The material, known as “biochar,” is made from plant-based raw materials or waste products and is created through a special heat treatment process. It was developed by Empa, the Swiss federal laboratory for materials science and technology.
Biochar acts as a carbon sink, permanently binding CO2 but it can also be used in agriculture to increase soil fertility after buildings are demolished.
The building sector accounts for 40% of energy consumption, 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 36% of waste generated in the EU, calculates Empa. It believes that there is great potential to reduce the ecological footprint of buildings with long-term CO2-binding materials.
“There is still a lot to do before the idea can be put into practice,” admits lead researcher Jannis Wernery, who is also collaborating with researchers at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences on the material’s development.
Wernery says that it is important to ensure that all the ingredients of the new insulation material are suitable for later use as a soil conditioner. And to be marketable, the insulation must also be able to match established products in terms of thermal insulation and fire protection.
Empa researchers believe that biochar insulation has the potential to significantly improve Switzerland’s CO2 balance, with an initial analysis showing that a partial replacement of conventional insulation materials with biochar could save a half a million tonnes of CO2 equivalents annually.
The project has received financial support from various institutions including the Minerva Foundation, ETH Board, Swiss Federal Office of Energy and the Climate Fund of Stadtwerk Winterthur.
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