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AIREAL IS A LIBRARY OF CARBON NEGATIVE MATERIALS: Its growing database range from COATING, FOAMS, FIBERS, CONSUMPTION NUTRIENTS, BEVERAGES to BUILDING MATERIALS that capture CO2

Last updated: Sep 6, 2021

Summary

Aireal is a growing material library showing materials that capture CO2 in their production process. The materials were developed in the spirit of the circular economy, where the waste does not exist and carbon dioxide is seen as a resource for the creation of the products that they will use tomorrow.

Problem

Due to the industrialization of our planet, levels of greenhouse gasses are dangerously rising into the atmosphere. Reducing these emissions is crucial in the challenge we face to prevent the most acute weather changes associated with a global warming. While men must work to reduce emissions, we will inevitably also need to develop strategies to capture the gases that are already in our atmosphere and that are still being emitted.

Solution

Capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it underground seems the most obvious strategy. But research over the last 10-15 years shows that there are other possible ways to store carbon dioxide, based on nature's approach, where on a molecular level nothing is wasted.

Outcome

Aireal is a physical and online library of possibilities. The material range from building materials to nutrient-rich proteins and bioplastics. They are developed by a range of international laboratories and institutes.Some are readily available and some still need to find their way into daily life. They encompass new ways to transform human waste into materials we use by completely altering the value chain with which we have come to see the world.