JERUSALEM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have developed a technology that allows better green building, with energy saving at production and effective insulation, the southern Ben-Gurion University (BGU) reported on Sunday.
Building materials production, construction of buildings and operating them are responsible for 40-50 percent of energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in industrialized countries.
Carbon dioxide is one of the gases responsible for global warming and therefore it is necessary to develop innovative building materials whose production will consume less energy and emit less CO2.
This is also true for the stage of the building's operation, by improving insulation and regulating temperature and humidity.
The most common construction material in the world is concrete, whose production requires a lot of energy and releases a large amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Recently, an innovative building material has been developed. This material, called hempcrete, or LHC (lime-hemp concrete) is environmental-friendly, consisting of hemp plant chips and lime.
Hempcrete is gaining popularity because of the energy savings while produced and being an excellent insulating material.
However, the use of this material requires heating of the lime in a kiln at high temperature with high energy consumption.
The BGU researchers have found a solution, as they developed improved hempcrete by replacing some of the lime with natural minerals (such as clay and limestone) that have not been heated.
The preparation of the mixture from hemp chips, lime and clay enabled the researchers to obtain a strong, inexpensive construction material with very low energy consumption for its production and excellent thermal insulation properties.
The researchers found that the different mixtures of hempcrete showed better functioning in relation to environmental conditions and compared to conventional building materials, in terms of temperature and humidity regulation.
