Sustainable Builders in Cambridge (12)

The answer to this question is not simple. How environmentally friendly a building material is will depend on various factors such as how it is sourced, how it is produced, how it is used, and its capacity for recycling.

To give you a broad idea of some of the most environmentally friendly building materials in use today, here are four of the most versatile.

1. Bamboo

Bamboo can be used in a variety of applications as a substitute for hardwood. It is an excellent choice for flooring and cladding because of its strength and durability.

Bamboo is far more environmentally friendly than hardwood because of its quick growing time.

It only takes around three years for a bamboo bush to mature. This makes it far more sustainable than traditional hardwood.

It is also extremely lightweight. This makes it far more environmentally friendly to transport and distribute across the world.

2. Aluminium

Although aluminium does require quite a lot of energy during the production process, this is far outweighed by its capacity for recycling.

Aluminium products can be infinitely recycled when they come to the end of their life without losing any of the material’s inherent strength.

Every time aluminium products are melted down and re-formed, the embodied energy decreases and the sustainability increases.

Mining the raw material, bauxite, to produce aluminium is also comparatively sustainable. Bauxite is found in abundance close to the Earth’s crust. It is easily extracted with limited impact on the natural environment.

Aluminium is a lightweight and durable material. It is used in all sorts of building applications from creating windows and doors to constructing building facades and components.

** 3. Polyurethane foam**

Despite being a plastic based material, polyurethane foam is actually a very green building material.

During production, zero combustible gases are produced, waste is limited, and the finished product can be recycled and reused numerous times.

Polyurethane foam is used across the construction industry as an effective insulating material.

It can significantly improve the heat retention capacity of all types of buildings, helping to reduce emissions and limit heating usage.

It is also a very versatile material and can be used to fill small gaps and cracks in a building’s structure that other materials could not.

4. Pre-cast concrete

Although concrete production can be damaging to the environment, using pre-cast concrete can significantly lower pollution levels.

Pre-cast concrete slabs are precision engineered in purpose-built facilities and shipped to destinations for installation as building foundations and structural support.

Creating concrete in this way is far more environmentally friendly than on-site concrete pouring.

Pre-cast concrete limits waste and the slabs can be made to be stronger and more durable to improve their life expectancy.

This depends. When it comes to extracting the raw material and sustainability, wood is far more environmentally friendly.

Trees can grow back far quicker than it takes new clay soil to form. Extracting clay from the Earth also produces more emissions than cutting down trees.

In many cases, wood is taken from sustainably managed forests where deforestation is limited.

In terms of longevity, however, bricks have a far longer life expectancy than wood. When viewed from this perspective, bricks are better for the environment as the need for replacement bricks is far lower than the need for new wood.