Verdant Building Products is introducing a new generation of carbon-storing building materials. In this webinar, Anthony Dente will discuss his work in code and design development of bio-based building systems that have enabled broader adoption of materials such as straw-insulated panels.
The presentation will feature a patented structural insulated panel with a straw-based insulation matrix that stores carbon while meeting the cost, thermal performance, and wall-thickness requirements of energy-efficient, conventional wood construction. The use of straw supports local, circular supply chains, transforming an abundant agricultural byproduct into a high-performance building material.
The discussion will also address cost competitiveness, highlighting how the system compares favorably with custom prefab solutions today and is expected to compete with conventional construction at scale
Learning Points
- The evolution of bio-based, carbon negative building materials into code compliant, scalable products.
- High performing qualities of the straw panel, a first of its kind, carbon-negative, non-toxic, agricultural byproduct, developed with the support of the EPA.
- How to specify low embodied carbon, non-toxic products in your projects with low risk.
- The importance and value of combining non-toxicity and low embodied carbon with low operational carbon choices on a project.
Presenter
Anthony Dente, PE, LEED AP, is a licensed engineer across the US, CEO at both Verdant Structural Engineers (VSE) and Verdant Building Products (VBP) and is the vice president of the Cob Research Institute (CRI). With VBP, he is leading the deployment of their carbon-storing, straw insulated, wall panels, developed under the EPA SBIR grant program. VSE assists with permit acquisition as well as product, research, and code development for low carbon structural solutions. He was the lead engineer for the Cob (Monolithic Adobe) Construction Appendix in the International Residential Code, as well as the Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Appendix, both the first of their kind in the US. Anthony is the chair of the structural sub-committee of the TMS Earthen Modular Masonry Standard Committee developing the much-needed contemporary adobe and CEB building code. Anthony recently authored Essential Cob Construction, A Guide to Design, Engineering, and Building with New Society Publishers.
