Building Styles

Natural Building Tour of Eco-Friendly Affordable Homes

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A growing number of people are disillusioned with conventional housing made of 2x4s and sheetrock (the way most homes in North America are built). These homes are filled with materials such as particleboard, plywood, plastic, linoleum, and synthetic carpet and paint that contain known carcinogens and allergens. These man-made materials offgas toxic chemicals such as … Read more

Insulating Earthbag Walls with Tube Sandbags

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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

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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

The Pegasus Children’s Project in Nepal

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In my opinion, this project ranks as one of the top in the world not just for its sheer size (over 40 earthbag domes) but also for its leading role in demonstrating how earthbag building can provide affordable housing to those in need (in this case homeless children in Nepal). The Pegasus Children’s Project includes … Read more