Solidia Technologies Unveils Transformative High Performance, Ultra-Green Building and Construction Materials Technology Solidia Technologies today unveiled its breakthrough technology platform that enables production of next generation building and construction materials with outstanding physical properties, lower life-cycle cost and lowest environmental footprint at the GreenBuild show in Toronto, Canada. Solidia Technologies bases this innovation in Low Temperature Solidification, with which the morphology and chemistry can be controlled to engineer materials with unique properties and exceptional application performance. The technology also uses CO2 as a reactant, thus sequestering this greenhouse gas during the production process and creating a new pathway to carbon negative building and construction materials.
Products manufactured with the Solidia Technologies process are Portland cementfree, have resin-free bonding and can be used in both indoor and outdoor applications.
In the building materials industry, this enables the production of stronger and more durable products ranging from facades to floor-tiles and roof-tiles to decorative countertops. In addition, because of the low temperatures at which the materials are manufactured, sensors and other electronic components can be embedded, thus opening the door to a world of building products with novel uses and several valueadded features.
“As architects designing for a sustainable future, we are seeking new products that are not just qualitatively better, but radically address our carbon footprint. I believe Solidia Technologies has developed such a material,” remarks Rick Cook, designer of One Bryant Park, the first LEED Platinum building in New York City.
Solidia Technologies is also working to develop materials that can replace concrete.
Preliminary findings show strength and properties of these materials far exceeding traditional concrete. The sequestration of CO2 in the production process provides the additional benefit of creating a carbon neutral concrete replacement.
“Solidia Technologies is making extraordinary scientific breakthroughs that will radically change the way building and construction materials are conceived and made,” says Bill Joy, a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, “this is a gamechanger”.
The company has agreed to partner with SIMEC, an international equipment manufacturer, to develop scalable production lines that will be deployed in conjunction with strategic partners at a global scale.
“Solidia Technologies provides a new platform that will revolutionize the world of building and construction materials by bringing a first-of-its-kind green solution to the building industry”, said Ampelio Stangherlin, President of SIMEC.“We are very excited about our partnership with Solidia Technologies and look forward to collaborating with them in commercializing this scientific breakthrough”.
With the rapid pace of urbanization around the world, the huge volume of materials required for building and construction, rising energy prices, water scarcity and increasing attention to climate change, the building and construction industries are facing mounting pressure to change and innovate, to create materials with superior properties and to reduce their environmental impact. Solidia Technologies is uniquely positioned to enable this change.
The company was started in 2008 with seed funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), is headquartered in Piscataway, NJ and has raised $29 million to date. KPCB and Bright Capital, the venture arm of the RU-COM group in Russia are the main investors.