WISCONSIN—“The Forest Products Laboratory is building a sustainable future by showing how wood and its components can reduce our dependence on greenhouse-gas-intensive materials like steel, plastic, oil and cement,” said Kenneth Zwick, assistant director of Fiber and Composites Research at the lab in Madison, Wisconsin. “Working with Oregon State University; Siskiyou County, California; and the U.S. Endowment, we have recently shown how we can use the smallest component of wood, cellulose nanocrystals, to reduce the amount of energy needed to make concrete, while still maintaining all of its desirable building properties.”

A single rod-like cellulose nanocrystal is the tiniest building block of wood. Each crystal is 100 million times smaller than the head of a pin—yet nanocellulose is stronger than steel. A small amount of nanocellulose is all that’s needed to strengthen concrete significantly and reduce its carbon footprint.

The technology isn’t new, but thanks to several partnerships, the Forest Products Laboratory has been able to study nanocellulose in a variety of applications, including a cement bridge in California. That bridge used cellulosic materials mixed with concrete in its construction. The project was highlighted in the video below. It demonstrates how nanocellulose can be added to traditional building materials to make them stronger, and how projects like the California bridge can take nanocellulose from being a carbon problem to a problem solution. The video was made in partnership with #ForestProud, a program of the Society of American Foresters.

“We believe that forests provide powerful climate solutions,” said Rae Tamblyn, #ForestProud director. “As trees grow, they exchange oxygen for C02 and lock carbon away, deep in their trunks, roots and branches. To fully understand the positive impact forests can have on our climate, we need to think big, but also smaller—much smaller. We partnered on the “Wood is the New Concrete” video because we want to grow awareness about the climate potential of nanocellulose as a concrete additive.”

By highlighting projects like this one, researchers and other advocates hope to encourage other builders to take advantage of nanocellulose and all it can offer. Learn more about nanocellulose technology.