For us here at Hiberna Modular, Christmas came early when the Embodied Carbon Assessment landed on our desk back in October ‘23.
Let Us Explain.
Simply put, our goal at HM is to supply New Zealand with warm, comfortable buildings, which are affordable to construct, and lock carbon into the build.
Designed to provide New Zealand’s building industry with the opportunity for sustainable, cost effective, timely, warm and comfortable homes, our structural panels are created from locally sourced materials, and engineered and manufactured to specification.
We’ve always known that our panels are low-carbon, as they’re made solely from wood and compressed straw; both wood & straw absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during their growth.
So we’ve been waiting with baited breath for an Embodied Carbon Assessment by passive house experts, VIA Architecture Ltd, to be completed on a panel, so we know just what numbers we’re working with, and how much of a positive impact constructing with our panels can have.
So What Does The Assessment Tell Us?
We’ll pop the technical details down below, but simply put:
“A typical Hiberna Modular straw panel stores 4 times as much carbon than is emitted during the production. And, it emits only half as much upfront carbon as a comparable timber frame wall.”
What Are The Implications Of This Big Number?
Well, not only do the panels store 4x as much carbon than is emitted during their production, this carbon is pulled out of the atmosphere from the previous 12 months (where we’re emitting A LOT of carbon as a nation) and not from 30 years ago (like a timber frame).
This has the potential to have a huge impact on NZ’s future carbon emissions.
We’re making big, exciting plans to scale up and push Hiberna Modular panels into a more mainstream spot as a core building material across New Zealand. And now we have the proof to back our claims!
If you’re interested, you can read the full report below.
And thinking about using Hiberna Modular panels for your next build? We’d love you to get in touch to start talking straw. Contact Us for some more information.
The Full Report:
