of the future’, which offer attractive shopping opportunities for used goods. As part of the Re-Use initiative, three to four “used department stores of the future” are to be built in Berlin in the medium term.
Source: Erster Re-Use Store in Berliner Kaufhaus eröffnet – Berlin.de
Photographer: Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images
Berlin hopes to use the stores to “anchor the re-use of used goods in urban society” by functioning as centers to educate and spread tips on re-use — especially to sections of the public that aren’t currently much involved in the circular economy. The initiative is part of a broader plan from Berlin’s ruling center-left/Green/left coalition that looks to slash waste in all areas of the city’s economy.
Source: To Cut Waste, Berlin Opens Its Own Secondhand Shop – Bloomberg
Holly Springs resident Mark Whitlock used his over 30 years of experience in the salvaging business to construct a building from mostly recycled materials. This building is the first new one in the Town Center District.
“All of the floor has been reclaimed out of a building in Pennsylvania, which used to be a part of an old school house,” Whitlock said. “A building in Kentucky was taken down by a fire, so I salvaged about six tractor trailer loads of it and turned it into furniture. I also brought back 13 tractor trailer loads of lights and light fixtures from Texas to use to create my own light fixtures. Every light fixture in the house was made from these materials and the ones I didn’t use for the light fixtures in my h
© Cory Marie Podielski Sparrow Kettner, 36, and her husband Keith Smith, 29, converted an old, yellow school bus into their future home. They are traveling musicians in a band called The Resonant Rogues.
Sales of the used, bright yellow vehicles, called “skoolies” by their owners, have risen in some markets during the recession as more Americans shift toward a nontraditional, more affordable and socially distanced way to live.
Source: Americans are converting more used school buses into tiny homes during the pandemic
“The good news is that—as we’ve seen in the past two decades with Clean Energy—strong leadership with a clear vision can pay off for the Northwest in big ways: hundreds of new Clean Materials businesses, thousands of new jobs, and billions of dollars in new investment. At the same time, we can slash the emissions that are driving climate change and reduce toxic pollution.”
“Yeah, we have one of those,” Byrnes said with a laugh. “It was for a giant. And it will be for other large items: back bars, theater lighting, airplane wings, floor boards, things like that. I like to joke that we could fit a double-decker English bus in there.”
Source: Aurora Mills Expanding Retail Footprint, with Place for Large Things and Airplane Wings
Skanska’s Jimmy Mitchell has been a strong advocate for salvaged building materials for more than a decade.
From Long Beach to Boston, a new generation of organizations has grown up around the deconstruction of buildings and the sale of reusable materials. They’re often nonprofits backed by local architects, builders and environmental groups. Their aim is to build a supply chain that puts salvaged goods on equal footing with new products and materials.
Source: 10 tips on salvage materials from Jimmy Mitchell – Living Building Chronicle
Keith Raymond designs and builds houses using reclaimed materials. ISLANDER PHOTOS BY SARAH HINCKLEY
Different types of wood aren’t the only thing Raymond seeks to salvage from assorted online sites. He also finds windows, appliances, tiles and fixtures. Recently, Raymond had a lead on a slate sink that slipped through his fingers.
Source: Salvage beauty: Builder delights in designing with discards – Mount Desert Islander
“Salvaged from old buildings or junkyards, these items ensure a home’s uniqueness,” says George DeMarco, real estate agent with Halstead Manhattan, “and can boost resale value if done well. Walking into new construction and seeing a blast from the architectural past often can make just enough difference in the buyer’s mind to help make the sale.”
Nest Egg Auctions will sell the entire contents of a Connecticut Shoreline Antiques shop on May 22nd. (Ryan Brechlin)
The shop has been in this location for more than seven years and has accumulated a large inventory. The collection will be sold in one lot to the highest bidder at absolute auction.
Source: Entire Clinton Antique Shop Up For Auction | Clinton, CT Patch
AELS buys end-of-life aircraft, which our highly skilled mechanics carefully disassemble.The removed parts are then placed in inventory, recertified and returned to the market. We are the only company that handles the entire supply chain for aircraft disassembly and dismantling.
Source: AELS | Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions, We love aircraft
An illustration of how the new school could look once finished.
Veidekke
“Whatever you are going to construct, from an environmental perspective, your number one priority is to ensure your designers are focused on enabling you to build something that is energy efficient, uses materials that have a low embodied carbon and can be easily maintained, re-purposed and ultimately, after a long and useful lifetime, be recycled,” Dominic Burbridge, associate director of the Carbon Trust, said in a statement sent to CNBC.com.
Source: Innovation and tech are transforming the buildings we learn in
Isaac Brock’s Oregon home is a hit. Records show the Modest Mouse frontman sold the 111-year-old Craftsman for $1.09 million, finding a buyer after just a month on the market.
Source: Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock parts with Portland Craftsman – Los Angeles Times
A 2017 UN Environment report estimated the building sector contributes 49 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions thus making it the single largest contributor to climate change. Globally, building operations account for 28 percent of GHG emissions and the embodied carbon of building materials–the emissions generated in the production, transport, and assembly of materials such as wood, concrete, and steel–accounts for another 11 percent.
Source: Broaden the scope of of contractor education | Columnists | missoulian.com
“We’re seeing these forests disappear overnight. It’s happening so fast, and there’s very little old growth left in this part of B.C. It’s an environmental crisis that’s no less tragic than the loss of coral reefs and tropical rainforests.”
Half of the 100.6bn tonnes of materials were sand, clay, gravel and cement for building, plus minerals quarried for fertiliser. Photograph: Zoonar GmbH/Alamy
The lion’s share of the materials – 40% – is turned into housing.
Source: World’s consumption of materials hits record 100bn tonnes a year | Environment | The Guardian
Worker removes plaster from a brick wall with a perforatorGETTY
If the salvageable material from deconstructing your house is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, you should not need to pay somebody to take the house apart so that you can give the pieces to charity. There should be people waving money in front of your face to come in and take it apart.
The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, at the University of British Columbia, showing off some timber. CIRS
Slabs of wood this large can match or exceed the performance of concrete and steel. CLT can be used to make floors, walls, ceilings — entire buildings. The world’s tallest mass timber structure, at 18 stories and over 280 feet, was recently built in Norway; there’s an 80-story wooden tower proposed for Chicago.
Source: Sustainable building: The hottest new material is, uh, wood – Vox
‘To me, this indicates the need to further question the current practices of the construction sector. How is it that something so simple and obvious as keeping reusable resources intact and in circulation can have become so complicated to put into practice?’
