Building a Ecofriendly house

[Mannu]

Hi,

Am facing a lot of difficulties in finding the right persons who
could guide me in building a house which is Eco Friendly and self
sufficient.... Mean to use Mud Bricks (Unburnt) to build the house as
well as have other stuff like solar panels for electricity and heaters
etc... This project is to be in a small village near Vijayawada,
Andhra Pradesh, India... Any assistance in directing me to correct
resources would be lot welcome...

Thanks and Regards,
Manohar Garikipati

[Manu Sharma]

Hi Manohar,

I suggest you get in touch with Chitra Vishwanath Architects based in Bangalore. They're experts in green architecture solutions particularly for small independent houses. Chitra is also member of this group.

Thanks,
Manu

[mahesh]

Please speak to an Architect Mr. Anand, who has done many green homes and
low cost houses

Mob: 09844023322
He is from Bangalore

Regards
Mahesh

[mahesh]

Mr. Anand email ID,

Anand & Associates <desi...@airtelmail.in>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mannu" <manohar.g...@gmail.com>
To: "India's Energy Future and Sustainable Living"
<green...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 1:17 PM
Subject: [Green-India] Building a Ecofriendly house

>

[Mannu]

Few questions here. The price indicated by the architects seem to be
around 20 - 30 lacks for a 1700 - 1800 sft house. Is this reasonable.
If the costs of building a eco friendly house are that high would
people be really going in for this concept vs. a concept which is more
populary being used. Or am I being taken on a ride???

On Aug 5, 1:27 pm, "mahesh" <mah...@iaindia.com> wrote:
> Mr. Anand email ID,
>

> Anand & Associates <desig...@airtelmail.in>

> > Manohar Garikipati- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Arjun Verma]

You can also contact to Ms Madhulika, Mumbai,giving my reference. She
is a LEED AP.

email_id: madh...@freespanz.com

Regards,

Arjun Verma
HDFC Bank

On Aug 5, 1:27 pm, "mahesh" <mah...@iaindia.com> wrote:

> Mr. Anand email ID,
>
> Anand & Associates <desig...@airtelmail.in>

[T.jayaraman]

Hi Mannu,

Eco friendly does not mean it has to be expensive.  The challenge is to use innovative methods to reduce the cost of the building.

However, it is difficult to give a figure for a house, as there are many factors in the total cost.

I can send my article written for the  magazine Buildotech, which clearly shows that technology will reduce rather than increase costs.

You can visit my site www.seco-india.com for an idea about How i had built an eco friendly office building.

T.Jayaraman

[Lavannya Goradia]

Dear Mr.Garikipati,

I would like to like to pose a question in turn of your query here.

Are Organic foods cheaper?
Are Handicrafts cheaper than manufactured materials?
Is Alternative energy cheaper than the Grid power? ........
Why is it necessary for Eco Friendly structures to be cheaper than the conventional ones?
Why are you choosing an Eco Friendly house instead of a Regular one?

And the good news is, that an Ecological/Sustainable choice of lifestyle is infact cheaper than the conventional one! :)

Cheers,
Lavannya

--
Lavannya

www.lavannya.com
www.lavannya.blogspot.com

[Biome]

The question of costs is of course important but like should be compared to like and there comes the problem

Many of the environmental costs are externalised by conventional products and therefore the products themselves become cheaper the price is paid by somebody else

Take electricity , the negative externalities are  global warming due to carbon emissions, coal mines displacing people and large dams doing the same. The renewables internalise all these  externalities and are therefore costlier.

Take food, the fertilizer subsidy in India is 1,10,000 crores and no wonder inorganic food is cheaper while rampant abuse of fertilsers and pesticides take a toll on soil and water. The price being borne by somebody else.

With conventional housing we simply use the topsoil for bricks, burn fossil fuel for cement ,steel and bricks and dump all the carbon into the atmosphere and get a 'cheap' product. Earth blocks internalise all these costs and therefore are costlier.

Piped water in my city Bangalore ensures a subsidy of Rs 400/-  a month to the rich. Who pays for it? All of us through inflation. So hen water harvesting is done or greywater recycling or ecosan then it is costlier in comparison to the conventional alternative of dumping wastewater into pipes or into the ground spreading pollution and not bothering about the cost to the environment.

When you fix the environment there is a price that you pay but that is the true cost of the product and  everybody does not have to bear the consequence. Being responsible  is unfortunately tough business.

