“In a sense, virtually all buildings are hybrids of one sort or another. Most modern buildings employ a wide range of materials, some “natural” some not. A strawbale house, for instance, is most likely a hybrid of strawbales and conventional wood framing. Unless the building is a dome or vault, the roof is likely framed with wood or steel. Our domed home is a hybrid of earthbag and papercrete materials. I know of a fine circular home that was minimally framed with 2X4 studs and then strawbales set on their ends provided the insulation.
adobe
Top 10 Natural Building Materials
“New home construction comes at a tremendous expense to the planet. Building 1.7 million homes with traditional wood, steel and concrete frames consumes the same amount of energy as heating and cooling 10 million houses each year, according to the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials. The environmental costs stem largely from the manufacture of the materials. Cement production, for example, requires an astounding amount of energy and results in water and air pollution and industrial waste that is usually not recycled. Using natural materials that require minimal processing or refining reduces these environmental impacts.
Adobe Windmills
“I have recently been in correspondence with an Iranian researcher, Mostafa Aref haghi, who has chronicled a tradition in Iran of building adobe windmills. At first I thought that it was virtually impossible to build a windmill using adobe. But then as I studied the material that he sent I came to realize that yes, indeed, it is possible to build a windmill using adobe!
Jon Jondai – Life is Easy
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen in a while. Jon Jondai does an excellent job of weaving together the importance of natural building and creating a happy life. It’s well worth turning up the volume a little and listening carefully.
Adobe… A Timeless Solution
“The building of homes with adobe is a centuries-old tradition in the state of New Mexico, long preceding the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores. The indigenous peoples of New Mexico had used earth for their dwellings for centuries, and the later Spanish arrivals were quick to adapt the indigenous earth-building techniques to their own purposes. … Read more
Adobe Rocket Stove
Experimental rocket stove made with rice/hull clay adobes for insulation and traditional adobes. “Two kinds of adobe: one regular old adobe mix and one that’s rice hull/clay. I wanted to try out the rice/hull clay thing as insulator. I didn’t have very many rice hull bricks, so I put ’em at the bottom of the … Read more