After trading his NBA career for acting, Rick Fox has moved on again and is now playing in the world of sustainable construction. His company, Partanna, has recently finished building its first home using a cement-less and carbon-negative alternative concrete.
With concrete production representing a whopping 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (almost all thanks to cement), the company's new 'alternative concrete' could be part of the solution for creating a more sustainable building industry.
Partanna’s concrete is made from slag (a byproduct of steel construction) and brine (waste from water desalination plants) instead of typical cement. The concrete is sustainable in two ways: it can be made at ambient temperatures (cement is made at pollution-generating high heat) and its “binder ingredients” in the concrete literally pull CO2 out of the air and store it.
The 1,250 square-foot home that Partanna has just built can capture as much carbon as 5,200 trees, according to carbon credit certifier Vera.
The Bahamian government has partnered with Partanna on 1,000 homes, where Hurricane Dorian destroyed 75 percent of the homes on the island of Abaco in 2019.
Thanks to the alternative concrete’s ability to become stronger when exposed to seawater (thanks to the brine), these homes may be able to more than withstand the next major hurricane.