There are dozens of building methods and design techniques that enable virtually anyone to build their dream home at rock-bottom prices. The solution lies in natural building – using locally available, low-impact materials such as earth, stone, straw and small diameter wood, in conjunction with timeless vernacular building methods. Our grandparents didn’t need a quarter    Read More →

We’ve added another project to our Projects page: Angel’s Dome in Mexico. A lot can be learned by examining other projects. There are many ways to do things and people are constantly innovating. On this project you’ll observe how they used volcanic rock, built eyebrows over their windows with rebar and utilized barrels for window    Read More →

My earlier post about Earthbag Building in Cold Climates on January 17, 2009 piqued some interest. Since energy performance on most buildings can be improved with insulation, including those made of earth — adobe, earthbag, etc. — I decided to pursue this idea further. So here’s another method for insulating earthbag buildings using tube sandbags,    Read More →

Green roofs or living roofs have a number of advantages over conventional roofs. In addition to being beautiful, green roofs reduce runoff problems, provide habitat for wildlife, buffer noise, filter the air and reduce the ‘heat island effect’ in cities. They also improve the energy efficiency of buildings, reducing heating and cooling costs. All these    Read More →

Owen Geiger built an earthbag dome with a green roof for Mother Earth News magazine that is scheduled for the August/September 2009 issue. It is a multi-purpose storm/rootcellar and storage shed. www.motherearthnews.com A picture of the dome was submitted in a green roof competition at Huffington Post. It is moving up the charts and is    Read More →

There needs to be much more focus on sustainable housing solutions that benefit average people. According to the UN, approximately 1.2 billion people lack adequate shelter. The main problem is lack of affordable housing. Natural building can play a major role in addressing the current unprecedented housing crisis. Everyone can have safe, decent, debt-free housing    Read More →