How agriculture plays a role in bio-based building materials
Bio-based building materials - the name says it all - are building materials that are created biologically. In other words, they grow. Without chemical processes. Farmers play a role in that growth, as the podcast recorded by Circubuild and Kamp C on bio-based building materials shows.
To produce bio-based building materials, it makes sense to turn to agriculture. Farmers can grow very many of these building materials, but today most farmers are still working to provide food. Are there opportunities for them in bio-based building materials? "Absolutely," Mathieu Hendrickx says firmly. "Hemp has always been present in our regions. It is only over the years that other things, such as animal feed, have become more important."
Among other things,EXIE NV is betting on that hemp. "With growing hemp, we really made our contribution this year," Hendrickx said. "We started our own processing line to de-fibre hemp for the first time. We have now signed contracts to process 120 hectares. The ambition is to go to 500 hectares next year."
Just as the focus of a lot of farmers is on our food supply, the question arises whether there is enough space to meet the demand for bio-based building materials. "The land is available. Many farmers do look at other crops." Climate change also plays a role in this, in favour of bio-based materials. "Due to dry summers, harvests fail before. Hemp does not suffer from that, it uses very little water. Once rooted, it grows on no matter what summer it is."
Bio-based for(ears)
Bio-based building materials have not yet been widely introduced, which means that not everyone is yet familiar with the phenomenon. This creates a lot of prejudices. High time to put those prejudices alongside some real advantages, as we hear in the podcast. A key benefit, Mathieu Hendrickx argues, is in the indoor climate. "If you live in a bio-based home, you will see that the materials ensure that the cooled indoor climate is constant all year round. That's a world of difference from petrochemical materials or minerals, which insulate well in winter, but cause great heat indoors in summer."
You also sometimes hear about bio-based building materials that they would not last as long. "Actually, that's funny," thinks Hendrickx. "Because the materials that people think will last a long time have only been around for 50 or 60 years. The materials we use have been around for thousands of years and are in the buildings we have known for a long time. Bokrijk is full of them, that's still there."
Want to know more about bio-based building materials? Then be sure to listen to the podcast