Yes, another TED Talk – but this one is not focused so directly on our construction business. While this topic is relevant in all of our work, it is particularly important in the work of our non-profit, Village Corps. Here, Nigerian native, Chimamanda Adichie talks about the danger of the single story – how they can create very limited mental models and impact our perception of how the world works, often with negative impacts:
Embodied Energy in New Construction
Building green can be complicated. But all the time we’re getting more and better data on how to do it well. The TED talk below from Catherine Mohr does a great job of displaying the data on embodied energy associated with deconstructing an old house and building a new green home – and the ‘payback’ period in terms of energy saved operating that new green home. Catherine’s got a great blog – http://301monroe.com – that dives into the details, step-by-step, much the same way the (also excellent) Concord Green blog does:
Posted in Construction, Energy Tagged building projects, Catherine Mohr, Concord Green, Energy, Georges Dyer, Materials, TED, video Leave a comment
Building Green on PBS
By Georges Dyer, Partner, Aedi Group
Building Green is a TV series on healthy, energy-efficient, and environmentally-friendly building (free & on-demand on hulu!). The first episode, “Breaking Ground,” introduces the strawbale home project in Santa Barbara that the series will follow through to completion. It also features Aedi Group Advisory Board member, Bill Browning. Have a look:
Posted in Aedi Team, Construction, Design, Education, Materials Tagged Georges Dyer, health, natural materials, video Leave a comment
Concord Green
by Georges Dyer, Partner, Aedi Group
Our construction team has had the great pleasure over the past few months to work on an exciting project in Concord, MA. The owner has a real passion for healthy, green building without sacrificing classic design. And she has done an unbelievable job documenting the entire process on her blog – Concord Green.
Her latest post highlights a recent talk by site supervisor Patrick Hughes on living with what we need, using the dilemma of the long-distance transport of delicious avocados to demonstrate the point that sometimes we can live more fulfilling lives by not trying have it all. (This example struck a cord with me personally because I love avocados, but hate shipping them in from afar, so I’ve got five avocado trees started from pits in my dining room – maybe in 10 years they’ll bear fruit, maybe… patience is a virtue).
Lisa (the owner/blogger) has brought passion and patience to the project throughout – diligently researching and testing materials to ensure we’re using the safest, healthiest, most environmentally-friendly products we can find. It has been a great learning experience and an excellent partnership between owner, contractor and two design firms – Zero Energy Design and Connor Homes.
In addition to document each step of the process – from choosing the right bathtub to choosing the right lender, floor paint, and tile materials – the blog also looks at the broader issues of building healthy environments and why that matters.For example, this post highlights the Health House Institute’s evaluation of chemical sensitivities. This one takes a look at passive solar design.
Keep following the project’s progress at the Concord Green.
Posted in Construction, Design, Education, Energy, Lighting, Materials Leave a comment
The GreenMachine
by Georges Dyer, Partner, Aedi Group
The portable GreenMachine makes regular, structural blocks from local subsoil with very little cement and water.
Green buildings come in all shapes and sizes and can be made out of all kinds of materials. One technology that facilitates the use of low-cost, local, natural materials is the GreenMachine.
Developed and refined by TerraBuilt over the last ten years or so, the GreenMachine uses local subsoil (not topsoil) as the basis for uniform, structural blocks that can be easily stacked (doesn’t require skilled labor) to build homes and other structures.
The earthen blocks provide good insulation that keep heating and cooling requirements down and limits energy demand.
The tongue and groove allows for no-mortar construction, and the blocks can cure in the wall so you can start stacking them right off the machine.
In addition to the subsoil, each block is about 8% cement and requires some water. But all in all, the system is relatively self-sufficient, cutting down on extraction, processing and shipping – and all of the social and ecological costs associated at every step of the way. All of this makes it great for remote sites (although it’s an interesting solution anywhere). The machine itself can be towed by a jeep or pick-up truck and is easily moved around the site and between sites.
One cubic yard of subsoil and 1.5 bags of cement makes 84 “TerraBricks” – each about the size of your standard cinderblock. The GreenMachine can crank out 4-5 per minute.
You can download and check out a video of the GreenMacine in action here.
Posted in Construction, Materials Tagged earth, GreenMachine, insulation, Materials, natural materials Comments closed
