Since Ursula von der Leyden was so much worried about the carbon emissions of steel and Portland cement (post above) no doubt she will be very happy to hear about the recent discovery of a sustainable construction material that just made it to the cover of Science´s last issue. The 3D-molded wood is six times stronger than the starting wood and comparable to lightweight materials like aluminum alloys.
The bad news is that it may take several (or even dozens) years for this material to become widely used by the construction industry. Just look for what is happening to the alkali-activated based binders that aim to replace Portland cement but which after decades have yet to win over the construction industry
As Provis and Van Deventer wrote in the introductory chapter of their 2009 highly cited book:
“a material that is well characterized but not used in the real world is in effect useless”
so let´s hope that the new sustainable structural material will not remain useless for too long.
