Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Did you know that buildings consume twice as much energy as cars?

Think about it… we spend about 95 percent of our time indoors with temperature-controlled rooms, LED lights, and electronics everywhere. Even beyond the consumers’ use of energy, the carbon emissions that come from creating the building materials alone are about the same as the emissions from passenger vehicles.

Building construction alone contributes approximately nine percent of global carbon emissions, equivalent to three billion tons of CO2 annually.

“It’s not something we talk about being a problem because there’s currently no other way of doing things,” said Dr. Katy Bradford, a structural engineer, and co-founder of Cassette Construction.

Bradford has spent the last decade understanding the ins and outs of the housing and building crisis. She knows the current practices are not sustainable, from materials to labor, every step in the building process has become expensive and extensive.

She has seen it firsthand. Bradford used to work at a Katerra in Phoenix, Arizona. Her primary role was looking into the manufacturability of different designs.

“My office was next to a big window overlooking the factory. I used to look down and daydream about what it would be like to open my plant someday,” she said.

Using her experience as a structural engineer and leaning on her fiancé’s expertise as a mechanical engineer, the two are bringing “Cassette panels” to market. These are essentially prefabricated building blocks containing components that combine structural supports, insulation, and cladding materials.

These panels can be used for building walls, floors, and roofs. Furthermore, Bradford believes she can create these panels from waste material and other locally sourced goods, making the product truly carbon-negative.

Bradford’s biggest selling point is that her panels can save construction companies time, money, and labor. “They would be able to stay on deadline, which would help them maintain good relationships with their customers and give them a good reputation,” Bradford said.

In addition to being an inventor, Bradford is also very passionate about affordable housing. She views Cassette Construction as her avenue to make a “real” difference in the fight for more affordable housing units.

“The most fulfilling part of life is service to others,” she said. “To fix this housing crisis, we need to go back to the beginning and start over. Right now, the burden is on the builder, and that gets passed down to the contractor, purchaser, and ultimately the government when they need to subsidize housing.”

Bradford is a participant in the “Innovation Crossroads” program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Additionally, she is currently going through the Spark Cleantech Accelerator.

Her goal during the program is to design her comprehensive additive manufacturing system tailored for the offsite construction of wall panels.

Bradford hopes to bring the minimum viable product to market through pilots during her time in the program. To do so, the system will be rigorously tested to ensure the panels meet performance standards for sustainable, affordable housing.

Connect with Katy Bradford.

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