Solar Analysis Tools Now Available Through Geostellar (via Clean Technica)

  For the multitude of property owners wanting to take the renewable energy plunge into solar, but still wondering about its feasibility from cost and operations perspectives, a new set of analysis tools are now available from Martinsburg, WV-based Geostellar. This company, which markets itself as…

]]> http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2012/07/dynamic-solar-analysis-tools-now-available-through-geostellar/feed/ 0 http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2012/02/from-stick-like-glue-to-sticks-like-gecko/ http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2012/02/from-stick-like-glue-to-sticks-like-gecko/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 03:55:33 +0000 grmeyers http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/?p=1401

Materials Discovery: From “Sticks Like Glue” to “Sticks Like Gecko” (via http://greenbuildingelements.com)

University of Massachusetts Amherst Scientists Create Super-Strong Adhesive with Geckskin I published this story of interest yesterday at Clean Technica. But looking at it again this morning, I saw quite a fit with GBE, especially knowing how toxic some glues are. Realize the Geckskin that’s undergoing…

]]> http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2012/02/from-stick-like-glue-to-sticks-like-gecko/feed/ 0 http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2010/12/new-paradigm-for-compressed-earth-blocks-and-roofs/ http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/2010/12/new-paradigm-for-compressed-earth-blocks-and-roofs/#comments Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:34:02 +0000 grmeyers http://ourgreenstreetsblog.com/wordpress/?p=1153

Vermeer drove a mobile CEB press from Iowa to the Rocky Flats CEB production site.

TSC Global, championing its innovative “Roofs for the World” program, met in Denver with a group of earth building advocates, including Partners Worldwide and Iowa-based Vermeer Tractors for a full production test run of the Vermeer’s mobile compressed earth block machine press.

Brad Wells, TSC executive director, says Vermeer drove its equipment from Iowa, setting up a mobile production facility to manufacture over 1000 compressed earth blocks (CEBs) which TSC will then use to complete the walls on a demonstration unit at its Denver headquarters. Wells believes this represents a new building paradigm for impoverished areas in the world.

The CEBs were manufactured on facilities west of Denver that had been donated by Church Ranch, where the team used “a mountain of blue ribbon dirt!” says Wells. The goal of this endeavor is to build durable, inexpensive structures that will resemble the Ugandan units developed by Moses Musaazi Kampala, as shown in this photo.

This October, a group of international business people gathered to observe Vermeer’s portable CEB press – the 714 Dynabloc Press. Vermeer and Faith Tech Connect developed the machine to use in worldwide poverty areas to build low-cost CEB homes and provide jobs to local residents in the process.  The blocks are produced using a mixture of clay-based soil and a small amount of cement for bonding.

“This is a forward-looking marriage of compressed earth blocks (CEB) and thin-shell concrete (TSC) Hypar roofs,” said Wells.  “This is the direction TSC Global is going: affordable safe durable shelter and post-disaster housing, post-disaster.  But we’re certainly not opposed to becoming involved with US domestic applications.”

The TSC roof, called a thin shell composite hyperbolic paraboloid, or TSC Hypar – a roof system designed by habitat pioneer, George Nez. He originally developed the roof for emergency resettlements in impoverished areas of the world as a low-cost shelter alternative to plastic structures currently found in many resettlement programs.

TSC Global proclaims the building methodology of the Nez roof has the potential for revolutionizing roofing and construction in the most impoverished and remote parts of the globe. The hypar roof has been used in many African countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan.

Wells points out there are many options for wall infill, but this may be one of the most cost-effective solutions. “TSC Global believes that CEB is an ideal companion wall system for our roofs and the CEB people are big fans of our roofs for their walls equals a “1-2 Punch Dream Team.”  CEB is widely used, particularly in South Africa, but nowhere near exploited as we think it should be. If clay is available at a site and with attention to quality, this provides a very inexpensive and strong wall system.”

Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO Photo: Sunflower Corp.

Those wishing to have the best natural light for interior spaces may want to take a look at Sunflower Corporation and its Sundolier^®, a lighting system designed to deliver high quality indirect daylight to large spaces.

The line of “daylighting” products developed at the Boulder, CO-based Sunflower Corporation are designed with this objective: to provide sustainable natural lighting that meets the high quality lighting demands of education, office, retail and industrial markets.

Natural daylight technology from Sundolier Photo: Sunflower Corp.

Sunflower’s inaugural product, the Sundolier^®, is a chandelier that distributes sunlight to interior rooms by washing ceilings and walls with daylight. The lighting device, which uses no electricity, creates the highest quality natural lighting experience available, says James Walsh, president and founder of the company.  From an engineering and architectural perspective, Sundolier installation requires minimal roof penetration and is easy to specify.

