Adobe Bricks: The Best Eco-Friendly Building Material
Résumé
Durable, renewable, and affordable are the three characteristics of the adobe brick, one of the widely used construction material in human civilization, but is always neglected. Traditionally, price has been the foremost consideration when comparing similar materials or materials designated for the same function. That is why by the post-war period, the concrete was adopted as a universal building material in response of the massive housing demand. The intergovernmental concerns never took into consideration both the sustainability factor and the cultural one, not until the 1990s when research on climate change expanded and the sustainable development took an important place in the different academic cross fields: engineering, biology, technology and architecture. The main focus by then was the reduction the CO2 gas emissions emitted by the building sector which is now approximately 30% of the global energy-related. Researchers are focusing on creating a completely new green eco-material an alternative to the concrete, but in this paper, I will demonstrate why is it worth to reinvigorate centuries-old eco-construction material. Adobe bricks are currently the best choice to built affordable housings in response to the chronicle demand. Not only they have a track record that makes their thermal mass performance easier to evaluate, but also they can last 400 years or more when properly maintained. Comparatively, new technologies require testing over time to determine their long-range effectiveness.