Carbon fiber is the ‘wonder’ material that hasn’t really seen much use in buildings apart from special facades and some repairs. Most carbon fibers are manufactured from oil derivatives, but research is ongoing into lignin based fibers and other methods that effectively sequester carbon from the atmosphere. There is great potential to strengthen and stiffen members, reducing overall material, and has excellent durability. In this case replacing steel in concrete could extend service lives by an order of magnitude. How would you design your buildings to take advantage of this, and how can we make long lasting components that can be reused when a building is no longer needed?
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