Sorry for the long spiel but  discussions should be nuanced and not get into personal black or white issues but understand the grey.

cheers
Vishwanath

--
=====================================
Biome Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd,
No. 1022, 1st Floor, 6th Block
H.M.T. Layout, Vidyaranyapura,
Bangalore - 560 097.
Ph- +91 80 41672790, +91 80 23644690
www.inika.com/chitra
www.rainwaterclub.org
http://biomesolutions.blogspot.com/

[Ajay Chandak]

Dear Friends,

Ecofriendly house is a bit tricky issue. We need to consider two components of energy, embodied energy (energy that goes in to making construction material, transportation, execution etc.) and regular consumption of energy. It is like capital cost and running cost. Many consultants seem to ignore this and I have seen in the name of ecofriendly houseing bamboo ply sheets imported from Meghalaya (all the advantage of ecofriendly might have been spilled over because of emission this huge transportation did). Naturally if we are using low energy products (stabilised mud bricks over burnt bricks and similar) the cost has to be lower along with lower emissions during manufacturing of the products. If Ecofriendly houses are costing much higher than the conventional housing project, then there is something wrong in the proposal. I had seen one rehabilitation colony in Wardha, where all houses were constructed with Bamboo and concrete as base materials. People were very practical and were constructing conventional plinths and then house was constructed in bamboo structure. All walls were with bamboo and matting reinforcement plastered on both sides. Wall thinkness was just 3 inches. Total cost of the house 3 years back was Rs. 145/- per sqft, now it must be around Rs. 275/- per sqft or so. The project was executed by a group led by Mr. Deshpande, who specialises in bamboo and it's products. They are located at village 'Lavada', I suppose in Amaravati district in Maharashtra.

These were decent houses, not fanatic ones. If I can get some pictures, I will post on the group.

Regards,

 

Prof. Ajay Chandak.

[Biome]

Dear All,

Been following the train of thoughts in this topic most avidly and must say it started with Mr.Garikapati having contacted us and we quoting a cost as it comes for a house in Bangalore.Biome has also engaged earlier in this chain of thoughts with messages from Lavannya and Vishwanath. This is more taking forward Mr. Jayaramans and Prof. Chandak's inputs and putting in an architect's view point..

As Prof.Chandak has put aptly that it is certainly very difficult to estimate for a house since a home(which is the better way to term these structures) is a very personal space and certainly not a commodity or product on the shelf.It is only through interactions and discussions with client and sometimes with the extended family(mother in laws included ) that a design develops.

 In this process the design is very important and development of a good blueprint of idea is paramount for a structure to be a home. (I must confess that not all the time we have been perfectly successful in translating the ideas of a person's home to the structure but have achieved quite a good degree of success so far).

So, coming to brass tacks we must compare apples to apples....in this sense cost should be compared to a ecological designed house with another built conventionally with the similar facilities and never to compare with the stuff built by a master mason. The master mason built houses achieve remarkable economics since they do a very simple design as well as provide very basic facilities in terms of electrical, plumbing and sanitary and the client is quite amenable to the idea that he/she will add the necessary infrastructure as when needed. This is certainly a good approach in some sense if people have the patience to persevere and add  to their homes as needs arise.
This certainly is not the case when we are approached as architects since we have to provide for future changes, aspirations and also cater to the differing tastes of the client.

A good relationship when is developed between the designer and the client ideas need to exchanged patiently, wherein costs as well as reaching sustainability in the best possible ways have to be approached.

Sustainability , as we define is not merely use of certain materials but is also that define how our built intervention has a positive impact on the environment and maybe to the community too. Sustainability is not only a building but is also how will we live sustainably in the structure we are owning.

Materials are important aspect to consider. here there is considerable need to first get familiar with the place one intends to build and not carry forward a solution which was successful somewhere else. Case in point being the rat trap bond brickwork and filler slab as propagated by Laurie Baker in Kerala and copied in many other parts of India with complete disregard to climate, cost , skill levels and in built energy.

Mud is in that sense a very versatile material and almost available all over except of course the black cotton soil. Mud walls can be adopted differently in different contexts...........thicker walls with cob in hot/dry/wet areas, thin wattle and daub for humid conditions, stabilized Mud blocks for urban conditions where we need thin walls to take larger loads, and rammed earth of different thicknesses too. The choice depends upon the skill levels  kind and quantity of soil , and the area available for construction without missing on the requirements of the owner.

Still, no material should be discarded just because it is not mud. It will be foolish to transport mud from 200kms to build with it even if concrete blocks of local quarry dust are available near by. Here a quick calculation of inbuilt energy and economics will go a long way in deciding the choice of materials. Economics is a very essential part of building an ecological house and it should certainly not be built with a material just because it is a current fancy in sphere of ecological materials.

