Overview
Headquarters
Andorno Micca, Biella
Category
Building materials market
RiceHouse is a start-up born in northern Italy, in the area where 90% of the Italian rice is produced. Rice is the most consumed food on the planet and Italy is the biggest producer in Europe. Focusing on the local territory RiceHouse creates new economics and tackles the problem that buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and generate 1/3 of all waste. The company uses organic residues, such as rice straw, husk and chaff, from the rice industry and cultivation and creates natural construction materials. RiceHouse introduces these raw products into the construction cycle and at end of their service life they return to the natural cycle. In an innovative way the company coordinates and controls a short supply chain, creating new economics from the field to the construction site. Working as a developer and coordinator of a supply chain, together with highly qualified partners, RiceHouse produces thermal insulating plasters, finishings, lightweight screeds and prefabricated panels. The company strongly believe that turning organic waste into a source of value is a key feature of the circular economy and from several years promotes the use of rice waste from short supply chain. The potential of these materials is enormous, considering that just in Italy 57 million straw bales are produced per year and these correspond to 28 million sqm of potential walls. During the years of theory and practice the company got impressed by the efficiency of the construction materials that derive from rice residues in terms of energy and acoustics performance and furthermore by their healthiness and eco-compatibility. The materials created by the company are based on technological and ethical principles and transform the house into a life-living organism.
