🚀 go-pugleaf

Robert Habian (bigfishd@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: In <49olu4$3oj@dorsai.dorsai.org> amadsen@news.dorsai.org (Alan Madsen)
: >
: >Robert Habian (bigfishd@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: >: I am an architect involved in recycled content construction
: >: technologies. I am very interested in hearing from others what they
: >: think of the subject, what they may already be doing, where to go to
: >: meet others specifically involved in the built environment, etc. 
: >
: >: The subject has fascinated me sufficiently to redirect my
: professional
: >: focus and I am sincerely interested in communicating with others
: about
: >: the topic. 
: >
: >
: >hello robert,
: >
: >i am a programmer who also finds the subject interesting... would you 
: >mind talking with a non-professional...?
: >
: >are you primarly interested in existing recon (*re*cycled
: *con*struction)
: >materials...?
: >
: >or the industry that produces them...?
: >
: >or the potential to modify existing practice to facilitate their
: >production...?
: >
: >
: >--
: >                              note follow-up line
: >alan madsen - new york, n.y.
: >
: *****
: greetings alan, 

: great to hear from you and no, I don't mind talking to a
: non-professional. Your views as an occupant and consumer are important.
: I am sure also that you have a relevant perspective just by the
: interest you've shown in responding.

: i am most interested in the vehicle for change. 

: i hold a strong belief that most of today's contruction methods are the
: result of "if it ain't broke..." mentality. 

: suggesting new technology to the general building trades has (at least
: in the past) been typified by a less-than-welcome response.

: in 1990, i had the good fortune to design the first home in the country
: using a wall system developed in austria over three decades ago which
: consists of 87% recycled polystyrene, with the remainder primarily
: cement-based. to date, the rate of acceptance has been rather high, but
: the rate of actual usage has been much less.

: of course we have witnessed incredible appeal of the green mentality in
: the last few years, however, bringing such products to market is
: ultimately in the hands of the developers and investors.

: many of us would agree that in the big picture, we can't afford NOT to
: utilize recon, however, many, (if not most), in the construction
: business have rather short term (financial)goals for their projects.

: i don't fault them for such goals, rather, i am interested in finding
: ways to offer viable alternatives to the way things have always been
: done, without asking the builders to take a bath while bringing recon
: to (the mass)market.

: your thoughts...?

: robert habian- citrus heights, ca


just a quick note here as it is late...

what information is there available on the types of material
and quantity of material available for recycling...?

what process are available to use on these materials...?

i suspect that re-cycling will be best achieved when we do
innitial manufacture with that view in mind...

for example, lets assume the existance of a bonding material
that when mixed with, lets say sand, produces a strong structural
element...

on demolition, were there a companion process that would return
the sand/bond mix to its original state, it could again be used
for another element...

one problem i see with re-cycling is that it is labor intensive
and thus expensive given the diversity of materials to recycle...

design that narrows material diversity while emphasizing esthetic
diversity seems in order...

another problem is existing industry... the motive for recycling
is conservation, which is, in part, part of the problem for con-
servation of inefficent systems is included as elemental to the
effort...

you touched on the trades... worse, i think, are the codes...
skills to manage new materials are, i believe, easier to gain
than broad experience in their safe use...

patch work, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, can be replaced by 
state wide systems given bipartisan support providing there is
effort at the state level, and with states responding to the
degree of unified effort... 

housing and the physical civic infrastructure seem to represent
our major material construction concerns... 

more later...

regards,
--
alan madsen - new york, n.y.