English

Abstract

The two thrust areas in the housing sector are the promotion of building material units using local materials consistent with ecological balance, and the production of building materials with low energy inputs which substitute for energy intensive building materials. Considerable amount of energy is spent in the manufacturing processes and transportation of various building materials. Conservation of energy becomes important in the context of limiting of green house gases emission into the atmosphere and reducing costs of materials. Common burnt clay bricks are increasingly becoming costly due to excessive cost of fuel to burn them and not many suitable brick earths are found everywhere. Stabilized mud block could be an economic alternative to the traditional brick. The paper presents how environmentally-friendly building materials and construction technologies can be made more affordable to the urban poor while still meeting rigorous building standards. These techniques also help in mitigating climate change by avoiding carbon emissions during the production of building materials and construction as well as by saving thousands of trees & intended to help promote the use of earth construction in a wider region.