I got told last night about this online bookstore and having looked at it, it certainly has probably the best collection of environmental books to browse.

Hope this helps anyone searching for different environmental concerns.


http://www.sustainableinsight.com.au/shop/...ble-housing.htm

would be nice if you could flick through the books....

F.I.:
http://www.sustainableinsight.com.au/shop/...-page-book.html

does she tell me something I don't know?

Plus, the air is quite thin for renovators. Majority is about new homes.

Just ordering a few more sensors and things, want to log internal wall temps as well.

Shall I do a book on retrofitting a weatherboard, once I am done?

hey Morbo, I want to build a 1mx1mx1m cube with 200 or 300 thick hempcrete walls and measure the temperature/humidity variation between inside & out.

I'm after data loggers that will be inserted on inside wall face, middle and external to plot the temperature & moisture movement. You got any ideas 'cause the quote we got gave me a heartache.

logomatic $ 100, bits and pieces another $200 worst case (analogue humidity sensors are not that cheap). Then you gotta solder it up and make it work.
just posted it:
http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/logging-da...atic-t8767.html


If you want digital,
http://forums.envirotalk.com.au/Temperatur...ging-t8447.html

Think you better build a few controls, maybe brick, AAC? So you can draw comparisons. Otherwise you could say the ratio skin/interiour space is quite different for a house, so how to interpret the results?

Example:
I just put a few paint samples in my back, some on tiles, one on metal. The metal gets really hot. Is it just the metal? Or the paint? Black tile is cooler, should be the hottest.

This post has been edited by Morbo: Nov 20 2009, 08:36 AM

That was the idea of having controls based on published results.

want to compare 1m³ structure with other houses? Am lost.

No, just saying that we want to do a 1m3 block with AAC as well since it is closest to hempcrete in thermal performance.

This is not going to make any scientific journal but rather a rough & ready comparison to where we stand in actual performance. Too many Rvalues and like are based on dry state lab tests when real performance is a fluctuating state of relative humidity and temperature variation.

what about a compliant veneer as 3rd (incl R1.5 batts) so to check if its outperformed by the others. Would be good to know since AAC is load bearing afik, double storey houses with only AAC have been built ages ago.

I think making a 1m cube with brick veneer will be too difficult.

Once we have mony coming in from sales, I want to inject money into more R&D looking at comparisons.

I can tell you right now that while a BV building is loaded with insulation and technically makes the energy rating, hempcrete will be better in performance since airtightness, thermal lag and hygroscopic factors come into play.

Wish I knew how to upload a pdf on breathability by Neil May.

post a link?
turn it into .gif or .jpg and then www.photobucket.com?

Reg veneer: 8 studs, plasterboard, insulation,wall, done?

Ok, most companies make dodgy comparisons. As in "since I put reflective paint on my rooms are 10° cooler". But, which colour was it before? Was the roof changed from black to white? We don't know.

So, you could say, hempcrete is better and have some fancy graphs. But, better than what? Just better. Hm, am convinced. Not. better than AAC? Fine, is there any AAC house in here?

Or: double glazing dude says its 50 less energy. Just the window or the whole room?

So, no idea, maybe your potential client is happy with that, but better still would be draw comparison with a real life situation.

Can't agree more - real life situations tell a far more comprehensive story of performance.

Here's a great example that supports what I said about hempcrete being better:

http://projects.bre.co.uk/hemphomes/HempTh...aphicReport.pdf

Masonary v Hempcrete

the brick home is uninsulated brick veneer? This for a new home in the UK, weird. So how would a off the shelf home with insulation by the book perform?

Quote from Final Report on the Construction of the Hemp Houses at Haverhill, Suffolk

"The hemp houses constructed of Isochanvre and lime should be consuming more energy than the brick control houses, which are constructed with 2 leaves of masonry separated by 100mm of blown fibre rockwool cavity fill, with 50mm Styrofoam insulation to the suspended concrete floors and with 200mm rockwool insulation to the roofs."

In answer to your question, the hempcret should still out perform since the homes were insulated.

nice. So if it outsmarts double brick cavity with 100insulation it sure will do single brick veneer with 50 mm batts. But still, would be nice to see it in an experiment.

??? That was the experiment - to use hempcrete in a real situation. What experiment are you thinking? In a lab? got that too. But remember, labs mainly do dry state which is completely unrealistic.

