At Panchsheel Inter College in Uttar Pradesh, students now study inside a new school wing built not from concrete or traditional brick, but from sugarcane. The innovation was born at the University of East London (UEL) and its creators argue it could reshape how buildings are made and how the planet pays for it.
Sugarcrete combines the fibrous residues of sugarcane, called bagasse, with sand and mineral binders to produce lightweight, interlocking blocks. Lab tests show that Sugarcrete has strong fire resistance, acoustic dampening, and thermal insulation properties. It’s been tested to industrial standards and passed with flying colors. In terms of climate impact, the material is a standout. It’s six times less carbon-intensive than standard bricks, and twenty times less than concrete, by some estimates.
Yet the real excitement doesn’t only come from what Sugarcrete is, but how it’s made and used. It is purposely ‘open access’ in order to establish partnerships to produce new bio-waste-based construction materials where sugarcane is grown. Unlike conventional building materials locked behind patents, Sugarcrete can be made by anyone with the right ingredients and basic manufacturing tools. That choice decentralizes construction innovation, allowing small-scale producers — especially in the Global South — to lead.
Sugercrete?
Dude, CANEcrete was right there. It was right fucking there!
Also sugarcrete begs the question (before you read up on it) what happens when it rains?
Agreed canecrete has got to be it.
It’d probably be fine, it uses the leftover fibers, not literal sugar that dissolves. A layer of waterproofing that’d you’d use for an earthen home or earth ship would probably do the trick.
I just invented ShitCrete
Bro, CRAPcrete was right there!
Damn, I just patented Turdcrete
Ugh, Daviiid
Scientists are not the most creative when naming their findings.
Counterpoint: the Hotwheels Sisyphus spider (warning: spider)
Cananite has been around for 100 years.
School classsooms are lined with it in Australia.
Now, how much is termite prevention.
Its soaked in formaldehyde, like particle board.
I’d argue “canecrete” is too close to “concrete.” Close enough that it might invite trademark/customer confusion complaints from the concrete industry.
Canecrete already exists, that’s why:
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/iass/piass/2018/00002018/00000020/art00011
I’d argue that that argument is not good
It’s all fun and games until Hansel and Gretel show up at your elderly grandmother’s sugarcrete house.
Or you hear Fraggle Rock music playing nearby
Don’t try to simulate this by adding sugar to concrete.
Or do, depending on who’s building what
Nobody talks about the obvious so… can I lick it?
Yes, but there’s no more sugar in it
Sweet
What about mine?
I’ll try it for science.
This is pretty cool and it makes me wonder if there are far north options for materials you could use such cattails/bullrushes or maybe in a little warmer areas less desirable wood like poplar
There is hempcrete too
Cobb, then hempcrete. Rammed earth or CEB always an option as well.
Reed Canary grass makes great cob. Hemp is another likely fibre.
Lots of strong natural fibers out there.
Taking a step back, what they’ve kinda done is taken wattle and daub (but not really) and worked it to industrial standards. And wattle and daub got used in all kinds of ways all over the world.
Obv wattle and daub to structural standards and firecode and such so that your building can meet modern specifications is actually quite a handy thing? But yeah there’s an overall myopia to steampunk-leaning researchers to focus on a singular feedstock instead of working to create a spectrum of materials based on local availability.
This is really cool! I really hope the bricks will behave well long term.
naughty bricks?
fibrous residues of sugarcane, called bagasse, with sand and mineral binders to produce lightweight, interlocking blocks
Now, how much is termite prevention.
We figured it out for wood, so if this is Termite edible, I’m sure we they’ll figure it out here
Those are costs to handle infestation (but not including repair). I’m talking about the measures we take to prevent it in the first place that are already part of standard construction costs. Keep wood dry, pressure treat wood that can’t be kept dry/off the ground. So while sugarcrete might not be the 1:1 replacement for concrete, termites are not going to be an insurmountable task to mitigate
I think I’m on lemmy too much, I read the title as open source building material…
Construction sand is still going to be a bottleneck resource in the near future.
Cuba! Get on this!
Sounds like a nice material. :)
I want my walls to be snozzberry flavored
Very cool stuff
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