Discussion:First assignment of group n° 136
Resources used by the team[modifier le wikicode]
First description of our project[modifier le wikicode]
First description of our project's idea
Castel of sand
1. What Problem do you want to solve ?
We propose to participate in the research regarding the forecast sand penury by less than a century. To build a simple house we need around 200 to 300 tons of sand to make the necessary concrete. And around 90% of nowadays’ constructions are dependent on concrete. Sand is usually considered as an infinite resource, similarly as oxygen. Truth is that sand is the second most used natural ressource after water : with more than 15 billiions of tons extracted every year, it is starting to become as rare and precious as water.
2. Why does this problem exist?
Many factors lead to this problem :
Some of them are economic : the overuse exploitation of sand
geologic : the massiv reserve of sand from deserts are unusual because its stucture is too smoothed and not enough angular.
juridic : there is a lack of regulation on the exploitation of sand.
technologic : there is no solution on an industrial scale because the sand is currently too cheap to incitate big companies to innovate.
politic : this business is owned by private companies and people are not aware of the danger of a penury
3. What breakthrough are you commited to creating?
We would like to contribute to find a way to turn desert sand into a truly safe building material. Our aim is simple, fund the research on uses of desert sand for construction purposes. If we succeed, it will be possible to protect oceanic coast and more generally , the ecosystem. It is also the opportunity for next generations to keep on building in a sustainable way. Sand is a resource that needs several thousands of years to renew itself. Population grows faster than the renewal of sand, and constructions use 15 billions tons of sand each year, which is not sustainable on the long term.
Potential experts already identified
Francesco Tassone - ceo Personal Factory - startup building material, Martin Cyr - researcher at the INSAA of Toulouse , Laurent Frouin - ex development director Materis - now ecocem