This post has been edited by Frateco: Nov 26 2009, 01:51 AM

In a winter day in Great Britain. With a double brick and insulated cavity.

So its not a hot summer day in little Britain and not a BCA compliant brick veneer with R1.5 batts. Maybe you could chase up one or two double brick cavity homes in here that have blown in insulation in the cavity.

So how are you going to convince someone who did brick veneer "since 40 years and never had any trouble with it", left alone thinking about reversing it? Plus, convince authorities?

Don't get me wrong, seems to be good stuff and overseas they seem to get into the idea of high mass insulation since a while.

This post has been edited by Morbo: Nov 26 2009, 04:53 AM

Granted it was a winter day but let's face it, the thermographic imaging was to show heat escaping the building at night when the heaters were on.

Let's look at it in reverse. Whack cooling systems in place and you would need to maintain that cooling effect if the building leaks(which it shows it does).

The point of hempcrete is that you don't need to maintain because like an esky, once the room is at a comfortable temperature(warm or cool), there is no need to continually input energy to maintain that comfortable environment.

To my way of thinking, air tightness is an extraordinary benefit of hempcrete as well as its thermal insulation.



The software modelling by Nathers, Bers and FirstRate is not going to help since it's pretty easy to get 5 star. Focus on cross ventilation and you get 2 stars without trying. It's a joke when if you have no wind, you swelter therefore you need to constantly be cooling your home via mechanical means.

The authorities will be convinced through standard R-values since they live and die by it. A 250 thick hempcrete wall has an R-value of 3 so it more than complies. it ticks that box.

I do believe hempcrete offers true beneficial means of maintaining efficiently a comfortable internal environment.

Like any new product that challenges the 'norm', this will be difficult but I don't see the mass market as my target. I'm not going to "convince" someone who has been doing BV and doesn't want to change. Won't get through.

My target audience will be the innovators, the green leaders, the eco-warriors that not only want to reduce their carbon output but also their carbon footprint by taking a holistic view of their living environment and the materials being used.


The big question is .... how do I reach that audience?????

forums? Set up webpage? Exhibitions? Suppose your audience is looking for solutions, you would not have to pester them to buy some useless junk.

Definite on the webpage with lots of information.

Exhibitions would be good but they are very expensive - not just the site but also the setup costs.

Forums - there are very few Australian forums. Look up eco or green forums on Google in Australia and the choices are limited. This is the standout so someone's doing it right.

less forums to deal with though.

Suppose that kind of people that actually are interested in it, will (have to) actively look anyway.

if you google "hemcrete site:.au" there is maybe 3 pages coming up so with a bit of luck you are on top of that.

remember: marketing is trying to sell people things they don't need for money they don't have to impress people they don't like. Anything else you have to dig. Example: farnell sells LM35s for $3 or so each, so I ordered 10 of them via ebay from Hongkong, costs $12.90 incl. shipping

This post has been edited by Morbo: Dec 1 2009, 03:26 AM

OMG Morbo you are one cynical dude!

Any thoughts on HIA GreenSmart? I like the idea but wonder how much of it is people piggybacking and greenwashing and how much is actually about people wanting to make a difference in building & housing?

I know.

What I meant to say: good things sell themself.

What if you build a hemcrete house and invite people to the sustainable housing day? Went to a weatherboard retrofit, people been queing up all day.

I did a class on energy efficient housing last year, on day we had an excursion to a lady in the outer burbs who does not use mains water for 2 years now, and has PV with battery bank. She had thousands of people at her place already.

Next thing is the My Home book, has a chapter on straw bale and one on adobe bricks. Should do one on timbercrete and one on hemcrete as well.

Good things should sell themselves but while something may tick all the boxes, you gotta lead people to the water.

I'd love to do a house however unless I can nab a sugar daddy, it won't be happening. The house to be built in Tasmania will be our showpiece but that won't finish til end of next year. Can't wait for that. Want to get out there and promote hempcrete.

Have thought of getting someone like Pioneer, Rockcote or River Sands involved (they are interested) but they are sharks !! Can't turn your back or the business will be stolen out from under you.



Will pursue that line but unless it has history in the country, unlikely to go further.

does straw bale and AAC has a history in here? Nope, but its in the book. As opposite to corrugated iron homes.