Sustainable building material: Why don't we use more mud bricks?

Adobe, aka Mud Brick has been used for centuries and are often considered as sustainable building material.  This material primarily uses in the Middle East, East Asia, North Africa and South America. Mud brick are formed locally by using site raw material, water, sunlight and mostly human labour.

Mud brick being formed.

Photographer: Paul Downton,

From: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/materials/mud-brick

The bricks are often use to construct small scale building. The amounts of usable bricks are dependence on the available site material. Therefore you would rarely see a high-rise with mud brick as the primary material.

Here are some key benefits of using Mud Brick:

• Environmentally friendly, due to usage of site material.
• Energy efficient - Little or no process of the raw materials and energy inputs would be directly or indirectly from the sun.
• Economical building material - made by using existing site earth with water. Straw fibres and other fibres can be added for tension and reduce the chances of cracking. Brick moulds can be made from timber or metal.
• Once it reaches it's lifetime of use, the bricks break down into the earth they came from
• It is say to be the lowest impact of all construction materials
• Able to provide medium to high thermal mass
• Fire and vermin resistance

After knowing all these benefits of mud bricks, I was curious to see why we are not seeing it more often in the building and construction industry. One of the major barrier is, the making of mud brick is labour intensive. Typically, a house requires 10,000 to built but a working couple will at most get 200 bricks made per week. This is due to the long process of allowing the mud bricks to be dried evenly, required to be covered, avoid direct sunlight and overly quick drying. Considering the amount of labour that goes into making the brick, I'm very curious to know the cost of making a mud brick in comparison to a standard clay brick. 

Although there are a number of mud brick manufacturer who produces commercial mud bricks, but personally, that will defeats the purpose of maximising site materials. Not only it is labour intensive in making, it is said that it also requires more attention to maintenance due to its sensitivity to moisture. 

Base on my experience in working in the landscape and civil industry, I believe the use of mud brick in the application of a small retaining seating wall is quite reasonable. Many designers uses sandstone logs to create these seating walls. Instead of consuming the energy required to quarry sandstone, cut it to shape and transporting it kilometers away from the quarry, we should consider using mud bricks instead (given that the site site has the right mix). 

Interesting precedents:

http://www.worldcrunch.com/tech-science/mudbrick-modern-architecture-dusts-off-old-green-ways/c4s20771/

http://inhabitat.com/bioclimatic-preschool-is-built-with-rammed-earth-walls-and-mud-bricks-to-keep-cool-in-the-moroccan-heat/

Sydney Market's giving unsold fruit and veggies a second life?

I never really gave much thoughts to the unsold fruits and veggies at the market each time I visit one. The back of my mind generally assumes most of them (at least 70%) gets sold. Not until I read an news article by Lucy Cormack, "Waste to energy plant gives unsold fruit and vegetable a second life". The article highlights that 2.5million tonnes of produce gets delivered to Flemington markets each year and 25,000 will never make it to the table. Considering how much energy and resources that goes into growing the food - from growing them from a seed, to input labour, to transporting it to the supermarket, it's sad that it just ends up in the waste bucket. 

In order to address this waste issue, recycling operation is in place to divert as many resources out of the waste stream and recycle them as soon as possible. One of significant ways to recycle these unsold vegetables, fruits and flowers is by sending waste to Veolia Earthpower facility, where it is used to generate power to be put back into the grid. Essentially the process involves:

Raw energy of food> Biogas> microbes eats> goes to the wire>generates & creates electricity. 

Not only organic produce gets recycled, but also card boards and polystyrene. There is a designated area for on site waste management and resource recovery for these items. 

It is good to see that the on site waste management for Flemington Market is considerate for waste. 



Reference
http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/waste-to-energy-plant-gives-unsold-fruit-and-vegetables-a-second-life-20160505-gonmdt.html

Aquaponics - Hydroponics x Aquaculture

I came across the term "Aquaponics" before but I've never actually know how it actually works. For this week's blog topic, I wanted use this opportunity to learn more about it. 

Based on a quick research on Google, "Aquaponic" is simply a combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (plants which doesn't require soils to grow).  The closed loop system comprise of fish and plants together in one integrated system. Essentially, the fish waste provides nutrients and an organic food source for the growing plants and the plant roots filter the water in which the fish live in. Some involves a third participant which are the microbes and composting red worms that thrive in the growing medium. 

It appears that aquaponics can come in various scale, from a tank on a desktop to commercial scale farming. The picture below is the a desktop version of ann aquaponic kit with kitchen herbs growing on top.

On a larger scale, an Australian environmental scientist and urban planner Tom Duncan who was involved in one of the world's largest floating wetland that cleaned up a lake located in Taihu, China. The project aimed to use the mass floating plant to clean up the lake which was badly impacted by toxic algal boom. As a result, 3 months after it was installed, the bloom was completed eradicated. It is very effective in terms of achieving providing a better outcome to trap the pollutants and treat them at their source. 

This is such a great way to clean up our marine environment and rivers for local people to enjoy and fish. 

