Whilst upcoming innovations on digital technology and renewable energy can have a significant impact on the reduction of operational carbon emissions in the construction industry, readily available fast-growing building materials like bamboo are already proving reductions in the embodied carbon of dwellings above 60% when compared to traditional brickwork in Colombia. This paper presents a like-by-like comparison of the environmental impact of a conventional clay brick house (CBH) and a bamboo house for social housing in Colombia, which was built using adapted vernacular technologies. The bamboo house uses bamboo species Guadua angustifolia Kunth as the main structural support for the light cement bamboo frame (LCBF) system, a.k.a. ‘cemented bahareque’, whilst the CBH combines clay bricks and steel for the load-bearing walls. Traditionally built Guadua angustifolia Kunth bahareque (GaKB) houses are a key part of the vernacular architecture in the ‘coffee cultural landscape of Colombia’ (CCLC) recognised by UNESCO. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to calculate the carbon footprint of the houses following four phases: (1) definition of objective and scope; (2) inventory analysis; (3) impact assessment; and (4) interpretation of results. The results show that the carbon footprint of the GaKB house accounts for about 40% of the CBH, i.e., the GaKB generates a carbon footprint of 107.17 CO₂-eq/m² whilst the CBH results in a carbon footprint of 298.44 kg CO₂-eq/m². Furthermore, from a carbon balance calculation, the carbon footprint of the GaKB house is further reduced to about 36% of the CSB house. LCA results for the built GaKB house demonstrate that vernacular housing projects that preserve cultural heritage can also be resilient and climate-neutral. This paper sets a precedent for the establishment of targeted government policies and industry practices that preserve the cultural heritage and vernacular technologies in the CCLC region and in other emergent economies worldwide whilst promoting future-proof and net-zero carbon construction.

Guadua amplexifolia J. Presl is a Neotropical bamboo native to southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, where it thrives in riparian zones of the San Jorge River basin. Despite its ecological and socio-economic importance, its environmental dynamics and provision of ecosystem services remain poorly understood. This study (1) quantifies spatial and temporal land use/cover changes in the municipality of Montelíbano between 2002 and 2022 and (2) evaluates the ecosystem services that local communities derive from in 2002, 2012, and 2022, and they were classified in QGIS using G. amplexifolia. We applied a supervised classification of Landsat imagery (2002, 2012, 2022) in QGIS, achieving 85% overall accuracy and a Cohen’s Kappa of 0.82 (n = 45 reference points). For the social assessment, we held participatory workshops and conducted semi-structured interviews with artisans, fishers, authorities, and NGO representatives; responses were manually coded to extract key themes. The results show a 12% decline in total vegetated area from 2002 to 2012, followed by an 8% recovery by 2022, with bamboo-dominated stands following a similar pattern. Communities identified raw material provision (87% of mentions), climate regulation (82%), and cultural–recreational benefits (58%) as the most important services provided by G. amplexifolia. This is the first integrated assessment of G. amplexifolia’s landscape dynamics and community-valued services in the San Jorge basin, highlighting its dual function as a renewable resource and a natural safeguard against environmental risks. Our findings offer targeted recommendations for management practices and land use policies to support the species’ conservation and sustainable utilization.

La apropiación social del conocimiento de los quince grupos de investigación de la Facultad de Tecnología había sido tradicionalmente divulgada en los eventos llevados a cabo por la vicerrectoría de investigación, innovación y extensión. En el 2022, se realizó la primera jornada y la que se institucionalizará para compartir e integrar las actividades de investigación y extensión de la facultad en la presentación de los avances científicos y tecnológicos que han efectuado los grupos de investigación en la formación de recurso humano a nivel de pregrado y posgrado para dar respuesta a las necesidades de los diversos sectores productivos de la región y del país. Esta jornada realizada el 12 de mayo, se inició con la conferencia plenaria: La Tecnología y la Industria 4.0 que ilustro sobre los nuevos paradigmas entre la tecnología y la industria para el siglo XXI. Así mismo se presentaron once trabajos académicos entre las Escuelas de Tecnología: Eléctrica, Industrial, Mecánica-Manufactura y Química. Esta publicación hace parte del esfuerzo de la facultad y de la Vicerrectoría de investigación innovación y extensión para dar a conocer a toda la comunidad de profesores, estudiantes, administrativos y al público en general los avances en investigación lo que conlleva a la transferencia y apropiación social del conocimiento, Agradecemos a todos los miembros de la facultad y a los que han contribuido con sus trabajos para este documento.