The company website contends that the effects from natural daylight are demonstrable in the following ways:

• Increase the speed of learning in educational environments
• Increase productivity and employee wellness in office and industrial environments
• Increase sales in retail environments

A large part of Walsh’s focus professionally has been in the education sector, where he has created environments that allow educators to focus on students by constructing facilities that optimize student learning. Sunflower donated its daylighting technology to Colorado’s Douglas County Library to help with the objective of bringing natural light to the library’s patrons. The Sundolier can be seen in this You Tube video (5:34).

The company website states: “Sundolier^® delivers sunlight so effectively that electric lighting can be turned off when the sun is out offering excellent opportunities to save electricity while reducing heat generation through cool indirect daylighting.”

According to Sunflower, this indirect natural lighting system is capable of meeting general lighting of up to 2,500 square feet of space with less than 0.4% roof penetration and leaves a minimum footprint. In addition, how pleasant not dealing with any kind of fluorescent lighting.

Simon Dale's low-impact home in Wales

This marvelous and imaginative home was built in Wales by Simon Dale.

He writes: “This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives. For example this house was made to house our family whilst we worked in the woodland surrounding the house doing ecological woodland management and setting up a forest garden, things that would have been impossible had we had to pay a regular rent or mortgage.”

Kitchen view

I recommend looking at the series of videos produced by this thoughtful gentleman and his family.

Africa: compressed earth water towers

Author and architect, Ronald Rael, says, “Currently it is estimated that one half of the world’s population—approximately three billion people on six continents—lives or works in buildings constructed of earth. And while the vast legacy of traditional and vernacular earthen construction has been widely discussed, little attention has been paid to the contemporary tradition of earth architecture. “

As a result, Ronald Rael, an assistant professor of architecture at The University of California, Berkeley, founded Eartharchitecture.org as a web clearinghouse of information on the subject. He also published a book on the subject.

Both the website and book provide the kind of information any sustainable architect or builder should have on hand.

Specifically, both the website and book provide visitors with a history of building with earth in the modern era. It focuses on projects constructed in the last few decades that use rammed earth, mud brick, compressed earth, cob, and other techniques.

Rael’s website states it provides “a selection of more than 40 projects that exemplify new, creative uses of the oldest building material on the planet.”

Rael adds that his narrative addresses “the misconceptions associated with earth architecture. Many assume that it’s only used for housing in poor rural areas—but there are examples of airports, embassies, hospitals, museums, and factories that are made of earth. It’s also assumed that earth is a fragile, ephemeral material, while in reality some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet are made of earth.”

EARTH ARCHITECTURE — THE WEBSITE
“Dirt—as in clay, gravel, sand, silt, soil, loam, mud—is everywhere. The ground we walk on and grow crops in also just happens to be the most widely used building material on the planet. Civilizations throughout time have used it to create stable, warm, low-impact structures. The world’s first skyscrapers were built of mud brick. Paul Revere, Saddam Hussein, Chairman Mao, and Ronald Reagan all lived in earth houses at various points in their lives, and several of the buildings housing Donald Judd’s priceless collection in Marfa, Texas, are made of mud brick. The Earth Architecture website focuses on architecture constructed of mud brick (adobe), rammed earth (pisé), cob, compressed earth block or other methods of earthen construction and serves as a database for the discussion and dissemination of events, resources, and images of earth architecture in the context of contemporary architecture culture.”

“The Great Mosque in Djenné, Mali is not only the world’s largest mud brick building but also a model of ecofriendly and sustainable architecture. Though the current mosque was ordered to be built by the French colonial administration in 1906, its style follows African ones of the region. In fact, the mosque is considered by many to be one of the finest examples of the architectural style found in the very dry Sahel and Sudanian regions south of the Sahara, where Islamic influences are abundant. Other examples include the Agadez Grand Mosque in Niger and the Larabanga Mosque in Ghana.”

Thanks for this story, Simone!

TSC Global's hypar roof is located next to the light ril tracks, just south of downtown Denver

Evidence of new buildings featuring an innovative and cost-effective roof can now be seen in a growing number of African nations, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan, as part of a Roofs for the World initiative.

This roof is called a Thin Shell Composite Hyperbolic Paraboloid, or TSC Hypar, thus the name, TSC Global, which proclaims  the building methodology using this roof has the potential for revolutionizing roofing and construction in the most impoverished and remote parts of the globe. TSC Global executive director, Brad Wells, says that compared to the corrugated steel roof structures seen everywhere in the developing world, TSC roof construction requires a minimum in cut lumber, demands no power machinery for construction, and leaves almost no carbon footprint. In addition, buildings featuring these roofs are significantly quieter in rain and windstorms, and can be earthquake resistant.

Denver-based TSC Global was created to build, promote and fully develop this construction method, with the belief that there is real potential to dramatically enhance the overall quality and affordability of structures used by millions if not billions of people worldwide. It is now focusing on a potential rebuilding program for Haiti.

