SNSF Flagship ThinkEarth
Digital IDs for Regenerative Materials
I am excited that the ThinkEarth flagship has started and I will coordinate the TP6 on digital IDs. More information about the flagship and our sub-project can be found on the official webpage.
Our partners:
Project scope:
Regenerative building materials can be reused indefinitely and offer new business models in the circular economy, e.g. a secondary market for these building materials or components. In addition, regenerative building materials have enormous potential to improve various sustainability criteria compared to conventional construction methods. In order to implement these new business models and to quantitatively assess the benefits of regenerative building materials, a comprehensive database covering the entire life cycle from extraction to return to nature is required, which is currently lacking.
The aim of this sub-project is therefore to develop the basis for such a comprehensive database for wood and clay over the entire life cycle. The chosen approach investigates standardized traceability by means of unique digital IDs. Such transparent proofs of origin should make it possible to determine the availability of resources on site, estimate the service life of the materials used and renew, repair or reuse them in new contexts.
On the one hand, the focus of the sub-project is on the information required to ensure that such identification is useful for all players in the Swiss value chain. To this end, the supply chains in Switzerland for both wood and clay are analyzed and important parameters for wood and clay identification are determined. On the other hand, the technical possibilities for implementing such an ID according to the state of the art will be examined. This includes the digital ID itself, the linking of the renewable physical materials with this digital ID and the trustworthy retrievability of such an ID over the entire life cycle.
