Red Sea Global (RSG), the developer behind the Amaala and The Red Sea tourist destinations has agreed to lay the slabs at its landscape nursery.
The slabs are made by Partanna, a California-based company set up in 2015 by architect Sam Marshall and entrepreneur Rick Fox.
The paving slabs will be laid at RSG’s million square-metre nursery which is being set up to grow 30 million plants to landscape the two tourist destinations.
Partanna Global claims to have pioneered “the world’s first carbon negative building material” which it says avoids emissions and removes CO₂ from the atmosphere naturally.
The material is a cement substitute and Partanna claims is just as cheap, versatile and durable and ordinary Portland cement. The material uses a “special mixture of natural and recycled ingredients” and is cured at ambient temperatures.
According to Partanna, the binders in its product consume CO₂ as they cure and remove carbon from the atmosphere in the process. The ingredients include steel slag and a brine activator that helps form solid carbonates.
The brine can be sourced as a by-product from desalination plants, says Partanna.
The company says that a standard Partanna concrete masonry block will avoid and remove 14.3kg of carbon and a 1,250 square-foot house built with the material would remove almost 130 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere while avoiding the emission of another 54 tonnes.
John Pagano, group chief executive at Red Sea Global said: “We believe that sustainability is no longer enough. We need to find ways to restore and regenerate the planet. That is why we have committed to increasing the net conservation benefit at our destinations by 30% through the enhancement of habitats that ensure biodiversity can flourish, and to being carbon neutral when we become fully operational.
“Green technologies such as Partanna’s carbon negative concrete could play a crucial role in helping us achieve these ambitious aims and even going one step further to become carbon negative.”
The product supply agreement and first pilot scheme follow a memorandum of understanding signed between the two organisations at COP27 in Egypt last year.
Under the arrangement, both parties will explore future pilot projects – including use of Partanna’s material for coral reef restoration projects. According to Partanna, using recycled ocean water brine in its concrete makes it better suited to underwater conditions than traditional concrete. The company even claims that it has been proven to be more durable.
Partanna co-founder Rick Fox, a Canadian-born actor and former basketball player, said: “Red Sea Global is right, sustainability isn’t enough. We say that carbon avoidance isn’t enough either. The world desperately needs removal solutions and our technology can perform like no other, permanently locking in the carbon it absorbs.
“With a shared vision to make the world a better place, we have high expectations for what RSG and Partanna can achieve together. Our plan to pioneer ground-breaking technology solutions for the global coral reef development industry could set a new standard for marine stewardship.”
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