Concrete is the second most-used material in the world; it’s estimated that 8% of global carbon emissions comes from the manufacturing of cement, a key ingredient of concrete, alone. This outsized impact also presents an outsized opportunity.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Science are working to develop “3D-printed carbon-absorbing and storage concrete structures,” a new building system that would reduce carbon in all aspects of concrete construction. It would reduce both embodied carbon (the energy used to produce the materials, transport them, and construct the building) and operational carbon (the energy it takes to heat and cool the building). Read more at Penn Today.