Plantd Partners With D.R. Horton to Launch Carbon-Negative Building Materials in Housing Market

OXFORD, N.C., June 13, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Today, Plantd, a manufacturer of carbon-negative building materials made from fast-growing perennial grass, has announced a strategic collaboration with D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in America by volume. D.R. Horton is purchasing 250,000 structural panels for wall sheathing and roof decking to be installed in over 1,000 new single-family houses, starting in North Carolina. Collaborating with D.R. Horton aligns with Plantd's ambition to make carbon-negative building materials accessible to the widest possible audience of homeowners and renters across America.

By farming fast-growing perennial grass as the feedstock for engineered building materials, Plantd has developed an alternative to tree-based Oriented Strand Board (OSB), the most commonly used engineered building material in the U.S. homebuilding industry. Installed precisely the same as OSB during home construction, Plantd's structural panels are an easy switch for homebuilders to reduce the carbon footprint of new houses while improving overall building performance. Zero trees are cut down in the production of Plantd's panels, and the company estimates that the panels used in every new D.R. Horton home will sequester five tons of carbon emissions pulled from the atmosphere. Plantd's structural panels also deliver better moisture resistance and substantially higher strength than standard OSB.

"The largest homebuilder in the country is embracing new materials for home construction to address one of the biggest challenges of our time," said Josh Dorfman, Plantd co-founder & CEO. "To make this transition fast and feasible, we've designed our carbon-negative materials to fit how D.R. Horton builds right now."

Plantd will produce the structural panels for D.R. Horton at its new headquarters and first production facility in Oxford, North Carolina. The company is repurposing a former tobacco product manufacturing plant into a state-of-the-art facility for its novel production technology. Plantd's production lines are modular, automated, and 100% electric-powered, an industry first. The company's engineering and production teams are led by former SpaceX engineers who saw an opportunity to reimagine building materials from the ground up.

"Plantd's building materials are the right solution at the right time," said Mike Murray, Co-COO of D.R. Horton. "This relationship enhances our capabilities to offer new buyers homes that are affordable, durable and sustainable."

This summer, D.R. Horton plans to install 100 of Plantd's structural, carbon-negative panels on a new home in Durham, North Carolina. Full production and delivery of Plantd building materials to D.R. Horton are expected to begin in 2024.

Learn more about Plantd at https://www.plantdmaterials.com.

Source: Plantd