[Cob] size of houses and building sustainably

[Dean Sherwin]

Building sustainably does not mean living in the stone age.  A 
building typically uses 90% or so of the total resources (that means 
essentially, energy) consumed during its long life, the other 10% 
during its construction.  So designing and building for  low energy 
use and durability is by far the most important part of 
sustainability.  The use of a machine for a few days is such a minor 
part.  It can easily be offset by other factors - less journeys by 
workers to the site since they dont have to do all that hand 
construction, another couple of square feet on your solar  collector, 
a better window...  Lets make earth in general and cob in particular 
a viable material for our sustainable future.


At 03:00 PM 10/3/2009, you wrote:
>But sustainable? Not as long as there is a
>machine involved. If we all built our homes from cob but with
>machines it would only offset the energy it takes to cut and mill
>timber, mine and form steel, and heat sand and make cement. There is
>no REAL savings as far as Earth is concerned



Dean Sherwin CPE
Certified Professional Estimator
LEED Accredited Professional
CONSTRUCTION COST MANAGEMENT
3, Cherry Street
PO Box 11
Media, PA 19063-0011
(610)892 8860
fax (610) 892 7862
costman at verizon.net