Reference
http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/guide-to-aquaponics/what-is-aquaponics/
http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/24/aquarium-garden/

Role model/superstar in Zero Waste

This is Lauren Singer - A zero waste superstar living in NYC. Lauren was an an Environmental Studies major in College and have always been interested in the environment. During her studies she made the decision to live sustainably by adopting the zero waste approach. Her definition of zero waste means that she does not produce any garbage; no sending anything to landfill, no throwing anything in a trash can and she recycle and compost.

Her list for zero waste alternatives is such a useful list. The extent of general house goods she covers is very impressive. The best quality about the list is not just informing the reader the alternatives, it also briefly tells the reader why the good is a waste problem and directs you where you can purchase the alternatives. However, since she is NYC based, the links to the products are US based delivery - I would love to see an Australian based version of this to be wide spread locally. Considering Australian are relatively environmentally conscious, her list will help the community to work towards the idea of zero waste - even if they would adopt 20% of her ideas. Personally, I will adopt some of the her ideas, not that it's not good but at this point, I'm not ready to commit it all the way like her. But I sure do look up to her. 

Reference

http://www.trashisfortossers.com/2013/08/zero-waste-alternatives-ultimate-list.html

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Singapore

Bishan Park is one of Singapore's most popular local park located in the heartlands of Singapore. The project was part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Program, which is a "long term initiative to transform the country’s water bodies beyond their functions of drainage and water supply, into vibrant, new spaces for community bonding and recreation."

A part of Bishan Park consist of a 2.7km straight concrete drainage channel. Although it started as a grey infrastructure, it has transformed from a concrete channel into a 3.2km of naturalised river, creating a new urban river park. The park space as been redesigned to mimic the dynamic process of a river system which accommodate the dynamic process of a river system including the fluctuating water levels. 

I have a friend who's working at National Park, Singapore as a Landscape Architecture. I remember she told me a funny story how a local resident called in to complain about how the water in the canal irritated her skin. So it made me question the reliability on the plant filtration or the local resident just have sensitive skin. 

I've been to Singapore a couple of times and I truly believe that they are working very hard to become a garden city. Despite being one of the smallest countries and a highly urbanised in such a dense population, it has successfully created such a beautiful green belt across the city as illustrated above. When a city planning prioritise the green environment, it really makes a place more attractive to live in. 

Reference

http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2012/06/kallang-river-at-bishan-ang-mo-kio-park-by-atelier-dreiseitl/

http://blogs.gsd.harvard.edu/loeb-fellows/files/2012/11/AD-Ref_Singapore_Bishan-Park.pdf

Half Bottled Water?

I came across this article through a family friends shared page, supporting Life Water's concept of half bottled water sold in China. It is reported that 800 tonnes of bottle is wasted every year just within the Shanghai district, mainly due to users not finishing the bottle each time they would consume one i.e. after meals and after exercising. Water being an important and valuable resource to many, the idea behind the product is to maximise the water resource by donating the other half to children in water-deficient areas locally . Even though the bottle is only filled in half, the product is sold at a price that is same as a filled product. 

Although I think it is fantastic idea, promoting and maximising water by helping those in need,  but I can't help it and question the packaging of this product. I think this product is highly driven by marketing gimmick. It started as a great idea, but the execution of the product preys on consumer's social and moral conscience. 

Yes, the product does encourage water management, higher efficiency, less wastage and better use. But what about the packaging? 

Is it really necessary to produce a bottle that only holds half of the content? 

Does it promote re-use of the bottle?

The bottom line is, I wish the company can come up with better ways of executing the idea and product, reducing the pressure on other aspect of the environment, i.e. reducing inefficient produce of plastic waste. 

Reference:

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5MzIzMTQ4MA==&mid=405621576&idx=1&sn=8fb4d4a0722cd9b68f1c315617cc7893&scene=2&srcid=0317JHkXknnt5WHDtyZrkUmK&from=timeline&isappinstalled=0#wechat_redirect

Coffee capsules are evil!

Just I thought I was doing the environment a favour, by collecting and recycling my used Nespresso coffee capsule, I was too naive. Yes, not long ago I spoke about the benefit of the recycling program they had with TerraCycle - but a recent article published has convinced me that its not enough.

Single use coffee capsules (source: http://www.sciencealert.com/a-german-city-just-became-the-first-in-the-world-to-ban-single-use-coffee-pods)

The articles I've came across talks about the how Germany city of Hamburg has just became the first in the world to ban the use of single-use coffee pods from all government-run buildings. Jan Dube from the Hamburg Department of the Environment and Energy has criticized that the capsules "can't be recycled easily because they are often made of a mixture of plastic and aluminium. It's 6 grams of coffee in 3 grams of packaging." Jan highlighted a point that I've never thought of. 

After reading these article, I had mixed feelings. Like many others, I felt like I had to make a tough choice between picking whether I should be sustainable and stop using these capsule or ignore the fact that I just read that. The fact that using these capsules are very convenient and easy - to the point that unconsciously, it became a habit or addicted to it.

But after a few days of contemplation, I decided to stop using it in the future. I have found some alternative ways to drink my coffee. Most importantly, I think it's the right thing to do. 


Reference
http://www.sciencealert.com/a-german-city-just-became-the-first-in-the-world-to-ban-single-use-coffee-pods
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35605927