As you may well know, the recent floods in Pakistan destroyed or damaged 2 million homes, affecting 20 million people. PAKSBAB, an NGO building strawbale houses in Pakistan, uses gravel-filled earthbag foundations to protect their houses from water damage. To date, 22 houses have been built. In addition to providing flood protection, PAKSBAB uses earthbag … Read more
For years, I’ve ruled out building with brick because of the large amount of energy consumed in the manufacturing process, and the associated environmental toll. Like concrete and other high embodied energy materials, high-fired brick is generally not considered a sustainable building option (excluding recycled brick, of course). Although high-fired brick is extremely durable, there … Read more
How do you like this ecovillage? Eco Truly Park, Peru says, “We are a group of people that have a shared ideal to preserve nature and live harmoniously alongside all living things and our fellow man.” Even though these are adobe domes, I’m including them because domes are very popular with our readers. Enjoy. [Note: … Read more
We get a lot of questions about privacy walls. The blogger at Sunflower River provides lots of photos to help illustrate the process. Instead of trying to recap what they say on their blog, I suggest following the links below for a detailed look at what they’re doing. Beginning process Wall almost finished Or … Read more
One of the greatest needs in the world is disaster-resistant housing – houses that can hold up against hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, flooding and other natural disasters. If you follow the news like I do then you’ll realize that tragic disasters affecting tens of thousands or millions of people occur almost daily. It’s sad and painful … Read more
Sometimes incremental changes are the most effective. People are naturally resistant to major changes, but they’ll more readily grasp and utilize small changes. That’s the thinking behind this confined masonry/earthbag system. Confined masonry is one of the most common building systems in the world, with millions of structures built this way. Confined masonry construction consists … Read more