Walls are mere 10% of the cost of a building and they really do not go very far in adding or reducing the cost significantly. But well designed walls which take in climatic considerations in mind reduce the cooling/heating requirement considerably. A good ecological design is that which responds to climate in the most appropriate manner. Our vernacular buildings  adopted to the climate very well but in many cases are not suitable now due to changes in our lifestyles which demands higher degree of privacy demanded and requirements for accessing the outside visually from within (larger windows when put simply :) :) )

Toilets, Puja rooms and Kitchens are bugbears of any economical constructions..........how many owners can desist from these temptations..................in our experience 90% have failed. I always wonder how we Indians have taken a quantum leap from the outhouse toilet to toilet right next to our bed in just couple of decades................... And to top it all larger the built up area of a house lower the per sft cost of the building. Why? Simply because the number of toilets, kitchen. puja room remains the same in smaller house as well as in larger house but the area of a larger living room or bedroom does not impact per sft cost that drastically.A source separating toilet(eco-san) toilet would be the best thing to have in a village....we save on water, plumbing, tiles and in return get good fertilizer for the use........every person's waste is then a resource and the cost of fertilizer so gained by use should be discounted from the house cost eventually.

Energy......this group talks a lot about it.....ideally should come from the solar cycle........use and work with sun(I am not doing that at the moment but got this bug of writing only now so be it but I certainly do not have the habit of keeping up late), heat and disinfect water using Sun, and in the most extreme need use Solar cells for lighting!!!!!!!!!!!! In future I have a lot of questions for Manu and Prof. Chandak on this aspect.

Water.........we have very little of it........so use it in the mosts sensible manner and that will go a long way in being ecological. Use rainwater for cooking, drinking, and washing purpose, recycle grey water for flushing and growing food, and do treat black water before leaving out of your premises.

Finally, costs can be greatly reduced if a good design is developed and the owner builds it him/herself. This would require him/her to source materials, interact with labours directly. Here he/she can reduce the contractor's profit margin which is generally 15%, though his/her time and energy will never be accounted for (just like a housewife's) in economic terms.If a person has the time and energy for this it will be a very satisfying project for him/her.

 We are no longer in an age where we can consume unendingly. It has to be a well informed and a deliberate choice alone is what we have to make for future............................

Regards,
Chitra Vishwanath

[T.jayaraman]

Dear Chitra,

I agree with you fully in comparing oranges with apples. Only a similar comforts and facilities can be compared. The cost of tiles, bathroom fittings and paintings do vary the cost drastically.

I also agree that such a simple thing as grey water recycling is implemented, the cost increase in separation of plumbing, filtering water etc.,. And where one gets water "free" one is not even willing to offset the real cost of water.

While simple living is a good solution , it a personal choice, and one cannot be utopian and can live in the dream world

However, the new technology must bring down the costs, to enable the common person to try it out.

It is this technological challenge i would talk about
- the master masons cost comparable to the designed building, with offset for extra comfort, quantifiable
- the luxury house's cost comparable to the eco-friendly house with similar facilities.

And in all cases, the cost reduction due to technology adding to the future savings / quantified or unquantified.

I am sure many would pay the "extra", which is directly quantifiable - such as grey water recycling etc.,

Jayaraman.

[Mannu]

Hi All,

Let me begin with appologies to both Chitra and Lavanya, my
language in the earlier mail was not at all acceptable. I reallize
that now. The thought remains though that I was shaken by the cost of
building such a house as I was eager to get others also into bulding
such a house in my village (My uncles were also planning to rebuild
their ancestral houses and I wanted to pursuade them to accept this
chain of thoughts). Also there are others also who are bulding / in
the process of bulding houses in the village. All of them are quoting
a price band of around 12 - 15 L (this is on a higher side, a more
average figure would be 10 L) using the current methods of
construction and hence my concern. Is this passion going to remain the
domain of the selected band who can afford the adventure or is this
going to become the mainstream method of constructing houses in our
country. This also given the scarcity of Architechs involved with this
kind of constructions. Me, I AM going to go ahead with this project,
admitted that it may take me longer to get the same finished though.
My next step currently would be to visit the National Academy of
Construction in Hyderbad (http://www.nac.edu.in) to see the assistance
that they can provide in terms of trained manpower and tools. I will
get back once I get more material from there.

Chitra/Lavanya, once again my sincerest appologies for my faux
pas.

Regards,

Manohar Garikipati.

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