Rocket stoves are very efficient wood burning stoves, used both for cooking and for space heating. Popular with natural builders, rocket stoves are being used world-round to reduce fuel consumption.
Learn more about them, and how to make one at my new lens: Rocket Stoves: Cool Name, Hot Stove.
Milkweed Mercantile, a green B&B, cafe and general store located in Dancing Rabbit (an eco villiage in Missouri) is throwing in their hat at ideablob.com. ideablob is giving away $10,000 to the idea with the most votes. So, what is MM planning to do with the ten grand if the win it? They plan to power their strawbale building with both solar and wind power, keeping the building off the grid.
So, hop on over to their idea blob and cast your vote! (You do need to register, but there’s no need to give them any contact info other than your e-mail.) http://ideablob.com/ideas/3233-Strawbale-off-grid-business-ope
(btw, I’ve also added a link to their idea blob to my strawbale lens. Scroll down a bit, it’s highlighted with a light yellow background.)
Well, I’ve been away from squidoo for a few months, but I’m back on the ball again and have published a new lens about a natural building building technique called cob. Sorry, no corn involved. Just dirt, clay, and straw. I attended a week-long workshop on it this June near Hico, TX. Some of what’s in the lens is from the workshop, and there’s lots of videos and pics from youtube and flickr. Pop on by to check it out if you wanna… Building with Cob
I just added a section on earthbag construction to my Natural Building lens. Earthbag was first developed by the military to build temporary shelter or to protect against flood water, but was developed into a way to build permanent structers in the 1980’s. Just like it sounds, it involves filling bags with earth and stacking them to create walls. Strands of barbed wire between the layers, and the plaster on the outside, hold the bags in place.
I found a great video on youtube about a project in Nepal where they are educating people on the affordability of building an earthbag house, so that even people in need can own their own home.
Just updated my Natural Building lens. I’ve added a links plexo module to allow you to vote for your favorite lens on…you guessed it…natural building. I could only find four, so if you know of any others, please add them!
