Sustainable Build of UK is a great source for construction material and techniques that advance the concept of autonomy and sustainability. This post serves as an example of the great information one may find there directly, instead of us borrowing this information. Hopefully it will remain available for time to come, but if you have any plans of using this information soon on a project it is advised to store and reproduce such information as we can not conclude it will always be available and free.
Biomass
roofing is the use of plant materials to build roofs. People from around the
world have always used whatever vegetation was locally available and abundant
to build their roofs. This cultural and environmental diversity has led to a
wide range of roofing materials and styles, from the simple and ephemeral to
the more durable and complex.
The Different Types of Biomass Roofing
Although
hundreds of different plants have been used to roof houses, these can be
classified into two main types: thatch and wood tiles.
If the study of mushrooms is a science in itself it may be the youngest science yet. There is such a vast amount to study around mushrooms that indeed we (humans) may be just barely scratching the surface of this science. As there is very little knowledge around the subject in-house we thought it would be a good excuse to utilize this opportunity to share this learning experience with others who may find an interest. The process of learning something collectively without the assistance of experts is slightly different and it may be even more objective when a wide spectrum of information as a library is available. When information does not exist the process becomes science in its true basis.
As we generally avoid encyclopedic interest in learning (learning for leisure or to satisfy personal curiosity) as such may only be expressed by an individual not a community or other group, learning about mushrooms, how to choose them, how to grow them, cook/eat them, use them for other purposes, making paper for example, or medical/health reasons, seemed as worthwhile. In the most introductory reading we have found yet it would be hard to imagine a community that wouldn't need to learn about mushrooms.
MALVINAS ARGENTINAS, Córdoba, Argentina , Dec 2 2013 (IPS) -
The people of this working-class suburb of Córdoba in Argentina’s
central farming belt stoically put up with the spraying of the
weed-killer glyphosate on the fields surrounding their neighbourhood.
But the last straw was when U.S. biotech giant Monsanto showed up to
build a seed plant.
The creator of glyphosate, whose
trademark is Roundup, and one of the world’s leading producers of
genetically modified seeds, Monsanto is building one of its biggest
plants to process transgenic corn seed in Malvinas Argentinas, this poor
community of 15,000 people 17 km east of the capital of the province of
Córdoba.
Good public information doesn't come easy these days and many utilize it for profit and often find a way to eliminate it from public eye. Quite often this happens with information published with public money funding academic studies for which industry later purchases the rights and patents. For this reason when we find good information we copy it and preserve it before it vanishes.
Sewage systems and clean water access has for centuries been the largest by far source of health improvement to urban populations. Medicine is quite overstated as a significant component of health, not coming even close to clean water and safe sewage systems, food, shelter, and working conditions.
This web site is aimed at giving support for the publication PC-Based Simplified Sewerage Design and it accompanying Windows based design program. Links are also given to publications on this and other low cost sewerage systems NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH AND IN PORTUGUESE AND IN FRENCH (as of 19 Jan 2011) see the download page
IntroductionPC-Based Simplified Sewerage Design was published by the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, UK, in January 2001. It is a manual and windows based design program for use in the design of the simplified sewerage system. It was published with the aim of promoting the use of simplified sewerage throughout the developing world. To quote the preface of the manual:
"Simplified sewerage is an important sanitation option in peri-urban areas of developing countries, especially as it is often the only technically feasible solution in these high-density areas. It is a sanitation technology widely known in Latin America, but it is much less well known in Africa and Asia. It is the purpose of this Manual to disseminate this technology more widely in the developing world, so that it can be used in peri-urban sanitation programmes and project to improve the health of poor communities. However, simplified sewerage is not just for peri-urban areas - it can be successfully and appropriately used in middle-and upper-income areas as well.We hope that this Manual serves its purpose of making simplified sewerage better known throughout the developing world, and that the PC-based design program contained herein facilitates the hydraulic design calculations."
How To Get The Manual and ProgramThe manual and program are both available to be downloaded from this site.
The manual in .pdf format can be viewed or downloaded here and
Details of how to download the design program can be found here.
Prof. D Mara School of Civil Engineering University of Leeds Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT UK
Note that there is a limited supply of printed manuals and CDs.Simplified Sewerage DescriptionSimplified sewerage is an off-site sanitation technology that removes all wastewater from the household environment. Conceptually it is the same as conventional sewerage, but with conscious efforts made to eliminate unnecessarily conservative design features and to match design standards to the local situation.
Biomass
roofing is the use of plant materials to build roofs. People from around the
world have always used whatever vegetation was locally available and abundant
to build their roofs. This cultural and environmental diversity has led to a
wide range of roofing materials and styles, from the simple and ephemeral to
the more durable and complex. 
