UPDATE: I've re-published the "Affordable, Sustainable Housing" series to the Intentional Communities Research and Development Group because the series led to interest in and the formation of the group.
This is a bare bones overview of a topic that covers a lot of ground. If there is interest I will develop additional diaries on specific materials and methods in the future, including some not covered here.
See Affordable, Sustainable Housing I: As Direct Action, for an overview of cultural and market issues affecting affordability, sustainability and affordable, sustainable housing today, and why this is an excellent opportunity for Direct Action in fighting back in the Class, Climate and Consumer Culture Wars.
WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS?
Using local materials is a more sustainable practice because less energy is required for transportation. (If industry consolidation and the corruption of concentrated wealth were discouraged, and the value of the environment for sustaining life was understood and accounted for in market practices, market forces would more appropriately favor locally produced materials, but that's a different topic.) The most sustainable approach involves using materials from the building site itself, such as sand, clay, lime, gravel, rock, water, straw, wood, etc. These materials are also typically less expensive, especially if they come from the site, than processed alternatives shipped in.
Fortuitously, using these same materials is also more sustainable because they are natural materials produced with the energy of natural processes, and are widely available and/or regenerative; so long as the material's regenerative capacity exceeds the rate of harvesting and use, using natural material building is, by definition, more sustainable than practices which either a) deplete resources and/or b) require more energy consumption to extract, process, transport, market, sell, etc. than they would save by using alternatives.
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