Design student Prantar Tamuli creates carbon-capturing walls

In London, a student pursuing a master’s degree in bio-integrated design has developed cyanobacterial building panels that capture carbon.

The idea came to University of London student Prantar Tamuli during the COVID-19 lockdown. Dubbed C-ELM—short for Cyanobacterial Engineered Living Material—the panels are a step closer to reality after being featured in an art installation at St Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland.

C-ELM panels are translucent and can be mounted on the interior of buildings. Just one kilogram of the cyanobacteria can capture 350 grams of CO₂.

“My goal with developing C-ELM is to shift the construction of our future human habitats from being a significant carbon-emitting activity to one that actively sequesters carbon,” Tamuli told news agency PTI.

Marcos Cruz, a professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture and co-director of the Bio-Integrated Design Programme, said the potential of Tamuli’s biomaterial is immense. “If scaled up and widely implemented, it could significantly reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint.”