inhabitat.com featured an article about the pros and cons of using shipping containers as a basis for creating buildings. I think that they make some good points, so I’ll outline those below.Pros: CostCompared to building a similar structure with brick and mortar, on average, “cargotecture” can be 30 percent cheaper. Structural Stability Since steel containers … Read more
An article in Eco-Business News describes some of the amazing characteristics and uses for humble bamboo. Like all plants, bamboo stores carbon. However, because it grows particularly fast—some species grow up to 90cm a day—and matures within a few years, it can be harvested regularly. This means bamboo can create a large number of durable … Read more
I just got a nice update on what Ed Konderla has been up to in Ecuador, first building an earthbag house and then a guest house: The location is in the Andes Mountains, Southern Ecuador… very seismically active which necessitated a robust construction technique. The earthbag construction has been the way to go for me. … Read more
Some years ago I noticed a house in the middle of the road. I didn’t remember a house being there and thought that I was seeing a strange mirage. The closer I got, the more real it appeared, until I was forced to slow down and drive around the thing, at which point there was … Read more
This article by Kyle Chandler-Isacksen can be found in its entirety at www.motherearthnews.com It is about building with earth and is his Top Tip for regenerative living. By earth I mean clay-rich soils and sand. Building with earth falls under the broader umbrella of natural building and the even bigger one of green building. For this article, … Read more
Using the sun to heat your house has got to be the most economical and ecologically benign way to keep comfortable when the temperatures drop. There are a number of common strategies for doing this. My favorite method is passive solar design, where there are no “active” fans or pumps to contend with. Most passive … Read more