California is grappling with a growing problem: Too much solar

Table Of Content

• Golden Vale House / J Mammone Architecture
• Rammed earth example projects
• Russia attacks Ukrainian psychiatric hospital, energy facilities; Kyiv launches drones at Russia
• Climate Facts
• this earth day, designboom revisits the year's top examples of passive architecture
• One of Ontario’s first insulated rammed earth home is a testament to the method’s attributes.
• Experimental test and mechanism analysis of soil crust erosion resistance of rammed earth Great Wall in rainy season

Finally, it might be difficult to get homeowner’s insurance when using building technologies that are not widely accepted. Anyone who lives near a loud road will know that traditional stick-framed houses with 3.5 inches to 5.5 inches of fiberglass mat insulation do not provide a good buffer from noise. If you live in an area with a lot of noise, rammed earth might just be the ticket for you. Not all soil types are suitable for use in a rammed-earth structure. Most soil types will require the addition of one or more supplements to the mixture. You must remember that soil is a mixture of particles in different sizes – sand (the largest particles), silt (medium-sized particles), and clay (fine particles).

Golden Vale House / J Mammone Architecture

The use of rammed earth as a construction method has its roots deeply embedded in the annals of human history. Its popularity transcends geographies, civilizations, and epochs, with evidence of its application spanning continents and millennia. Rammed earth construction, a time-honored technique, has roots that stretch deep into our architectural history. With remnants dating back to ancient civilizations, this method has stood as a testament to humankind’s ingenuity and adaptability. Architect Hank Louis worked with Navajo tribe elders to secure a 66-year lease on a half-acre lot in the middle of Bluf, Utah, for Rosie Joe and her children. The facade of their off-the-grid house is made up of exposed wood, red rammed earth, and glass.

Rammed earth example projects

After peeling off, the second layer of soil particles is large, rough, loose in structure, easily falls off under external force and is a pulverized layer. The soil no longer falls off in powder form, the soil structure is compact, and the particle gradation is relatively uniform. It is the original structure of rammed earth and is the parent soil layer (Fig. 3). Designed by London-based New Makers Bureau in collaboration with Kampala’s Localworks, the 32° East Arts Center prioritizes sustainability throughout its construction and use. This new home for Ugandan contemporary art utilizes rammed earth and earth bricks, minimizing embodied carbon. The architects even repurposed materials from demolished buildings on the site.

Russia attacks Ukrainian psychiatric hospital, energy facilities; Kyiv launches drones at Russia

They were made of 2 X 6 planks, lined with building paper and strengthened on the outside by 2 X 4 uprights. Your first construction step, then, should be the sieving of the soil through a slanted screen of 1″ mesh hardware cloth to separate out any big stones, roots, etc. Spread a tarpaulin over the screened dirt to protect it from precipitation (if the soil contains more than 10% moisture it will puddle, not compress). When you make a ball of earth in your hand it should hold its shape but break and scatter when dropped. Some additives have been developed that are water repellent, these are added to the mix to allow the walls to be constructed in more exposed environments.

At a really low temperature or a really high temperature, the reactivity of cement is going to change a lot. The same is true of geopolymers, you just have a narrower range of operability. So you have to have tighter controls over curing and the chemistry and it’s a little trickier to get right. Unlike adobe and straw bale and cob, which are hard to hard to quantify and classify, our material is very carefully monitored with special inspectors, it’s regulated, and we have compression testing.

this earth day, designboom revisits the year's top examples of passive architecture

Additional design features, such as good gutters and drainage systems that draw water away from the house, help protect against weather. Mixing soils, building wall forms, ramming earth inches at a time…as you might guess, one of the main challenges of rammed earth construction is that it's very labor-intensive. Instead, the form of the home, which is usually a plywood structure that provides the outline of a wall, is already in place.

Windows and doors are installed by ramming earth around separate forms that serve as placeholders. Once the earth has been cured (or set) around the placeholder, the form is removed and the earth will hold without it. Our climate coach Michael J. Coren is answering questions about environmental choices in our everyday lives. The Post is tracking a variety of climate solutions, as well as the Biden administration’s actions on environmental issues. It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are ways to cope with climate anxiety. It has also undercut the benefits of installing rooftop solar.

They aren’t very common here in North America, especially in the more northern regions we see here in Canada. As we face a global climate crisis and a housing crisis, many people are looking at new technologies for building practices. Others, like Tony’s company, Earth House Holdings, are looking to the past. It was early in the morning in Sooke, B.C., when I arrived at Tony Johnson’s rammed earth house. I got out of the car and walked up the driveway to get my first real glance at the home.

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Furthermore, the lack of partitions between the ground floor, featuring an open kitchen and bedroom, and the mezzanine master suite, allows for natural ventilation to flow freely throughout the villa. This synergy between design and Indonesia’s tropical climate creates a comfortable and eco-friendly living environment. The Mudgirls is an all-women's natural building collective from coastal British Columbia. They build houses and offer workshops that empower people to take back the right to shelter themselves.

In some areas, the wall tiles on both sides have fallen off, leaving only the rammed earth wall core. The rammed earth wall core is mainly silty clay, with gravel in some sections. After the rammed earth wall core loses the protection of the wall tiles, the soil is eroded by the rainwater, forming a gulley. After sun exposure, the wet wall dries, and the water evaporates, resulting in dry cracks. Repeated rainfall and sun exposure results in shrinkage–expansion cycles and salt deposition for the rammed earth wall10.

The result is a sturdy, aesthetically unique structure with striations that bear testament to its layer-by-layer construction. The natural palette and integration of outdoor living rooms blend the house into the desert landscape. In addition to rammed earth, integral color-synthetic stucco was used for the exterior walls.

To cope, CAISO is selling some excess power to nearby states; California is also planning to install additional storage and batteries to hold solar power until later in the afternoon. Transmission lines that can carry electricity to nearby regions will also help — some of the lost power comes from regions where there simply aren’t enough power lines to carry a sudden burst of solar. “You don’t want the utility or the grid operator to be overpaying for power when they don’t have to,” Davis said.