Sustainable Structures

What you build is for the future, and Mother Nature will be its only permanent resident

New Plans for Emissions Free Shipping Revealed

In October 2021, the Cargo Owner for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) was launched. coZEV, facilitated by the Aspen Institute, has been seen as a platform for multinational companies to come together to initiate high-impact programs accelerating the maritime industry’s transition to emissions free shipping. And now, coZEV has begun demonstrating the feasibility of scalable zero-emission […]

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Banana fruit stalk promising material for composite boards

When climate change is making our weather systems go bananas, how do we best adapt our structures to it? A researcher from the DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI) may just have peeled off the answer. According to the Institute’s Engineer Gilberto N. Sapin, waste banana fruit stalks (also called peduncles) can be used

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table made from rubber tree

Rubber farmers in Zamboanga Sibugay see more lucrative use for retired trees

(Editor’s note: This article has been updated as of September 14, 2021) Rubber farmers in Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay have a more aesthetic and profitable use for their senile, unproductive rubberwood trees, thanks to the DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI). Through the project “Processing and Utilization of Senile and Unproductive Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) Trees

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Hands-free disinfectant-1

Tall grass helps in fight vs Covid, as alcohol dispensers and foot baths made from bamboo are distributed

The Department of Science and Technology-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI) distributed on July 6 10 hands-free bamboo-abaca disinfectant dispensers and foot baths to several establishments and government offices in Los Baños, Laguna. The bamboo dispenser releases alcohol when the connected foot bath is stepped on, while the abaca acts as a sponge that

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Manila among Asia’s least affordable cities for buying, renting property

UK-based Online Mortgage Advisor (onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk) has recently published research comparing the average prices of one square meter of an apartment in the city center of Manila, Philippines, to the average annual salary in 2016 and 2020. That research shows Manila to be the second least affordable city to buy property in Asia, worse than property

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The DOST-FPRDI fruit wine barrels make use of wood from tree plantation species and old, unproductive fruit trees

PH wines to age better in sustainable barrels made from ‘santol’ and Indian mango

Here’s some good news you can literally drink to. Quality yet affordable wine barrels for aging fruit wines may soon be available in the market, and yes, these barrels are made from common tropical fruit trees such as santol and Indian mango. The Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI)

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Apart from ‘brain drain’, PH also bound to suffer ‘muscle drain’ if the minimum wage for construction workers isn’t increased

The party-list group ACTS-OFW on March 2 has called for a P900-daily minimum wage for construction workers to help address a looming shortage due to migration. “We are losing a great deal of good construction laborers to other countries that are paying up to 10 times the P537 daily minimum wage in Metro Manila,” said

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Bamboo: The worthy alternative to rapidly disappearing wood

The search for alternatives to wood for handicraft, furniture, and construction industries is intensifying, thanks largely to the dawning realization that wood products are quickly becoming depleted as the world’s forested areas inevitably give way to human development. The remaining naturally forested areas and timber lands, at least in the Philippines, have become protected by

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Forest trees are becoming endangered, too; here’s what our scientists are doing to help

LUCBAN, Quezon – To meet the high demand for quality planting materials of the wood-based industry, ensuring the supply of our forest tree resources is a must. To achieve this, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) funded a project in support

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