LA Lakers star Rick Fox builds a CO2-sucking home

The Future. Rick Fox’s construction company, Partanna, finished building its first prototype home using a cement-less and carbon-negative alternative concrete. With concrete production representing 8% of greenhouse gas emissions (almost all thanks to cement), the material could be a building block for a more sustainable industry… and get the marketing push it needs thanks to Fox’s global reputation.

Green lawns and green construction
After trading his NBA career for acting, Rick Fox is now playing in the world of sustainable construction.

• Partanna’s concrete is made from slag (a byproduct of steel construction) and brine (waste from water desalination plants) instead of typical cement.
• The concrete is sustainable in two ways — 1. it can be made at ambient temperature (cement is made at pollution-generating high heat) and 2. “binder ingredients” in the concrete literally pull CO2 out of the air and store it.
• The 1,250 square-foot home can reportedly capture as much carbon as 5,200 trees, according to carbon credit certifier Vera.

The Bahamian government has partnered with Partanna on 1,000 homes, where Hurricane Dorian destroyed 75% of the homes on the island of Abaco in 2019. The Bahamian Fox was determined to help out and found a partner in California-based architect Sam Marshall, whose home was damaged in the 2018 Woolsey Fire and who was looking for a novel way to fix it.

Thanks to the alternative concrete’s ability to become stronger when exposed to seawater (thank the brine), these homes may be able to more than withstand the next major hurricane.