What’s the Future of Sustainable Construction?

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You might be surprised to see the world turning once again to earthen construction. Before the advent of fossil fuels and dependence upon manufactured building products, our ancestors were well versed in the art of earthen construction.  In large part, our greatest civilizations were able to thrive for thousands of years because they used local earthen materials to construct homes for the majority of the population. All without harming the local environment.

At EarthCo Building Systems’, we work with earthen materials (sand, clay, gravel and rocks up to 3″ in diameter) to produce homes and commercial projects for many of the same reasons our ancestors’ found earth so appealing. Earth requires less embodied energy than any other material to process into a superior building product. It’s extremely abundant – a trillion times more so than all the forest resources on the planet. But most importantly it’s locally available to all mankind.  Its’ durability can be observed by noting that man’s oldest continuously occupied homes are made of earthen construction many dating back over 5000 years.   Another key to longevity is earth cannot burn or decay and insects and rodents don’t eat it.   With modern waterproofing and stabilization techniques we can build with earth in any climate zone on the planet.

For the last 2 years America has been in a recession caused largely by the collapse of the American housing market.  Some people blame the banks and rightly so, I’d like to point out that another important factor was our homes excessive use of energy. When energy costs escalated, American families were caught in a Catch 22 situation. Many homeowners could not afford the rapidly rising cost of fossil fuels and the home mortgage at the same time. For the last 50 years, home-builders have concentrated on building beautiful homes and haven’t worried about the homes energy use, that time has passed. With the advances in building technologies we have today, there is just no excuse for non energy efficient housing. Just by eliminating the need for a mechanical space heating and air conditioning, a home owner could be saving 60% of the total energy bill of a typical home. And most homes in the south west, it’s easy to utilize massive earthen walls and renewable energy sources to send clean energy back into the grid.

But while many advances have taken place, traditional earthen construction remains a labor intensive proposition in the more developed countries where 90% of all fossil fuel is consumed.  At EarthCo, we’re out to change how construction is done.  So we took the best of the past, earthen construction; combine it with the best of the present, our patented on-site manufacturing technology; to produce what is best for the future, a cost effective extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly building systen that we believe will serve man well for the next ten thousand years.  We hope you enjoy learning about our revolutionary building technology — and may God bless.  

-Larry Williamson

Hottest Green Innovation

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“Hottest Green Innovation” That’s what Austin Monthly magazine is calling the EarthCo Megablock process in their Fall 2011 Design Issue, in which they feature 22 of Austin’s hottest people, places, trends, and products. We’re grateful for the recognition and believe we live up to the hype. A lot of building products claim to be green but few deliver the real deal. Our innovative combination of on-site manufacturing using local earthen materials and synchronized mechanical placement cycle is proving to be the world’s most efficient construction system and the most environmentally sustainable. It used to be that sustainable energy efficient construction meant more expensive construction but we’ve changed the game with our process so that now a naturally superior product can be built at twice the speed and 1/2 the cost of conventional construction.  Keep an eye on us as we build a better world. And if you’re interested in building with our revolutionary system give us a ring.

EarthCo Megablock’s for Military Construction

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It’s hard to turn on the news without hearing about the federal deficit. While it is a complicated issue, there is one aspect Earthco Megablocks can help solve and that’s lowering the $3 billion/week cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our unique building equipment can be flown to remote jobsites where it could be used to compress local earthen materials (and a little water) into giant compressed earth block that are mechanically placed into a wall system — dramatically lowering construction costs. Currently nearly all building products in Afghanistan must be imported from other countries and of course guarded during transport, so the cost of construction in Afghanistan can exceed the cost of construction in America by a factor of 100 — usually on the order of $300 to $400 per sq. ft. for the wall system.  CMU’s are the most common material being used to construct permanent structures, but living in a CMU structure in a desert is like living in an oven. These structures required huge HVAC systems to keep them habitable. The result is a huge diesel bill — It has been estimated that 60% of all diesel fuel goes to powering gen-sets for air conditioning and the cost of delivering diesel to our troops can easily exceed $80/gal. Another important consideration — nearly 60% of our casualties occur guarding diesel fuel convoys. This means if we significantly reduced the need for air conditioning we could significantly reduce cost in terms of dollars and casualties. If properly designed and earth-bermed Earthco Megablock buildings require little if any air-conditioning. So the question begs asking— Why are we building with outdated construction methods and materials? One recent article revealed a contractor was paid $800 million for a 4 year contract just to maintain HVAC systems on bases in Afghanistan. What’s going to happen when we pull out — Does anyone believe the Afghan government can continue to pay this huge fuel bill? This is the kind of waste America can ill afford.

Steve Anderson, a retired brigadier general who served as chief logistician under General Petreaus in Iraq, spoke to NPR about the estimated 20 billion dollars spent annually on air conditioning for our troops. “To power an air conditioner at a remote outpost in landlocked Afghanistan, a gallon of fuel has to be shipped into Karachi, Pakistan, then driven 800 miles over 18 days to Afghanistan on roads that are sometimes little more than “improved goat trails,” Anderson says “And you’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”

Not only are EarthCo Megablocks economical and energy efficient to build with — they also provide much more protection and safety to our troops and the environment. EarthCo Megablocks are highly impact and bullet resistant surviving direct impacts from 50 cal (check out the  video here!). and RPG’s with very minimal damage and easily repaired. And if a building is no longer needed it can easily be recycled back into native soils with no toxic effects upon the local environment and no waste to dispose of. This is just one application of Earthco’s revolutionary process, be sure to follow us as we change the face of construction around the world.



					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Can We Afford To Build Housing Capable of Surviving an EF5 Tornado?

			
						

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Impact Testing EarthCo Megablocks


We’ve just experienced a number of catastrophic events with all the recent tornadoes and I feel deeply saddened by the loss of life and the devastated lives caused by these events. And it also saddens me to see all the wasted resources in the form of construction debris that, because it cannot be economically recycled — will end up in a landfill somewhere. We saw the same thing when Katrina hit. When are we going to learn that we need to be building our houses out of truly sustainable materials that provide superior storm resistance. Here at EarthCo Building Systems we believe we have a very viable solution to most of Mother Nature’s wrath. We’re able to build very massive walls by converting local earthen materials into giant compressed earth blocks (GCEB) which are not only extremely strong but are also environmentally friendly and economical to produce. Now nothing can stand up to Mother Nature at her worst; like when she produces the EF5 that picks up a Mack truck or giant tree and sends it flying into your house. In this instance the house is coming down; but this is the exception not the rule. With most EF5 tornadoes the majority of the damage is caused by much smaller debris like 2 x 4′s and bricks that are propelled by the extreme winds (300 + mph) at speeds of up to 150 mph. This combination of extreme wind — tearing at the home from all directions and the flying debris causes most of the damage inflicted by EF5′s. So if we could build housing that could survive most of the forces and debris created by an EF5, then we could expect a significant reduction in property damage and loss of life. Is this achievable? Not with conventional construction, too costly, but with EarthCo’s revolutionary construction proces,s a massive earthen wall that can be expected to survive most EF5′s is not only possible but affordable as well. And if Mother Nature does throw the Mack truck or tree through your house. We can pick up the pieces — separate out the household items — and economically turn the same earthen material back into another Megablock without having to send any earthen material to a landfill. This is called a closed loop material cycle and it’s another feature that separates our green technology from the crowd.