Attitudes to earthen homes needтАпto change to prevent millions of them being replaced by buildings made from more environmentally-damaging materials, scientists warn.тАп
The researchers found that the usual rule-of-thumb estimate for the number of people worldwide livingтАпin earthen homes is way out of date, dropping from about one in three people to one in every ten or 12 people.тАп
Although the proportion of people living in earthen homes has dropped sharply, it is estimated that between 650 and 700 million still currently inhabit buildings constructed from natural materials such as rammed earth, adobe blocks, wattle and daub, and compressed earth blocks.тАпThe scientists describe this group as a potential “emissions time-bomb” if they were to moveтАпorтАп”upgrade” to brick or concrete dwellings.тАптАп
The study,тАпby scientists at the University of Leeds andтАпDelft University of Technology in the NetherlandsтАпand reported in the scientific journalтАпBuilding Research and Information,тАпarguesтАпthatтАпthe move away from earthen homes is producing a switch from traditional earth construction techniquesтАпwith a light environmental footprint to brick and concreteтАпproduction, which generates substantially greater carbon emissions.тАп
The researchersтАпlooked at census data and national statistics from the 26 countries where more than three-quarters of the world’s population live.тАп
‘How to build safe, affordable — and sustainable homes’
They found that as nations have become richer,тАпa lower proportion of the population live in earthen buildings, believed to be partly as a resultтАпof population growth, the move to urban areasтАпfrom rural communitiesтАпandтАпprevailing attitudes thatтАпhomesтАпmade from modern materialsтАпare more desirable.тАп
Dr Alastair Marsh, Research Fellow in the School of Civil Engineering at Leeds and lead author of the paper, said: “The big issue is, how can we ensure the whole world’s population is living in safe, affordable housing in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals as soon as possible and at the same time avoidтАпproducing excessive carbon emissions fromтАпbuildingтАпhouses that will lead to further climate change?тАп
“We can think of this as trying to have a balanced diet. Just like there’s fundamentally no “good foods” or “bad foods,” there’s no “good materials” or “bad materials” — it’s more a question of getting the right balance, of not using too much material overall, and using materials that are appropriate for different regions.
“Earth materials have excellent environmental performance but have rapidly been falling out of favour in many parts of the world in recent decades. To challenge those negative attitudes, we need to focus on making earthen homes that are healthy, stylish and that people can really want to live in.”тАп
Yask Kulshreshtha, PhD researcher in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology and co-author in the paper, said: “Earthen homes can be made using local soil that can be re-used multiple times. These houses are also energy efficient as they are known to control indoor temperature and humidity.
“With several ecological advantages, earthen homes are good bet for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
There are health risks with some traditional earthen homes because insects and other organisms that transmit disease canтАпenter through openтАпeaves,тАпbut the risks can be reducedтАпwith low-cost design measures.тАпThe authors say there is a budding renaissance for modern earthen homes inтАпsomeтАпricher countries.тАп
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Materials provided by University of Leeds. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
