Home
built without a single brick
.
The
building industry is achieving a new first in Bangalore with a campus
of 100-plus homes securing Carbon Credits for all its resident
families. City-based Building Technology Company, Biodiversity
Conservation India Limited (BCIL), has launched a project, ‘BCIL
Collective’, which offers several new features and benefits to
customers that reduce carbon dioxide emission, both in the building
process and later in routine life in these homes.
The
Deccan Herald,
29/02/2008
Paola
Sassi: Home is where the hearth isn't
.
She
decided that her house in Cardiff would be built entirely from
sustainable materials and that every part of it, from the floor
covering to the zinc roof, would be reusable or recyclable. She used
hemp insulation throughout. Hemp has very similar thermal properties
to its non-sustainable mineral wool alternatives, but has three
significant advantages: it uses less energy in manufacture; it "locks
in" the CO2 that the plant absorbed as it was growing; and it is
entirely recyclable. It has been installed in such a way that when
the house is finally demolished, it can just be taken out and used
again in another house.
by
Tim Pullen, The Independent, 21/02/2008
Eco-homes:
There will be floods
.
The
reason that the Salt House stands unconcerned by the risk of rising
waters is VC simple. The house is built on stilts, so that when the
floods come, as they surely will, the water will flow under the
house, not into it. The stilts also mean that there are no
foundations, which in conventional housing can collapse under the
pressure of frequent flooding, while natural drainage on the plot is
maintained.
And
if climate change continues to outdo predictions, and the water
levels rise higher than expected, the whole house can be jacked up
and the stilts can be extended, raising the building even further
from the ground.
The
Independent,
20/02/2008
Green
rooms
Indoor
air quality, as defined by the American Society of Heating
Refrigeration and Airconditioning Engineers, should provide
acceptable comfort level to 80 per cent of the people exposed to it.
The
sick building syndrome refers to the presence of acute non-specific
symptoms in people caused by working in buildings with an adverse
indoor environment. It is a cluster of symptoms that includes
irritation of the eyes, blocked nose and throat, headaches,
dizziness, lethargy, fatigue, wheezing, sinus congestion, dry skin,
skin rash, sensory discomfort from odours and nausea.
by
Sohini Mookerjea, The Telegraph, 15/02/2008
Saving
Mother Earth with the right resources
Using
eco-friendly material in house construction, coupled with measures to
cut down electricity bills and safety hazards, would go a long way in
saving natural resources. Radha Prathi throws light on how we could
learn a thing or two from our ancestors in proper planning and good
sense
The
increasingly polluted world requires mankind to wake up to some harsh
realities like the fact that he is unconsciously heading towards his
own destruction. It is high time man starts taking to eco-friendly
measures in every walk of life to salvage the damage done, in as many
ways as possible.
by Radha Prathi, The Deccan
Herald,
15/02/2008
Work
starts on Gulf 'green city'
The
city will make use of traditional Gulf architecture to create
low-energy buildings, with natural air conditioning from wind towers.
Water
will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant, Masdar
says. The city will need a quarter of the power required for a
similar sized community, while its water needs will be 60% lower.
The
city forms part of an ambitious plan to develop clean energy
technologies
BBC News, 10/02/2008
Inside
Britain's happiest eco-town
But
more than just selecting the right materials, a sense of healthy
community is one key feature Tomlinson tried to build into The
Wintles. Tomlinson feels that modern estate housing does not
encourage people to put down roots and create good communities. The
modern habit of moving home, on average, every seven years comes at a
huge cost to the environment. Not only does it damage human
relationships, but a huge amount of waste is created in the constant
redecorating and refurnishing generated by this housing carousel.
"We
are using this site as a test bed for a revolution in eco-building,"
says Tomlinson. "The old village has been around since the time
of the Domesday Book, and it was the fact that it has been successful
as a community for so long that inspired us to look at the reasons
for its success." Tomlinson is passionate in his belief that an
eco-town must not only be built using the latest low-carbon
technologies but must also engender a sense of place, to be a town
that will work from one generation to the next and be able to feed
and clothe itself from local products.
by
Donnachadh McCarthy, The Independent, 06/02/2008
