This may become critical as the sustainability spotlight increasingly shines on these energy consumers..

Using ‘Amazon’ was meant as shorthand for some form of digital marketplace.to advance construction procurement methods.

, not a suggestion of a perfect model to follow, but it prompted an interesting debate..It is partly with that debate in mind that I think we should discuss what e-commerce may look like when applied to construction.But it’s mainly because a digital marketplace for construction would be another massive leap forward..

In this article I will look at the reasons for a digital marketplace for construction, the benefits of one and the infrastructure that would facilitate one.. What is a 'digital marketplace' and why would we want one for construction?.In the simplest terms, I’m talking about e-commerce: buying and selling online.

I’ll develop this much further below, but a digital marketplace for construction would allow clients to publish their requirements for standard components or repeatable designs, for example, and allow a wide range of suppliers to bid to supply them..

This is obviously predicated on consistency of demand; when every construction project is bespoke, it’s impossible for manufacturers (other than material suppliers who make highly standardised, commoditised products like rebar) to develop products that are likely to be used repeatedly.In line with this, other chemicals, such as methanol and methane, can be replaced by bio-methanol and bio-methane, which are synthesised from biomass and wastewater sources.

Using sustainable methods to produce bio-methane and bio-methanol in place of fossil fuel derived versions, helps reduce the total amount of fossil fuels circulating in the industrial plastics industry and, therefore, the extent to which emissions are generated.. A study by Gabrielli et al, investigating the benefits of carbon capture, used the visual below to show how each system works and how the captured carbon is being reused (Figure 1)..Figure 1: via Gabrielli et al: illustrating a comparison of ‘business as usual’ chemical production against CCS and CCU via direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS) techniques.

Also illustrated is a biomass-based option.. 4.Difficulties with Carbon Capture.