What do you get if you mix sand, bacteria and sunlight? A self-replicating building material that pulls CO2 straight out of the atmosphere, according to research engineers at one university in the United States.

At the heart of this new building material is Synechococcus, a type of bacteria which is found in plankton and uses photosynthesis to generate energy.

The bacteria is combined with sand and gelatin, then soaked in warm nutrient-rich saltwater. Photosynthesis does the rest, producing calcium carbonate along with oxygen and glucose.

Common forms of calcium carbonate include marble, limestone and chalk. That compound makes up around 4% of the Earth’s crust, and is a major component of building materials – in particular, cement.

Cement and brick production are very energy-intensive processes that also call for a lot of extracted raw materials. Quarries are dug for clay and other aggregate material, such as limestone, and temperatures of more than 1,000ºC are needed to form some bricks for construction. This process consumes great amounts of energy, directly and indirectly. Some estimates suggest the production of cement and bricks could be responsible for 7-8% of global CO2 emissions.

The search for lower-energy, lower-carbon building materials is gaining momentum. In 2010, German researchers created a new binding agent that reduces the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of cement production. In the US, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have proposed a method for producing cement using electrolysis rather than furnaces to cause the chemical reactions needed. But the researchers working with the Synechococcus at the University of Colorado, Boulder, claim they are breaking new ground.

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