this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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At Panchsheel Inter College in Uttar Pradesh, students now study inside a new school wing built not from concrete or traditional brick, but from sugarcane. The innovation was born at the University of East London (UEL) and its creators argue it could reshape how buildings are made and how the planet pays for it.

Sugarcrete combines the fibrous residues of sugarcane, called bagasse, with sand and mineral binders to produce lightweight, interlocking blocks. Lab tests show that Sugarcrete has strong fire resistance, acoustic dampening, and thermal insulation properties. It’s been tested to industrial standards and passed with flying colors. In terms of climate impact, the material is a standout. It’s six times less carbon-intensive than standard bricks, and twenty times less than concrete, by some estimates.

Yet the real excitement doesn’t only come from what Sugarcrete is, but how it’s made and used. It is purposely ‘open access’ in order to establish partnerships to produce new bio-waste-based construction materials where sugarcane is grown. Unlike conventional building materials locked behind patents, Sugarcrete can be made by anyone with the right ingredients and basic manufacturing tools. That choice decentralizes construction innovation, allowing small-scale producers — especially in the Global South — to lead.

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[–] [email protected] 130 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Sugercrete?

Dude, CANEcrete was right there. It was right fucking there!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Also sugarcrete begs the question (before you read up on it) what happens when it rains?

Agreed canecrete has got to be it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

It'd probably be fine, it uses the leftover fibers, not literal sugar that dissolves. A layer of waterproofing that'd you'd use for an earthen home or earth ship would probably do the trick.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Scientists are not the most creative when naming their findings.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Bro, CRAPcrete was right there!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Damn, I just patented Turdcrete

[–] caseyweederman 1 points 2 months ago

Ugh, Daviiid

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Cananite has been around for 100 years.

School classsooms are lined with it in Australia.

Now, how much is termite prevention.

Its soaked in formaldehyde, like particle board.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It’s all fun and games until Hansel and Gretel show up at your elderly grandmother’s sugarcrete house.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Or you hear Fraggle Rock music playing nearby

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't try to simulate this by adding sugar to concrete.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Or do, depending on who's building what

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nobody talks about the obvious so... can I lick it?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yes, but there's no more sugar in it

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

What about mine?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I'll try it for science.

[–] Kowowow 14 points 2 months ago (5 children)

This is pretty cool and it makes me wonder if there are far north options for materials you could use such cattails/bullrushes or maybe in a little warmer areas less desirable wood like poplar

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago

Cobb, then hempcrete. Rammed earth or CEB always an option as well.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

There is hempcrete too

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Reed Canary grass makes great cob. Hemp is another likely fibre.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Taking a step back, what they've kinda done is taken wattle and daub (but not really) and worked it to industrial standards. And wattle and daub got used in all kinds of ways all over the world.

Obv wattle and daub to structural standards and firecode and such so that your building can meet modern specifications is actually quite a handy thing? But yeah there's an overall myopia to steampunk-leaning researchers to focus on a singular feedstock instead of working to create a spectrum of materials based on local availability.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Sugarcane is a common crop across the global south, that is grown heavily for the benefit of the Global North.

That they can turn the byproduct of a cash crop grown for neo-imperialism into something useful for the locals is no bad thing (unless the landowners/sugarcane processors forbid/constrain the use of the leftovers).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Lots of strong natural fibers out there.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This article was written by ants.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Haha my first thought was those modern cars that have rat problems because they wrapped the wires in a plant based wrapping that rats enjoy

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

My motorcycle was made in 2000 and a previous owner added a headlight flasher module at some point. Some rodent crawled all the way up inside the bike and into the nose cone just to gnaw on the flasher wires. I have looked around and inside many places over the years but have never found any other bite marks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

plant based wrapping

It was soy, if I remember correctly. Bloody rats weren't even the issue for me, it was the squirrels!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is really cool! I really hope the bricks will behave well long term.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

naughty bricks?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The building industry is incredibly conservative. There will be doubts with this about its durability - nobody wants to have to build something again.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

To add to this. If a company builds with this new material and it turns out there's some unexpected issue with the material, the company will be held liable for the damage. They can shove that liability back on the product manufacturer, but only so many can do that before the manufacturer just shuts down. Then the construction company has to foot the bill of a new building, which they can't afford, and thus shut down.

I absolutely hate how conservative the building industry is, but it's a culture that's been born out of harsh lessons and loss of livelyhoods.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Good point, thanks.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

There needs to be processing, manufacturing, and other infrastructure built for the practical large scale implementation of any new technology. That takes time. Bureaucracy can make steps take even longer.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Probably because there are no long-term tests yet. You can build a house out of dried cow shit if you really want, but is that building still standing in 25 years? We don't know yet and no company wants to be liable for damages if the houses they've built are falling apart. And in heavily regulated countries like germany, they all have to be approved by the government which will take even more time.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (3 children)

fibrous residues of sugarcane, called bagasse, with sand and mineral binders to produce lightweight, interlocking blocks

Now, how much is termite prevention.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

I think I'm on lemmy too much, I read the title as open source building material...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Construction sand is still going to be a bottleneck resource in the near future.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Cuba! Get on this!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Sounds like a nice material. :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I want my walls to be snozzberry flavored

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Very cool stuff

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