Former NBA Champ Is Transforming The $11 Trillion Construction Industry

In less than a decade, the world will have burned through what’s left of its entire carbon budget, soaring past the critical threshold and unleashing catastrophic climate events, according to two new studies from the world’s premier scientists. 

This is no longer a myth. It’s an investment theme that must–and is–kicking into overdrive. 

While much of the focus is on the fossil fuels industry, which appears to be the only near-term savior of an energy crisis brought about by Russia’s war on Ukraine and the West’s sanctions response, other industries, too, must bear the burden of lowering global emissions urgently. 

The construction industry, responsible for some 40% of global emissions, is among the biggest concerns, according to Deloitte. And because this industry will play what Deloitte describes as a “key role” in shifting towards climate change mitigation, innovators in this area are now emerging, front and center. 

It’s all about building materials, infrastructure and how new construction is heated, cooled and electrified. 

“We’ve got to be smarter,” says Rick Fox, co-founder of Partanna, the creators of a green building material that actually absorbs CO2. “Our buildings need to breathe with us, and that means using materials that not only stop contributing to emissions, but work to reduce emissions at the same time.” 

Fox, a former NBA player of Los Angeles Lakers fame, is building up to 1,000 hurricane-resistant homes in The Bahamas, in partnership with the Bahamian government, using proprietary building materials that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

He hopes to change how the world builds with this new technology, and he’s not alone. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos–the fourth-wealthiest person in the world–has his eye on construction’s role in climate change, as well. Last year, Bezos committed $10 billion over 10 years to his Earth Fund, which heavily focuses on greening the construction industry. In mid-November, Bezos took his commitment to fighting climate change to another level, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that he would be giving away most of his $124 billion in net worth to charity, with climate change expected to be his key focus. 

Changing How the World Builds And Breathes

Global CO2 emissions hit a record high last year, and it’s already having a major impact on the environment, warns NASA. “Glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner”.

“Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves,” NASA warns. 

Some changes, including droughts, wildfires and extreme rainfall, “are happening faster than scientists previously assessed”, according to NASA.

One of the direst predictions is that by the year 2100, rising sea levels could turn 2 billion people into refugees …

The construction industry plays an outsized role in what happens next.

Released at the latest round of climate talks in Egypt, COP27, the 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction finds that the sector accounted for more than 34% of energy demand and about 37% of energy and process-related CO2 emissions in 2021–slightly lower than Deloitte’s estimate.

Those numbers indicate that the construction industry, in a single year, has seen a 5% increase in its operational energy-related CO2 emissions. 

This is an urgent item on the UN’s climate conference (COP27) agenda this month in Egypt.

“Years of warnings about the impacts of climate change have become a reality,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). “If we do not rapidly cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, we will be in deeper trouble.”

“The buildings sector represents 40% of Europe’s energy demand, 80% of it from fossil fuels. This makes the sector an area for immediate action, investment, and policies to promote short and long-term energy security,” he added.

The only way forward is improving building energy performance, decreasing the carbon footprint of building materials and boosting investment in energy efficiency globally. 

Led by Fox and co-founder Sam Marshall, Partanna is hoping to help turn the tide through technological solutions that change how the world builds.  

So how does it work?

There are three “color verticals” when it comes to carbon. Our oceans and ecosystems absorb “blue carbon”. The biosphere stores our “green carbon” delivered into the atmosphere by plants. What we’re concerned with here is “gray carbon”, the carbon captured from our atmosphere via sustainable building materials.

Sustainable building materials are the solution to delinking development and pollution. Creating “gray carbon vertical” is what Partanna hopes can help turn the tide. 

What Partanna has developed creates this gray carbon vertical, and it is the first sustainable building material in the world that not only avoids carbon emissions, but also removes carbon from the atmosphere, according to the company.

Because it is replacing materials in a carbon intensive industry, Partanna can obtain avoidance offset credits. Why? Because the production of its materials are not heat-intensive, unlike cement, and they do not release CO2 as they chemically cure–again, unlike cement. Existing “low-carbon” cements aren’t good enough. They only avoid a small amount of CO2 emissions and don’t absorb any, much like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. 

Partanna’s building materials are made from brine and recycled steel byproducts.

Partanna’s recycling is also one of the elements of its compounded positive contribution to the environment. 

The brine it recycles is a threat that Partanna mitigates. The energy-intensive and inefficient process of desalination creates toxic brine that is difficult to disperse. In fact, dispersing of the brine leads to even more energy inefficiency. The high salt content of this brine is destructive to the ocean. Partanna recycles that brine into sustainable building products, removing the negative impact from the oceans and simultaneously creating climate-friendly cement.

 

Source: Partanna

This isn’t just Partanna’s answer to a CO2-heavy construction industry …

It’s Partanna’s answer to desalination’s toll on the environment.

Every liter of fresh water created by the fast-growing desalination industry creates 1.5 cubic meters of brine. On a daily basis, the industry is challenged with disposing of 150 cubic meters of toxic brine. Over the next two decades, that volume will triple.

Not only is Partanna providing a solution to the desalination industry’s brine problem and the construction industry’s CO2-emitting building materials challenge, but it’s doing so cost-effectively.

Partanna’s production process does not require calcining—a heat-intensive process of reducing or oxidizing. That means that not only does it virtually eliminate any harmful CO2 emissions, but it does so at a very low energy cost.

Finally, a breathable building material that makes sense economically—and has a compounded climate change mitigation effect.

The Human Side of Housing

For Rick Fox, the idea for environmentally-friendly building materials hit home in a very real way.Fox is a citizen of the Bahamas, where he watched Hurricane Dorian kill dozens of people and devastate homes and businesses in 2019. The Government of The Bahamas has vowed to tackle climate change head-on, and it has gone all in with Partanna to do something that’s never been done before: make the world’s first carbon-negative housing community.

And while the underlying th eme here is carbon-negative, not just carbon-free, the bigger picture is a very human one. It’s about contributing to human health. It’s about giving people homes that can withstand hurricanes and resist corrosion. And it’s about providing affordable housing.

Outdoor fine particulate emissions coming from fossil fuel combustion in the cement-making process is a serious threat to human health. Partanna’s building materials are processed at room temperature and result in no particular emissions, which are believed to cause the death of more than 10 million people every year.

Furthermore, traditionally constructed homes—as the Bahamas learned tragically in 2019—cannot withstand hurricanes. Homes built with Partanna’s materials can because their materials are made with saltwater (recycled brine). Constructions only become stronger when exposed to more saltwater.

Finally, Partanna is thinking of affordable homes and has a very unique strategy for making that happen. Partanna homes generate carbon credits, which the business is considering using to support low-income individuals meet the total cost of their down payment.

It’s all happening right now.

The technology is being tested inTthe Bahamas, and Partanna is partnering with the government to build 1,000 hurricane-resistant homes. The first 30 will be delivered next year in the Abaco Islands, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Dorian.

And Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis presented the new Partanna Bahamas technology at COP27 in Egypt on November 7^th.

This agreement between the government and Partanna Bahamas has seen Partanna invest $50 million so far in an arrangement the prime minister said would “provide affordable, sustainable housing in The Bahamas” and “meet the carbon priorities of the country”.

“The government also wishes to create a new, carbon-negative building industry, which will generate new job opportunities and training for Bahamians. I am personally pleased that Mr. Rick Fox, a Bahamian, accepted my invitation to bring his industry home to The Bahamas,” Davis added during the COP27.

With the world on the…