A Low Impact Woodland Home. Expat Daily News: Building Sustainably with Natural Materials. Many expats coming from very first world nations find that they deeply desire to live more simply, more slowly, and more connected to nature than they did in their technology-driven, frenzied, disconnected old life. They have grown tired of subdivision life living in a perfectly manicured, gated vinyl village, or perhaps in an urban glass and metal highrise. Expats making the move abroad should definitely explore the possibility of building with natural local materials such as adobe, straw bale, or cordwood to name just a few. Living overseas, you may find that the building codes for using natural materials may be much more relaxed or even non-existent. Some of the benefits of using natural building materials are that they are usually readily available and either free or very inexpensive. The lowdown on some popular natural building materials and methods: ADOBE: One of the oldest building methods known to man, adobe is simply clay and sand mixed with water.
Innovative, Reusable "Replenish" Spray Bottle Could Disrupt Home Cleaning Market - Environment. We love to tout sustainability in the consumer sector, but of the 60 billion pounds of plastic discarded annually, only 7 percent is recycled—meaning that billions of pounds end up in landfills. That said, recycling shouldn't be our only objective; the other Rs (reduce and reuse) should be our primary targets.
That's where Replenish comes in. The company rightly describes its new spray bottle as a "disruptive" product: Its reusable spray bottle is made of a sturdy, durable PET-1 plastic, meaning you don't have to replace it (though every part of it is recyclable). At the bottom of the bottle is an interchangeable "twist-on concentrate pod. " To use it, you simply attach the pod to the bottle, flip it upside down, squeeze the pod until the internal measurement cup is full, and add with water. Each pod contains four bottles' worth of concentrate, and each time you buy a refill, you're not only reducing plastic waste, you're also saving money on packaging.
Recycled Building Material Stronger than Concrete | greenopolis. A new building material has the potential to divert large quantities of waste from landfills. UK company Affresol offers a truly novel building material called Thermo Poly Rock (TPR), which is made from select waste products. The resulting material is stronger than concrete, is waterproof, fire retardant, and can be used to build low-cost modular housing. Each house built with TPR panels will save an average of 18 tons of waste material from being disposed of in landfills. "Every country in the world has issues with waste and we now have an opportunity to turn waste into an enduring housing resource that is 100% recyclable.
" - Ian McPherson, Affresol TPR is cold-produced from waste products mixed with resin and polymers which can then be poured into molds like concrete.. Once cured, the company says that TPR offers great thermal insulation, is not subject to insect infestation or rot, does not leach any dangerous chemicals, and is 100% recyclable. Solar panels getting a sleek new makeover. The next generation of solar panels will bear little resemblance to their predecessors, at least on the outside. Companies like SRS Energy, Kyocera and Suntech Power are working with building suppliers on alternatives to clunky solar panels that will satisfy the demands of picky property owners, creating products like solar roofing tiles that blend in with the traditional clay versions found on many Southern California homes.
Aesthetics have long been a complaint of homeowners who were interested in switching to renewable power, but were unhappy with the looks of conventional solar panels. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are solar installations that also serve as functional building materials including roofing, shading systems and window glazing. Today’s versions still stand out, but advancing technology like thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) could offer nearly invisible solar coverage. The Super Strength of POLLI-Bricks – Bricks Made from Recycled P. These recycled plastic bottle bricks are more affordable and durable than traditional bricks Photo from flickr They’re transparent and translucent. They interlock together to form a honeycomb structure that’s extremely durable.
They can be used to build anything from buildings and fences to roofs and walls of light. So what are “they” referring to? Although these plastic bricks may not be as cool as the Heineken beer bottle interlocking bricks from Joe Laur’s One Million Buddhist Beers on the Wall, One Million Buddhist Beers…. blog post, these are a pretty cool close second! Here’s a video of Brian Chee talking about POLLI-Bricks at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: Oh, and did I mention how durable these bricks are? I love the fact that the bricks are solar-powered, and that they retain sunlight during the day to help illuminate them at night! Digg.