Made of Air

It’s no secret that the world's population is growing rapidly and by 2050 there will be approximately an additional 2 billion people in need of housing. To do this there will be a big demand on construction supplies. But fear not, the Berlin-based start-up project Made of Air has come to the rescue.

The new start-up project Made of Air is a revolutionary biochar-based material. This carbonised biomass is obtained from sustainable sources and is made of 90% atmospheric carbon. As a result it's a sustainable alternative for the construction industry as well as furniture and interior design. According to Made of Air’s website, this matter was designed to combat climate change at the same time as providing carbon negative, energy positive and customisable building supplies.

Basically what the project actually does is take waste biomass like tree clippings and crop residue and burn it in an oxygen-deprived environment (a process known as Pyrolysis) turning it into biochar. This procedure seals the carbon in the material instead of realising it when the biomass decays. As so the material is carbon negative.

The co-founder Allison Dring explained in an article published in Positive News that the process can be said to actively reverse climate change. Dring also said “inventing and applying a carbon negative material to industry is a big challenge but when it works at scale, it will be system changing for manufacturing”.

At Made of Air's website it says “made of Air can significantly reduce the CO² footprint of buildings and help real estate developers, architects and cities achieve their climate targets”. Thanks to this radical new material the construction industry won’t only remove already existing CO2 from the air, but also create a surplus of usable heat and electric energy with a matter formed to meet multiple building applications.