permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Martin Naylor wrote:

> one problem he as here, is the cost of manufacturing of steel and concrete, the cheapist way would probably be hemp, 
we have keith bolton from southern cross uni [n.s.w. aust]
doing research on building a house out of hemp, a couple of months ago 
there where into creating the bricks,
> are there any sites that keep track of what research is going on, on the planet. i atended a talk given by david suzuki, 
and he mentioned they had just finished research on a water problem when 
he came to australia, and found another uni doing same research
> martin

Very fine, Martin! David Suzuki is very important and quite an activist 
in his own right. Also, Len is one of the nicest guys on the Planet
and an accomplished permaculturist.

Used right, concrete and steel are very cost-effective and durable
building materials - concrete for foundations and floors with steel 
reinforment and steel for trusses and roofing. AAC concrete for 
insulation. You can actually build an entire well-insulated house
out of concrete and steel - that includes exterior and interior walls, 
insulation in floor, walls and ceiling/roof, ceilings and floors.
They make AAC prestressed, steel-reinforced lightweight large panels
(8" X 4' X 18') for ceilings and floors (for a 1 stry house this could 
be used as a ceiling and insulation of the roof cavity. These panels are 
not overly expensive.