Photos: Brad Wells, TSC Global

A TSC roof is constructed as follows: an acrylic cement composite is applied to an arched hyperbolic paraboloid shaped cloth that has been stretched across a four-sided pyramid framework using wood or bamboo. When the acrylic and cement composite cures, the product is a far superior roofing alternative to corrugated metal and other roofs, contends Wells.

Even with a final thickness of approximately one centimeter, a TSC Hypar roof is strong enough to hold heavy weights. Hypar structures have been built for decades but the most closely observed demo structure was built in 1996 by habitat pioneer, George Nez, who has worked on United Nations and USAID emergency relief projects. The TSC website reports Mr. Nez’s structure has endured Colorado winds, freezes and thaws of as much as three feet of. In warmer climates, these roofs should last many decades.

Importantly, a venting and circulation system has been added to the hypar roof in hot climates, allowing air and cooking exhaust to escape. The top vent and cap is an important and simple modification, says Mr. Nez. Adding a ceiling and sealing off the attic space will also enhance cooling.

A TSC roof, reinforced with embedded chicken wire mesh demonstrates resilience to failure or collapse, says the TSC website, adding that the lightweight roof can decrease chances of injury or worse in earthquake scenarios, even in the most severe earthquake. Recent work in overall building design by Colorado School of Mines structural engineering professor, Panos Kiousis, suggests that simple wall-embedded cross-braced panels secured to a ring beam, with adequate fastening of roofs to posts, should create an earthquake resistant building, still at low costs.

TSC structures can be constructed easily in the most remote settings with no transport of large building materials or equipment. Wells says his target populations include refugee and post-disaster projects, urban “shantytown” replacement, and general commercial and residential building construction. He adds that a further goal for his organization is to offer training and micro-finance networks.

Vertical garden on French building from Patrick Blanc Photo: Blanc

Credit for inventing the vertical wall goes to French botanist and inventor, Patrick Blanc,  shown in this building photo.  According to Blanc’s website, the vertical garden was conceived from watching natural environments – many in jungle locations – and watching how plants can grow without soil. The vertical wall can also functions as an air purification system.

Vertical garden options from Vertigarden

One up and coming vertical gardening company in America, PlantsOnWalls, based in San Francisco, is developing and marketing numerous vertical wall applications for interior and exterior walls, calling them living walls (lower photos). Another vertical gardening company of note is a UK-based VertiGarden, whose work is shown here.

PlantsOnWalls system for growing herbs vertically. Source: PlantsOnWalls

PlantsOnWalls states that its panels are made with 100% recycled water bottle PET plastic fiber felt that is non-toxic, UV stable and will last a lifetime. The felt pockets that are part of the wall system are mounted to a lightweight recyclable plastic board that provides support, while keeping the back dry.

Many observers might ask how a vertical garden can be watered. Simply water the top row of pockets that are part of the wall system, the company Website says. This patent pending design is intended to keep the interior moist while keeping the front dry. And in cases of overwatering, excess moisture not absorbed by the plants will drip from the bottom of the panel. Runoff can be collected in drip trays to be recirculated or drained away. A video of how this system works can be seen here.

Plants that can be grown in such a wall system include succulents, various ivies, herbs and low-light ferns. The company adds that most plants can be grown where it receives its proper light, water and nutrient requirements.

Photo of Chang's Hong Kong apartment Source: Marcel Lam

Architect Gary Chang has implemented some stunning solutions for small-space living in his Hong Kong apartment. To get a first-hand glimpse of Mr. Chang’s take on how spaciousness in a small space might look and feel, look at this You Tube video clip: story from Hong Kong.

This compact living space represents an inspiring case study for anybody considering the challenges of living in inner city areas with limited space. From the standpoints of density and functional practicality, this Chang design offers great potential. Consider that Chang’s apartment contains not just one room, but 24 rooms in one.

For instance, his living room wall can be slid back to reveal a storage and changing area, something Chang refers to as his spa. Behind the spa is a bathroom that receives natural light from the apartment’s single exterior window. When the bathroom is not in use, the space converts to a guest bedroom, using a pull-down Murphy bed. The entire place makes a showcase in modular functionality that, as shown here on this Reuter’s story will continually surprise visitors.

Virginia Gardner, writing for The New York Times Home & Garden, described Chang’s magic: “He grabbed a handle near the wall-mounted television, pulling a section of the wall itself toward the center of the room. Behind it, a small countertop with two burners, a sink and a spice rack appeared. Opposite the countertop, on the back of the now-displaced wall, he lowered a hinged worktop made of a lightweight laminate of honeycombed aluminum. Suddenly, he was standing in a kitchen.”

Of interest, Chang grew up in this apartment with his parents, three sisters, and a tenant. The unit contained three very small bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and dining area. Chang says he has renovated the apartment four times since buying it from his parents 20 years ago. Call it a work in progress – a fabulous one.