These hempcrete blocks are a green building material made with a hemp-lime insulation mixture packed around a biocomposite structural frame. They can be stacked like bricks to build walls up to 30 feet high and they become the insulation and the structure of the building. All you need to do after the walls are built … Read more
After purchasing a ruin in a hilltop hamlet in the Spanish Pyrenees, Emmanuel Pauwels created a home in close harmony with the elements by first spending an entire year observing the patterns of the wind, sun, and rain. Today, the sun provides for passive heating of the home via south-facing windows, but also an antechamber … Read more
Bioarchitecture draws on principles from nature to help solve technological questions and address global challenges. Take desert organisms, for example. How do they survive and thrive under extreme conditions? One such desert species is the Saharan silver ant, named for its shiny mirror-like body. Its reflective body reflects and dissipates heat. It’s an adaptation we … Read more
Kristina is a structural engineer who designed and helped build this off-grid passive solar home with solar panels, solar hot water heaters, rainwater collection, a composting toilet, and a greywater garden. It’s a pretty impressive and functional Earthship inspired home and she lives here with her partner Matt in Colorado. You can follow and find … Read more
Together, steel and concrete are responsible for 15% of global carbon emissions. Every day brings another announcement of a highway widening or a new tower. All of this is solid embodied carbon. It is all going into the atmosphere. This is why it is so important to build green and to build less. The World … Read more
The European Union has agreed to a new law that would ban the import of products linked to deforestation. Household goods such as coffee, chocolate, and some furniture will have to pass strict checks to ensure forests weren’t damaged to create them. The EU said the rules would cut carbon emissions worldwide. Greenpeace called this … Read more