Background Sustainability
Is there money to be made from building with residual flows?
Paprika gels as insulation material or building blocks made of hemp. Plant-based building materials from residual flows fit in well with the climate targets to emit less CO2. However, it turns out that it is not easy to get the construction sector to apply them and for most farmers or horticulturists it is not yet profitable. What needs to be done to make the use of residual flows lucrative?
The use of residual flows from agriculture and horticulture in construction is still in its infancy. "It also depends on the definition. If you include agriculture with, for example, straw or hemp, which are also considered residual flows, then it is certainly done," says Jan Willem van de Groep. He has been asked by the Ministry of Agriculture (LNV) to be the quartermaster of the so-called Buyer Group Biobased Building Materials.
Suitable as an intermediate crop
This group should boost the use of biobased building materials. At the initiative of LNV, the buyer group was established in April, in collaboration with RVO/PIANOo, Stichting Innovatie Glastuinbouw Nederland (SIGN), Greenport West-Holland and the Innovation Expo 2021. The aim of the group is to help clients realize projects in which biobased materials are used. Especially for governments and semi-governments (such as housing corporations) and public parties, including agricultural entrepreneurs who have their own building plans. According to Van de Groep, virtually no use is made of residual flows in conventional construction, but it is used in a few private homes.
According to Van de Groep, crops that are suitable for biobased construction, such as flax, bulrush, hemp and straw, can be used very well as intermediate crops. "Especially if livestock farming starts to scale down as a result of the nitrogen policy, there will be room for construction crops. In general, they are also easy to grow crops, which are also good for the recovery of the soil."
'There is a huge pot of money ready for CCS'
What can the farmer earn from the use of residual flows in construction? Van der Groep: "At the moment they have to pay to dispose of residual flows. In that sense there is money to be made, but it is not always a profitable business for processors. scale – the cost price of the end product can fall. This leaves more money for a good raw material price. This can be enhanced if the government really starts to reimburse the storage of CO2 in biobased building materials."
According to Van der Groep, there is a "huge pot of money ready" for CCS (carbon capture and storage) for the large industry that captures CO2 and stores it underground. "The farmer also stores CO2 when he supplies raw materials for building materials. If farmers receive a compensation of €125 per tonne of CO2 stored, a third flow of money is created. I try to show the ministries what a win-win-win situation here. the table. You can then potentially scale up much faster."
Van de Groep indicates that large builders are not really eager to use biobased building materials. That is also the experience of hemp pioneer Albert Dun. He started his own company Dun Agro in 2012 to build prefab houses from fiber hemp with building materials made from the wood core of hemp plants. "I've been everywhere, but nobody wanted to build with it. Then we built the first 2 ourselves and then it started running."
There are already 45 homes made of hemp. "The revenue model will improve if we are allowed to participate in mass production," says Dun. Dun Agro is constructing 5 social housing units, 6 semi-detached houses and 3 detached houses in the municipality of Pekela. Building a hemp house is about 10% more expensive than regular construction, Dun estimates. "That's not too bad for a sustainable house."
No interest from major contractors yet
Dun Agro's building materials are also supplied to several smaller contractors, including Eco+Bouw and Kuipers & Koers Bouw. Large contractors are not interested so far. Dun has an idea why: "It doesn't fit into their building system and they look for the cheapest materials. It starts with the foundation, 90% is made of polystyrene foam. We refuse to build on that. You cannot build a sustainable house with a Styrofoam foundation." Dun has problems with the fact that a zero-on-the-meter house is also regarded as sustainable. "That is not circular-sustainable. The government must come up with a figure for sustainability, in which all factors are weighed up."
Butcher inspects own meat
The government still has some work to do with regulations, says Van de Groep. CO2 pricing is still lacking in building materials. The building regulations are also structured in such a way that the manufacturers are intensively involved in the standards that the materials must meet. "The entire system is therefore designed in favor of the current CO2-intensive materials."
The barriers to entry for new materials are very high, says Van de Groep. "CO2 storage may not be included as an environmental benefit, so that the common products in the sums that you must submit for the building permit have the same outcome as biobased products. And if you have a good story that CO2-intensive material can be reused in 75 years' time , you can rule out the CO2 emissions from production. The Hague still has a lot of work to do to straighten all that out."
Linda van Eekeres
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