Weird and wonderful solutions to building and decoration problems are something we love learning about and although this is not ‘new’ news, we believe it is still something worth sharing.
This strange solution involves using carrots to strengthen concrete. Research from Lancaster University suggests that extracted nanoparticles from root vegetables can be used within the concrete as a cheap alternative to strengthening concrete, with lower carbon emissions.
These lower carbon emissions are achieved because increased strength means less concrete has to be used in projects. Even if the reduction in quantity used is only marginal, it may still have a significant impact on carbon emissions overall.
According to the university “the proof-of-concept studies showed that adding the root vegetable nano platelets resulted in a saving of 40kg of ordinary Portland cement per cubic metre of concrete – which gives a saving of 40kg of CO2 for the same volume.” As it was set to be a two year project, we hope sometime in 2020 we will be updated on the results.
