David
Future
materials debut at Ecobuild
By Dr David
Lowry
At Ecobuild 2013, held in March at the ExCel Exhibition Centre in London docklands, there was a
centrepiece Innovation Zone stand featuring fascinating future materials for
building and interior decoration, backed by the Technology Strategy Board, business green innovator, Marks & Spencer, and the
facility consultant architects.
Around the exhibition, many companies displayed their new products and
innovations. Some, such as green roofs and porous paving stones have already secured
their niche markets.
But others, such as from foreign suppliers, the Argio
“clever brick” from Belgium, BatiPack
cavity blocks made from Oriented
Strand Board (OSB4) structural panels from France, and TPE
environmentally-friendly lightweight, anti-static and anti-percussion foaming materials made from polymers by the Microcell Composite Company in Taiwan,
as well as UK supplied Hybrid
insulation panels by Chippenham
-based Actis Insulation, Nanofloor
vacuum insulation panels, which can take up
to five times less space, by Shropshire –based Nanopore, are breaking through in the new greener marketplace.
In a keynote session in the conference on “New Creative Horizons”,
several cutting edge researchers and developers explained their breakthrough
technologies.
Chris
Sherwin, head of sustainability at design consultants Seymour Powell, in arguing for a “circular economy” - a programme driven
by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) - pointed out that it was not only new materials, but recycling existing
materials that made materials use
smarter and more sustainable, revealing that currently floating in the Pacific
ocean is a plastic bottle slick the size of Texas, which is a big pollution
problem, but could be put to recycle
use.
The EMF
is sponsoring Eric Schmidt, Executive
Chairman of Google, to give the keynote speech on the “circular
economy”, on 19 June at the Royal Institution in London.
Sherwin described some exciting developing
trends, including use of biomimicry to grow furniture to order; smart carpet
tiles that restore air quality, developed by commercial carpet specialist,
Desso; and next generation thermostats, to redesign behaviour beyond
materials.
Several ministers attended Ecobuild, and toured the exhibition as well
as delivering speeches. It is a pity therefore that Communities minister for
housing, Don Foster, subsequently told Labour MP Paul Flynn ( in a written
answer on 18 March) that DCLG has “made no assessment of the use of
bio-mimicry techniques to develop sustainable materials for use in the building
construction sector.”
Dr Sascha Peters, ce of Haute Innovation in Berlin, who pointed out that 70% of all innovations
are based on new materials, showcased a series of natural building materials
developed by award-winning German manufacturer, Organoid Technologies, including corn board for lightweight
construction, wall panels from rice shells, fibres grown from mushrooms to make
packaging materials, bricks from tea powder, and lamp shades from coffee grains
Dr Peters argued that “organic
interest has jumped from supermarket to the factory,” giving examples such as
garden furniture covered with cellulose
bacteria to make it more weatherproof.
Other new materials discussed were light reflecting
concrete (Blingcrete), new cellular
metals (Hollomet), and textiles from
tree bark (Barkcloth).
Dr Nick Grace, head of rapid
prototyping at the Royal College of Art,
unveiled innovative uses of 3D
printing in manufacture of new materials, revealing the liquid materials
currently being developed are as valuble per unit of liquid as Dom Perignon
champagne. But he warned the present
software and print machines are not smart enough to understand 3D
instructions.
In
discussion, which also included Chris Wise
of Expedition Engineering, it was agreed that it was better to be design than materials driven in
construction, and that “sustainability
needs to be woven into design.”
More
information can be obtained via the Modern Built Environment Knowledge Transfer Network www.modernbuiltktn.co.uk.
Graphene
Science and Higher Education minister,
David Willetts, said in a written answer that the UK has made a major
contribution to graphene research, since its discovery in 2004 and the Nobel
prize for Professors Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov of Manchester
University in 2010. The Government is investing £60 million in graphene, of
which £38 million will be used to create a National
Institute of Graphene Research at the University of Manchester.
Professor Novoselov, who is closely involved with the new institute,
insists the money for it should not be diverted from Government funds for basic
research, observing “Scientists should
be given freedom of their research, and once the new breakthroughs are
identified, they should be given additional funding to advance it into
technology.”
The Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have also invested £10 million on linked
manufacturing processes and technologies. Universities will be working with
industrial partners including Dyson
and BAE who are expected to provide
an additional £12 million. We expect UK universities and businesses to benefit
from the new €1 billion investment in graphene by the EU, Professor Geim added.
Graphene is a two dimensional material consisting of a
single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb or chicken wire structure.
It is the thinnest material known and yet is also one of the strongest, 200
times stronger than steel. It conducts electricity as efficiently as copper and
outperforms all other materials as a conductor of heat. Graphene is almost
completely transparent, yet so dense that even the smallest atom helium cannot
pass through it.
There are currently about 400 UK graphene patents and some 4000 Chinese.
Source: Hansard, 7 February: Column 385W
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