How to make rubber shingles out of old tires
Updated: March 6, 2020 One day I saw a bunch of old tires used as a retaining wall and that got me thinking about what other uses old tires are good for. I had a few thoughts about what to […]
Reviving a neighbourhood by building affordable sustainable housing
Massachusetts Avenue Park was not a place you’d want to take your kids. Before, the small neighbourhood park in the heart of Buffalo’s West Side was little more than vacant land with a small playground and a crumbling basketball court.
Building an eco-friendly cottage for $10,000
Three years ago, I decided to downsize. I sold my big house (which I loved!), got rid of all my stuff, and built an itty-bitty eco-friendly cottage. When I finished building, I slid my little house into a friend’s backyard. This
Green building pyramid [infographic]
Screen reader version: H20 and carbon zero – At the highest level of green building, the finished home recycles water and uses little or no outside energy. It may include geothermal heating/cooling, solar hot water, a wind turbine and/or photovoltaics.
Researchers find way to make solar cells lightweight, more efficient, bendable and easy to mass produce
IMAGE: Debashis Chanda helped create large sheets of nanotextured, silicon micro-cell arrays that hold the promise of making solar cells lightweight, more efficient, bendable and easy to mass produce.Click here for more information. Converting sunshine into electricity is not difficult, but
Cellulose nanocrystals could be a wonder material for strengthening construction materials
IMAGE: This transmission electron microscope image shows cellulose nanocrystals, tiny structures that give trees and plants their high strength, light weight and resilience. The nanocrystals might be used to create a…Click here for more information. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The same
Canadian homeowners and the domicile [infographic]
screen reader version: Canada’s a pretty big place. Even though the life of a condo dweller in downtown Montreal might be pretty different from someone living in a Prairie country home, it’s still interesting to take a look at the
BUILDING WITH PUMICE: How to build pumice-concrete houses [part 2]
Part 2 of Building with Pumice (read part 1>>) This chapter tells how to build several different kinds of houses using building members of the kind described. Typical, practical models that have already been successfully built in various countries were
BUILDING WITH PUMICE: Making blocks out of pumice, lime and concrete
Everyone would like to live in their own home. Many people in industrialized countries occupy apartments in multistorey buildings. This situation involves lots of problems for which there’s no immediate solution. This book is intended to stimulate interest in a
Intro to Rammed Earth Construction
Rammed earth, also known as taipa in Portuguese, tapial in Spanish or pisé de terre or simply pisé in French, is a technique used to build walls with earth, chalk, lime and gravel. It’s an ancient building method that has seen a revival in recent years as people seek more sustainable building materials and natural building methods. Rammed earth