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What is needed first is energy and resource conservation - NOT more energy production
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I find more materials,
products,
technologies and techniques almost daily that make concrete a
more versatile and extremely green technology.
Most of this technology goes back nearly one hundred years! I am working on ideas using a combination of standard and lightweight concrete and steel to supply affordable, sustainable housing in poor places or anywhere you wanted low cost, low maintainence, energy efficient, sustainable, green buildings. My varied background gives me a unique perspective on construction. |
I
am finding great promise in combining a form of lightweight concrete
that is composed of almost one 100%
waste materials. |
Here
are
some
rough
sketches
of
how
these unique buildings could be put together.
http://www.greenearthstructures.com/1028cip.pdf
Ingredients Of My Evolving Dream Building System - The Potential Here Excites Me
| Wayne's
World was built with RASTRA RASTRA Forms http://www.rastra.com/ The Noble Oklahoma House was built with CEMPO. CEMPO Forms http://www.cempo.com/ The problem I have with this kind of products is you have to ship the forms from where they are manufactured to where you are going to build. I think poured in place EPSCrete is the answer to this problem. |
Both
RASTRA
and CEMPO
use
about
eighty
five
percent recycled polystyrene
and
a little portland cement to produce very unique forms that (as far as I
can see)
are some of the best
products on the market for building any kind
of structure. The ground scrap polystrene provides lightweight insulative aggregate to produce cellular concrete blocks while taking a lot of scrap polystyrene out of the waste stream. How
cool
is
that?
|
| I
have
been
opening
up
the
subject
of EPSCrete
at: Ferrocement Educational Network: http://ferrocement.net/flist/index.php?topic=222.0 Seems there are some people already using EPSCrete using local scrap! Nothing new under the sun. You CAN find it all on the NET. |
Here is a Russian
manufacturer producing what they
are calling polystyrene concrete and the equipment to produce these
products. They also produce a line of foamed concrete materials and the equipment to make it. Siberian Construction Technologies LLC http://www.sts54.ru/en/ Why is no one doing this here? I guess we still have too many trees. |
| I
recently
was
contacted
by: EnStyro 563-542-7255 http://www.enstyro.com/ I see great potential in EnStyro's business plan. They are making equipment to harvest the vast amount of scrap polystyrene (EPS) currently being thrown away and putting it to good use. |
Using
EnStyro's foam
shredding
equipment:
http://www.enstyro.com/mobile-recycling-equipment/
produces
aggregate
from
local
EPS
waste
suitable
for
making
EPSCrete
to
form
and
pour
walls
on
site. All from locally acquired materials that
would otherwise wind up in the dump. Another great plus is that this
would save
on shipping any kind of block around the country. Use the Green
Cement
(see above) to make the
StyroCrete and you are using almost 100% local recycled material to
pour bomb proof walls, floors, you name it. |
| One
of
Enstyro's
products
is
EnStyrock http://www.enstyro.com/enstyrock/
Poured in place cellular concrete using EnStyrock provides a light weight aggregate that has the strength of standard rock aggregate and is also a good insulator. Very cool (or warm). |
| I am also exploring an alternative to
EPSCrete Cast In Place Cellular
Concrete (CIPCC)
structures. EPSCrete might be a problem where stringent building codes are in place. Foamed lightweight concrete is a very interesting material and has a long track record. Here is information on other lightweight concrete products. |
Ingredient #3 • Green Cement - Concrete Using No Portland Cement? WOW!
| GreenConcreteUSA http://www.greenconcreteus.com/ One of the big drawbacks to using concrete to build anything green is the fact that it takes a lot of energy to produce the portland cement used in making most cement. I would argue concrete is far superior to using the last remaining trees on the planet to put up flimsy structures for bugs to eat and storms to blow away. However the enormous amounts of energy consumed in the making of portland cement has
been
a
very
valid point as to why concrete was not a very green product.
|
What
if there was an alternative way to
make cement using vast
amounts of waste materials and no portland cement?
What if this process would also reduce the cost of producing
concrete
by half or more?I have been talking with Richard Basaraba who is introducing just such a product through his new company GreenConcreteUSA.com. Richard has worked in the cement industry for many years and has a process that turns flyash into a superior substitute for standard portland cement. You can talk with Richard at 404.309.0851 or email him at richardbasaraba@yahoo.com |
| The big hurdle I see, regarding Green Cement,
will
be
overcoming
the
current
legitimate hysteria about all the flyash blowing and flowing into the
environment from dumps all over the world where power companies have
been dumping the stuff for decades. My research has found that once you encase the flyash in a concrete structure the danger is nil. See: http://www.green-buildings.com/content/781630-fly-ash-concrete Flyash has been used to produce concrete for decades and has proven a valuable and cost saving ingredient in standard portland based mixes. Richard has taken the technology to a whole new level. |
I encourage
anyone to
present
evidence or ideas pro
or con
on the issue of flyash.
If it will work - flyash will go from a toxic waste to a valuable building material.
Paul Wellman, GES CMS 405.237.8314 paul@greenearthstructures.com
If it will work - flyash will go from a toxic waste to a valuable building material.
Paul Wellman, GES CMS 405.237.8314 paul@greenearthstructures.com
| I
am
having going dialogue with Phillip Snyder -
Executive Director and Treasurer of ACE, Inc. Aware.Concerned.Engaged http://ace4haiti.com Phillip is based in Haiti and our correspondence has led me to try and put a plan together that uses the least possible imported materials and gets the best quality housing possible for the least expense that will survive in extreme weather conditions. A real challenge. It is important to Phillip that the design allows for the use of local labor as much as possible. |
Here
is
an ongoing series of drawing that
you
can download: http://www.greenearthstructures.com/haitihut.pdf For more middle income housing here are drawings to download: http://www.greenearthstructures.com/1028cip.pdf http://www.greenearthstructures.com/gesframepage.html gives more details. StyroCrete and Green Concrete make the product even better. Locally harvested scrap polystyrene would give the poorest people another material to gather. Here is an outline of how it would work. http://www.greenearthstructures.com/rebuildinghaitigreen.html This design could, of course, be modified and used anywhere you wanted to build inexpensive, sturdy, super insulated homes. |
| I
have
been talking with people here in Oklahoma
about the practical application of sustainable building technology to
the construction of four season
greenhouses. With the ever increasing cost of food and spiraling cost of transportation there is a growing (no pun intended) market for an energy efficient four season greenhouse. |
There has been lots
of research in China on this. Click here to check out what they are doing: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52317 I am working on adapting this Chinese design to use the same materials and technology as in my homes and commercial spaces. Click here to download a sketch of what this currently looks like. |