This is a research project in partnership between Engr308 Technology and the Environment and the barrio of La Yuca, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during Fall 2011, to compare the benefits and costs of three different types of construction. In Summer 2011, community members from La Yuca, and students from the U.S., Japan and Dominican Republic worked with architecture firm RevART and other local partners to construct a schoolroom from plastic bottles and concrete (a style called ecoladrillo). Now, Engr308 will look to see if ecoladrillo, papercrete or conventional block is the best choice across a few different metrics, such as cost, embedded energy, environmental impact, comfort and localness of the money.
See Arcata plastic bags/Raw info for Engr308 research from 2010 on plastic bags and Arcata plastic bags for their final product.
Make sure not to plagiarize. Use the format of subsections (four = signs in this case) on various topics and references using footnotes[1]. Do not editorialize. Just paraphrase what you learn.
Click the edit tab for your section.
Ecoladrillo
Team:
Ecoladrillo research
Paste your research here. You may want to use * to make bullets automatically.
Brainstorm for research--
- Ingredients for Ecoladrillo include the following:
- Plastic bottles
- "Trash" content
- Chicken wire
- Plaster
- Concrete.
- We need to find the following for each:
- Embedded energy
- Environmental costs (to produce and to dispose)
- Economic cost (to compare to block)
- Origin (transportation)
- Content (toxins).
- Taking this into consideration, how far "negative" is ecoladrillo?
- In other words, how much energy is saved if they are up-cycled?
- Site specific issues:
- DR's recycling program (rate of usage?)
- Does this extend to the trash used to stuff bottles?
- In the end, how much "trash" is diverted?
- [My favorite part]: If NOT used for ecoladrillo, these materials are left in the system. Consequently, what are the:
- Environmental costs (pollution)
- Social costs (health detriments)
- Economic costs (clean-up infrastructure.)
- Examples of effective sites and reasons why.
- Does DR have these same conditions?
- Can we assume that plastic bottle consumption will stay constant?
- Perhaps ecoladrillo is only efficient if used at a certain scale?
- Benefits
(As taken from this [1] and this [2] website.)
- Usually abundant materials
- Easy to make
- Economical
- Hygienic
- Easy to transport and store.
- Reduces transportation costs
- Takes advantage of sustainable human energy.
- Saves on carbon emissions
- Acoustic and thermal insulator
- Absorbs earthquake shocks
- Locally constructed
- Replaces construction materials which are contaminating.
- Offsets environmental costs.
Conventional block
Team:
Conventional block research
- Embedded Energy
http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs52.html This shows figures for Australian made materials http://www.greenspec.co.uk/embodied-energy.php This shows more figures for the embedded energy
How they are made
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.cementoscibao.com/&ei=gIOzTq7fEqvE2QWSucjMDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcemento%2Bcibao%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D637%26prmd%3Dimvns This is the process that a cement manufacturing plant in the Dominican Republic uses
Papercrete
Team:
Papercrete research
Paste your research here. You may want to use * to make bullets automatically.
- What is needed
*Paper *Water *Cement *Molds *Sand
- Things to consider
*Climate-humidity *drying time *locality of materials *what type of paper is used? - new or recycled *Is the block better with holes or without
Community questions
This is just a start, please edit appropriately.
Papercrete
Mixture:
- Best mixture so far?
- Issues?
- Drying times?
- Depending on the plans for the building, how much sand will be included, as less sand will allow for easier window application. [2] (ML)
Block:
- Size/dimensions.
- Hole sizes/dimensions.
- How did you make them?
Sand:
- Where do you buy the sand?
- How much does it cost?
- Where is it extracted?
Paper:
- Where do you get the paper?
- Does it cost?
- How much is available?
Plaster:
- Most typical type of plaster?
Cement:
- Where does it come from?
- How much does it cost?
- Is cement mined locally or imported? Where do they purchase cement? Who is the manufacturer?
Aggregate:
- Where does it come from?
- How much does it cost?
For a column, such as in the school room:
- How big is the column?
- How many labor hours does it take to make?
- What was the cement ratio?
- Where does the aggregate come from?
- What is the labor cost for making a column?
Blocks:
- How much do block cost?
- How much labor to build a room of ____ size? Or labor cost/m^2.
- What is the standard size?
- How are they made?
- Where are they made?
Ecoladrillo
Bottles:
- Did you fill the bottles with trash?
- If the bottles and trash don’t go to a recycling center, where would they end up?
- Is there a recycling center for plastics? Are they recycled locally or sent to another recycling center (e.g. another country)?
- What is the most common bottle? Is there a main soda distributor for plastic bottles?
Chicken wire:
- What type of malla did you really use? (it is not chicken wire)
- Is the chicken wire imported?
- Do you know where it is produced? What is the name of the company?
- How much does it cost per area?
Plaster:
- How thick was the cement plaster used on the walls?
- What was the ratio of cement?
- Have you noticed any changes in the structure?
- What do you like/not like about the construction?
- Do you think it was worth it? Would you recommend this process?
- In what ways did it affect the community or the education brought to the students? Awareness?
- If you could change the design, what would you do?
- How is the thermal comfort?
- How is it holding up?
- Has anyone tried to duplicate the process? Any other community interest? General community reaction?
- How was it finished/painted? Did you paint or use other materials for esthetic appeal?