Reshaping the Way Homes Are Built

BASF Better Home, Better Planet is all about homes that are more energy-efficient, faster to build, fortified against natural disasters, more affordable to own and have a lower impact on the environment.

Around the world, BASF is actively involved in reshaping the way homes are built by providing innovative products to manufacturers, who in turn are creating building materials that help build better homes.

By providing helpful information about its contribution to better building products and demonstrating how these products are used in various residential and commercial building projects around the world, BASF hopes to inspire homeowners, builders, architects and specifiers to seek out new and better options.

Globally, BASF is involved in many projects that contribute to the Better Home, Better Planet initiative. In the United States, you are invited to explore the features of the BASF Near-Zero Energy Home-Paterson, N.J.. The company has also partnered with the United Nations to provide much-needed technologies for tsunami relief projects in India and Sri Lanka. In Germany, the Three-Liter House demonstrates how advanced building and renovation techniques and advanced insulating materials can result in the reduction of a building's annual heating bill by 85 percent.

Also in Minneapolis, construction is underway on the Waldsee BioHaus Environmental Learning Center which features innovative and technologically cutting-edge building systems and components, including BASF STYROPOR^® insulating EPS foam in Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs).

In the UK, BASF is building a house as part of Nottingham University's Creative Energy Homes Project to demonstrate how BASF materials can be used to create an energy-efficient and affordable home. The cost of building is being balanced against the requirement to make the house affordable to a first time buyer. And with available building land in short supply, the design of the BASF House has the flexibility to be used for semi-detached or terraced houses.

In China, environmental futurist William McDonough is using BASF technologies to help build seven new cities over the next 12 years, with housing for 400 million people. As part of the Gulf Coast rebuild, BASF has been in discussions with those charged with the restoration of the Gulf Coast area after Hurricane Katrina, and plans are currently underway to produce disaster-resistant housing that is affordable, fast to build and hard to destroy. These homes will last for well over a century and will be designed to complement the culture and traditional architecture of the region.

The economic impacts of these projects are key. BASF is committed to bringing tangible, affordable solutions for sustainable development to the building and construction industry—especially in cities like Paterson, N.J., where cost savings achieved through improved energy efficiency and low-maintenance durability are most needed.