This site is under construction 🚧🙂🚧 Message the mods at our Reddit community if you'd like to help. We'd be excited to have it!
Table of Contents
Construction waste makes up anywhere from 10% to the majority of an area's waste stream, depending on various factors. When an area is frequently hit with catastrophic weather events (thanks to climate change), the rate of waste from buildings being built, destroyed, remodeled and rebuilt increased dramatically. With this in mind, individuals, companies, and communities need to focus on building and rebuilding with the environment in mind, using eco-friendly building practices and materials, including reclaimed construction materials.
The energy needed to run a building - cooling, heating, lighting, cooking, heating water, and more contribute to a larger percentage of global emissions. The good news is that heating and cooling make up the majority of this energy use, which can be reduced if and when designers include passive heating and cooling into the design of buildings from the start.
Even retrofitting old buildings with new, insulated facades, and other energy-saving features can make a surprising dent in energy consumption.
Considering the practicalities of end of life for building materials can help keep valuable resources out of landfills, reduce building costs, conserve historical characteristics, and reduce overall environmental impact of a building project.
Bricks have traditionally been laid with cement to glue the blocks together, though in South America stones were fitted so perfectly that they didn't need anything to help them stick.
Modern brick alternatives are sometimes created with interlocking shapes or pegs, reducing or eliminating the need for cement. Since cement is has a particularly high carbon footprint, this is a brilliant way to reduce a building's CO2 emissions.
Bricks have traditionally been made from local clay, but now we can make them from hemp, seaweed, and even plastic.
Cob walls are generally free standing, and range from 2-3 feet thick.
Unlike Cob, wattle and daube walls are not load bearing, and are built into wood framing, making up the interior walls of a building.
"Light Earth involves tamping a clay mix containing a lot of straw or untreated woodchips into a timber framework and then cladding both faces. The method combines the good insulation property of the light additives with the advantages of earth. The construction is fireproof and very durable, because the clay acts as a natural preservative of the timber construction.
As with other earth building techniques, Light Earth balances the indoor climate, especially the moisture of the air. Because of its relatively low weight, it isn't suited to contribute to the thermal mass of a building so much. The construction acts more as a form of insulation, and therefore is mostly specified for external walls.
The material needs a waterproof cladding on the outside. This needs careful attention, because the wrong exterior finish can result in serious damage of the Light Earth filling.
On the inside the walls can be finished off with an earth plaster." - Solid Earth: Other Earth Building Techniques
The Clean Energy States Alliance "is a national, nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working together to advance clean energy.
CESA works with state leaders, federal agencies, industry representatives, and other stakeholders to develop clean energy programs and inclusive renewable energy markets. CESA members—mostly state agencies—include many of the most innovative, successful, and influential public funders of clean energy initiatives in the country."
The Earth Builders Guild "TEG’s mission is to promote, preserve and expand the building methods of adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth block construction. Our organization is dedicated to the betterment and advancement of earthen construction of homes and commercial buildings, including the preservation and restoration of existing buildings.
The commitment of people in this industry stretches across family traditions, community heritage, meaningful work, environmental concerns, and the joy of working with the earth. We want to ensure that we continue to make history through our building processes while improving them to create safe, comfortable, long-lasting structures."
New Mexico
Adobe in Action "is a New Mexico-based 501c3 non-profit organization with a global reach. We support owner-builders, practitioners, and communities with the planning, construction and preservation of adobe homes. We promote earthen building and home ownership through education, field-support and diffusion of knowledge."
Cornerstones "We help communities preserve their historic structures. These structures bring the community together and connect past and present. If they disappear, that connection will be lost forever."
The Earth Builders Guild "TEG’s mission is to promote, preserve and expand the building methods of adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth block construction. Our organization is dedicated to the betterment and advancement of earthen construction of homes and commercial buildings, including the preservation and restoration of existing buildings.
The commitment of people in this industry stretches across family traditions, community heritage, meaningful work, environmental concerns, and the joy of working with the earth. We want to ensure that we continue to make history through our building processes while improving them to create safe, comfortable, long-lasting structures."
Pennsylvania
The Tamaqua Sustainability Project "is a community of DIY builders, designers, artists and permaculturists with a mission to spread ecological consciousness by providing education and inspiration for living in self-sufficient, resilient, and creative ways."
Pennsylvania
Tamaqua Sustainability Project offers classes for building earthships. "
Gjenge "Gjenge’s pledge is to be true to our vision and mission while maintaining sustainable practices as a social enterprise. Thus far we have managed to recycle over 100 tonnes of plastic waste. We have also managed to create 112 job opportunities for garbage collectors, women, and youth groups by turning plastic waste into affordable beautiful building materials."
SargaBlock "Por cada 2,000 piezas de block de sargazo utilizado en una construcción, ayudamos a limpiar más de 20 toneladas de este material en las playas."
New Mexico
Adobe in Action "is a New Mexico-based 501c3 non-profit organization with a global reach. We support owner-builders, practitioners, and communities with the planning, construction and preservation of adobe homes. We promote earthen building and home ownership through education, field-support and diffusion of knowledge."
The Earth Builders Guild "TEG’s mission is to promote, preserve and expand the building methods of adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth block construction. Our organization is dedicated to the betterment and advancement of earthen construction of homes and commercial buildings, including the preservation and restoration of existing buildings.
The commitment of people in this industry stretches across family traditions, community heritage, meaningful work, environmental concerns, and the joy of working with the earth. We want to ensure that we continue to make history through our building processes while improving them to create safe, comfortable, long-lasting structures."
Solid Earth Ltd "With over 200+ completed projects since 2002 and many years of teaching experience in NZ and abroad, Solid Earth Ltd is one of the most experienced natural building companies and the longest standing Adobe Brick manufacturer in the country.
Our focus is on creating beautiful, healthy living spaces that have minimal environmental footprint. We take pride in our state-of-the-art workmanship, extensive research and innovation in the field, as well as our contribution towards the NZ Earth Building Standards. We believe that natural building is the way of the future. Our company is dedicated to regenerative environmental practices, ethical employment, heart-centred leadership and community.
We specialize in the Adobe Brick technique, natural plasters over a range of substrates, earthen feature walls in timber-framed buildings, as well as the restoration of historic cob buildings. We carry out earth building construction work only, working in with other construction professionals and tradespeople as required."