Image by New Frameworks, a prefabricated straw bale panel company
5 New (And Ancient) Sustainable Building Materials We Love
[TOPIC: Sustainable building materials | Reclaimed wood | Recycled steel | Hempcrete & natural composites | Rammed earth & clay | Eco-friendly construction materials | Green building 2025 | Low-carbon architecture | Material longevity]
Building a custom house using new—or not-so-new—sustainable building materials can help fight climate change. Recently, the sustainable design community has been doubling down on carbon, trying to reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing processes and of buildings themselves.
At Artisans Group, we’ve been committed to this process since before 2008, when we first introduced Passive House principles into our work. Since then, we’ve designed dozens of homes that have been built, from Anacortes to Austin.
We operate in harmony with the sentiment of Henry David Thoreau:
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
Scientists warn that our planet will become intolerable for much of humankind if we don’t act soon. The culprit is carbon, which, due to human activity, is now being released into the atmosphere and oceans at alarming rates. This contributes to global warming and ocean acidification.
Embodied Carbon vs. Operational Carbon — And What It Means For Building Materials
When considering building materials, it’s important to understand two types of carbon:
Operational Carbon
The energy used to operate a building, including heating, cooling, and electrical systems. Passive House design helps minimize operational carbon.
Embodied Carbon
The energy required to extract, refine, produce, transport, and install a material. Reducing embodied carbon helps make construction more sustainable and can even capture carbon for the life of the material.
For example, extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation emits 6,735 kgCO₂, while straw bale insulation can sequester 7,437 kgCO₂. Aluminum has a high carbon footprint, whereas rammed earth is among the lowest.
Every material choice affects your project’s total embodied carbon.
What Sustainable Building Materials Reduce Embodied Carbon?
Choosing energy-efficient homes is the first step. The next is selecting materials that reduce embodied carbon and partnering with suppliers and contractors who minimize emissions.
Here are five materials we love for their sustainability impact:
1. Wood
Used for framing, flooring, wall and ceiling finishes, siding, cabinets, and built-ins. Solid wood and engineered hardwood offer low carbon footprints, versatility, and durability.
2. Cork
Most often used for flooring, cork can also serve as wall finishes or insulation. It’s recyclable, biodegradable, and can be harvested multiple times from the same tree.
3. Straw Insulation
Straw bales act as walls or insulation with rot-resistant and fire-retardant properties. We look forward to incorporating this material in future projects with New Frameworks.
4. Concrete Additives
Concrete is high in carbon, but additives like fly ash, algae, hemp, and perlite can reduce its footprint while maintaining structural integrity.
5. Rammed Earth
Rammed earth uses layers of damp sand, gravel, clay, and lime compacted between forms. These walls can be structural or decorative, low-carbon, and visually striking.
How Do I Reduce Carbon In My Building Project?
To reduce embodied carbon:
Source materials locally (within 200 miles) whenever possible.
Choose FSC-certified wood suppliers.
Use reclaimed materials.
Verify material ingredients.
Consider the lifespan of each material.
Support businesses that prioritize environmental and social equity.
Reducing carbon emissions is crucial to addressing the climate crisis. Even small actions in building can make a measurable difference.
Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases. And either we do that or we don’t.
Greta Thunberg: Our House Is On Fire!, World Economic Forum, 2019
Who We’re Learning From
We are inspired by individuals and organizations that prioritize low embodied carbon:
Love | Schack Architecture: Successfully uses straw insulation in harsh climates.
Passive House Northwest: Hosts conferences on embodied carbon and collaborates with local sustainable vendors.
Skylar Swinford: Developed the OCEC tool demonstrating that Passive House reduces both operational and embodied carbon.
© Artisans Group Architecture + Planning — Sustainable Architecture, Passive House, and Passive Building Design Experts
Posted on June 01, 2024
