Viable way for the ubiquity of combustion engine

Viable way for the ubiquity of combustion engine

The popularity and ubiquity of combustion engines is testament to their fitness for purpose, but I tend to feel that part of that is because there has never been a viable alternative. Look at the car industry - until very recently, electric-powered vehicles were a bad joke. The early electric cars were slow, had very little range and took far too long to recharge. But now cutting edge all-electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster show the issues of range and speed are not insurmountable.
All speakers agreed that the choice of (locally available) building material can make all the difference in determining the final sustainability of a structure can be – this must, however, go hand-in-hand with good architecture. Anna Heringer and Frank Barkow made a point of demonstrating the architectural qualities of their winning projects, whereas Martin Rauch and Mike Schlaich emphasized the advantages of the building materials and techniques they had brought to the projects.
All-electric equipment is of course nothing new in the construction sector when it comes to static (or relatively static applications) - tower cranes or crushers for example. In addition to mains-powered machines, visitors to this year's Intermat exhibition may have seen some of the battery-powered compact that could come on to the market in future years.
In the discussion there was consensus that we should re-learn to build in a more simple way with more simple materials: the future belongs to optimized and combined building materials, in the case of the two projects: it is a matter of getting the best static and thermal performance out of wood, clay and (infra lightweight) concrete. As the discussion concluded with questions from the audience the idea came up that the Hamburg project could benefit from the technology and specific (in particular thermal) properties of clay suggested for the Marrakesh project – and the other way around: continuing to build upon good ideas, and good architecture.
It is a sign that the industry is interested in other power sources, but a problem remains that it is difficult to get enough batteries on board a 1.5 tonne mini to keep it running for a full day - something that is not an issue with a diesel machine. Needless to say a battery powered 40 ton ADT is a long, long way away!
The evening was opened by Hans-Jürgen Commerell on behalf of Aedes, Ilka Ruby on behalf of textbild Berlin and Edward Schwarz on behalf of the Holcim Foundation. Following the open discussion round, the audience took advantage of visiting the “MACHEN!” exhibition on the Aedes premises which shows the six Holcim Awards winning projects designed by German teams, which continues until the end of August.