Practice - Compressed Earth Block Questions and Answers

I have been thinking and reading a lot about "Earth Architecture" this week. There are a lot of different building techniques  that involve the ground beneath our feet (adobe, rammed earth, compressed earth block, cob, etc.) and I would love to personally touch on all of them at some point, but for now here is an article from Green Building Elements on Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB). They do a pretty good job of explaining just what they are and the benefits of this building technique.

For those interested in learning more about compressed earth blocks (CEBs) this is an excellent informational site of Instituto Tierra y Cal, a non-profit organization that envisions a global resurgence of healthful and sustainable rural communities.. Below is a summary and frequently asked questions. CEBs are environmentally friendly, soundproof and bug proof.

Newsweek - Is High-Speed Rail Worth the Investment?

In a recent Newsweek article (link) author Robert Samuelson argues that high-speed rail simply is not worth the cost. He argues that the city-to-city links would only serve a small subset of the population because of the U.S.'s  predominantly suburban society.

It is a well thought out argument and is certainly worth a read. Personally, I am a big supporter of rail transportation, but I do agree that it currently only services a small portion of society and unless we find a way to broaden its appeal and/or usefulness it does not make much sense (a one-way ticket on the high(er)-speed Acela Express from D.C. to NYC tomorrow would cost me between $135-$327).

As I have pointed out before however, rail used to be better in this country and we, or General Motors and friends, messed it up somewhere along the way.

Practice - Rammed Earth

Products - New Thermally Broken rSTUD Lumber

New Thermally Broken rSTUD Lumber:

Colorado-based Ec Manufacturing started making structural insulated panels (SIPs) about a year and a half ago. The company was studying 2009 building code and thinking about how to innovate their products, when someone decided the building industry could use a thermally broken lumber material. That led to the creation of rSTUD.