Building Materials
So far we have seen three different house designs, the super modern house of the Thames River, the super hippy earth ship made from tyres, and the passive air tight arch.
All three houses are vastly different. Obviously the house on the river was merely a show piece of engineering and wealth, whilst the other two made a distinct effort to have only a minimal impact on the environment.
The tyre house was made from about 75% recycled materials, was low cost, and a self-build, whereas the air tight arch building was an engineering masterpiece, building from local materials and recycled materials wherever possible and was as much a science project as it was a house.
But what it is that sets all these building apart from the mundane and ordinary is the building materials and construction methods employed in their construction. But how do they compare? Which are the most energy efficient methods? Environmentally friendly? How do the prices compare?
Your task:
Research the following terms and give a definition in words you understand
-Embodied energy
-Thermal mass
-Sustainable
Research as many building materials/construction processes as you can.
Search for words like:
-Building materials
-Alternative building materials
-Environmentally friendly building materials
-Green building products
It is probably best to start with a certain type of building material and find as much as you can about that before moving on. For example you might research types of insulation, or alternatives to bricks etc.
You need to find:
-an approximate cost
-pros and cons to using the material
-building properties (thermal mass, embodied energy, strength, lifespan, ease of use, etc)
-Comparison to similar products (how well does it preform to other similar products)
You now need to research additional ways to improve a house’s energy efficiency
These are things like
-Solar panels
-Water Tanks
-House facing
-Window construction
-Base
-and much more
Lastly
This is a hard project and will take a fair bit of digging and investigation to do a good job of it. Some collaboration is allowed but each individual needs to produce their own work and it had better be easy to tell the difference.
Some things to remember:
-Google is not God, nor is Wikipedia. You will need to use a number of different resources to find the answers.
-Look for links on pages that will lead you to more information. Wikipedia is great for this. Follow some of the links in the references to get more info.
- If you don’t understand some of the technical terminology being used, ask. We would prefer you to do that rather than hand in something that we know you don’t understand.