Insulating Earthbag Walls with Tube Sandbags

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

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

Natural Building: The Key to Affordable Housing

There needs to be much more focus on sustainable housing solutions that benefit average people. According to the UN, approximately 1.2 billion people lack adequate shelter. The main problem is lack of affordable housing. Natural building can play a major role in addressing the current unprecedented housing crisis. Everyone can have safe, decent, debt-free housing … Read more

The Pegasus Children’s Project in Nepal

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

The Broken Earth Foster Village

James and Suzanne McConnell, co-founders of The Foster Village, are creating a self sustaining earthbag eco-pueblo pilot program for foster teenagers near Ojo Caliente, NM.  Children living full time in an eco-pueblo along with their visiting parents, when appropriate, will work side-by-side, interacting and caring for animals, gardening, building earthbag domes, milking goats, making cheese … Read more