Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Bioconcrete presages new wave in environmentally friendly construction

Nature Biotechnology volume 38, pages 776–778 (2020)Cite this article

Living cells used in construction to create concrete, bricks or tiles could also soak up CO2.

Some of these biological building materials (Table 1) may offer an opportunity to reduce the construction industry’s environmental impact. The world produces over 4 billion tonnes of cement every year, which is responsible for about 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions. In contrast, bio-based materials could actually sequester CO2 from the atmosphere.

Table 1 Selected companies using biotech in construction
Full size table

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Cambridge, UK

    Mark Peplow

Authors
  1. Mark Peplow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peplow, M. Bioconcrete presages new wave in environmentally friendly construction. Nat Biotechnol 38, 776–778 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0595-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0595-z

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing