ABCC
Alliance BioConversions Consulting
GREEN BUILDING
Eco-Development
“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home.”
- Confucius. Chinese Philosopher.
Smart Development isn't always Sustainable Development, but Sustainable Development is Always Smart Development.
Ekotecture is defined as the functional integration of architecture, utility engineering, and agriculture. The forces of nature (gravity, geothermal, solar) within a single building, in a neighborhood design, eliminates mechanical systems, fuel consumption, maintenance, pollution, and human labor. The envelope of air circulates and keeps the home a consistent temperature, no matter the weather outside. Under-roof food can be easily produced.
An EKOTECTURE design can be built in any style and with any (preferably, green and sustainable) building material. Like tiles, reclaimed brick and wood, recycled metals, quartz, bamboo, and many other options.
One of the best materials to use is Bamboo. It is being rediscovered as a sustainable and versatile construction material. It comes in several dozen colors – every hardwood color - and is extremely durable. It can be used for furniture, flooring, trim, wall paper, for packaging and even clothing - most anything.
Quartz, which comes in numerous colors can resemble marble, seems impervious to damage, can be considered to be best for countertops. There are also reclaimed brick, tile flooring, backsplash tiles, non-VOCs paints, stuccos and sealants available. There are passive solar tubes, skylights, lighting and LED lighting available. White, light, or solar rooftops are very important in reversing Climate Change.
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Safety goes hand in hand with security, so we can help bring earthquake-proof, hurricane-proof, fire-proof and radiation-proof products and systems to the market.
There is Hempcrete, straw bale, and eco-friendly SIPs - easily assembled panel systems. A half-inch thick radiant barrier can raise the R value by 33% when combined with an eco-friendly insulation, such as denim. Unfortunately, Portland cement is a big source of CO2. Efforts to recreate Roman cement, which can last for millennia and create much less CO2, are underway.
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There are also whole house Reverse Osmosis systems, purifiers using UV light and Ozone, and water-from-air units (solar-powered) which can provide many gallons of purified water per day for cooking and drinking. With both, daily vitamins, but especially minerals, are required to prevent mineral deficiencies.
If needed, tap water can be left to air out for 24 hours, and most of the chlorine (a known carcinogen) will gas off, and boiling will prevent pathogens.
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Whether indoors or outdoors, there are a multitude of systems for easily growing most of your fruits, vegetables, and herbs - organically. Aeroponics is the most compact, but hydroponics is also popular. Growing this way increases yields and decreases disease. Eliminating carcinogenic and neurological diseases from chemical fertilizers. Pesticides, and herbicides is the aim. Accelerating Nature's pollinators is critically important with backyard gardening.
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Building-integrated safe helix wind and solar are complimentary. When the Sun goes down, the wind often picks up. The energy generated can be sold back to the grid and /or credited for use, just as solar and wind is now. Utilities can purchase clean energy at less cost than purchasing from wind and solar "farms", or conventional energy sources. See the "Clean Energy" page. To be off the grid, a battery bank is needed. Those are becoming more efficient and green, and more affordable.
A SIPs panel home with eco-woods, tile, and LED lighting.
A Hempcrete home, with recycled materials and eco-woods.
A LEEDs Platinum Award home. A SIPs panel home, impervious to hurricanes. Solar, of course.
The ultimate in the "greening" of a building, Shanghai
Sequestering CO2, cleaning smog - A green "mountain" building - China.
Grow Your Vision
"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."
— Bertrand Russel. British Political Economist.
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In Italy, once completed, the green towers, whose plants, nourished by an integrated irrigation system, grew out of imbedded prefabricated containers, became wildly popular, both among residents and across the city. They nested occupants in a green respite, absorbed CO2, minimized heat-island impacts, reduced energy consumption, and hosted a wide variety of plant and animal species (22 bird species). They also helped invigorate (along with new parks and towers by several top architects) an area that was once barren. Bosca Green Tower in Milan.
Truly superlative homes are those that combine the best of human and natural designs or, as famed Italian-American Linguist and Author, Mario Pei, once said,
“good architecture lets Nature in.”
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SIPs panel homes and buildings are known to be able to withstand hurricane force winds and were the few buildings left standing after Hurricane Harvey. Made with cement, they can now use “green cement”. One pound of cement generally emits one pound of CO2. It accounts for 7% of all greenhouse emissions of CO2. Numerous companies are now producing “Green cement” that sequesters the CO2 before it reaches the atmosphere. There are a number of companies in the US and elsewhere (The UAE) that can be found on the internet. Japan has developed a process to recycle all types of plastics into pellets which can then be used in the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. Preferably with green cement!
Building integrated energy is the key to comfortable and sustainable living.
There are easy materials that will save all sorts of energy, and generate energy, from floor to ceiling in any building. They generally do not cost any more than the materials they replace. Here is where we can really "Go Green to Make Green" by saving money and making money, and generating hundreds of thousands of great green and blue jobs.
Just the orientation of a building can add a great deal to its energy credits, along with eco-insulation materials. Beginning with architecture, there is a Cusion-of-Air, "Double Envelope", Geothermal architecture called "Ecotecture" which is extremely energy efficient, as reviewed by Harvard. Eco building materials of all kinds can be used.
Bamboo can be used for construction - floors, walls, roofs (for Solar), or for Helix wind in gardens, and for everything from clothing to graphene.
Mini-greenhouses will soon be available with the new solar and shade innovation by UCLA. Mosquito grass, with its tiny white flowers, is a welcome addition anywhere.
The Ulaman Eco-Retreat Resort made mostly from bamboo is here to show you that sustainability can be well integrated into luxury.
Designed by Inspiral Architects, this eco-resort is located in Bali’s Kaba-Kaba village. It has been constructed using materials found directly on the site and the immediate locality which helped the resort become completely carbon zero. Apart from bamboo, rammed earth has been used for the resort‘s ground-level walls. Rammed earth is a wonderful green alternative to concrete which is responsible for more than 8% of the construction industry’s emissions and which contributes to 30% of global greenhouse emissions.
What is “green steel”? Essentially, green steel is the manufacturing of steel without the use of fossil fuels. “Green hydrogen” (Through the electrolysis of water) is one solution that could help reduce the steel industry’s carbon footprint. No need for “natural” gas, either. When burned, hydrogen emits only water.
Wide-scale adoption of “green steel” manufacturing for primary steel, is already being pursued by leading steelmakers in Spain, Germany, and Sweden, and would reduce the emissions of an industry that is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse gases, and almost a quarter of the world’s industrial emissions, said the report, titled “Green Steel in the Ohio River Valley.” There are many green cement companies in the US, to reduce carbon emissions by another 7%.
“The best way to predict the future is to design it.”
– U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
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Green Power Houses and the Green Jobs Matrix
The best part is the Green Jobs Matrix whereby the materials and the jobs are local.
This is also a perfect opportunity for training and apprenticeships,
Green Power Houses and Green Jobs Matrix.
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Our coalition of colleagues are behind the best part of Green Building, the socially sound proposal of Green Power Houses and the Green Jobs Matrix –whereby the materials and the jobs are local. It is also the perfect opportunity for technologies training and apprenticeships with hands-on and classroom curricula.
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From Concept to Construction
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The idea is to employ veterans and displaced workers to learn green building techniques, as they build Green Power Houses for themselves, the disabled, and the homeless – complete with Greenhouses for food provisioning that feature Hydroponics and Aeroponics, and perhaps, Aquaponics (for fish and shrimp). There are also in-home Hydroponics, such as the Hydro Art Pod, the Aero Garden, and the Eko Tower.
We think this Green Power House program could also be implemented at prisons to emulate Japan’s methods of job training and apprenticeships for certifications, and to achieve a similarly low 3% recidivism rate. This can become the model for rehabilitation and reintroduction into society in a constructive, rather than destructive way.
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-“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
-Chief Seattle. Squamish Nation.
"It is not enough to understand the natural world; the point is to defend and preserve it." — Edward Abbey. American writer noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. “
Eco-Resorts
Make your home an eco-resort!
We researched, developed, and learned about green building in the early 1990s in Belize, Central America. Belize has the second largest barrier reef on the planet, and has protected rainforests. We worked to be sure these resources were protected and now have many more new and innovative systems to employ. These systems can be used anywhere in the world.
The Caye Chapel Golf and Tennis Resort on the reef, and the Maya Mountains Golf and Tennis Resort in the eastern rainforests, were models for Eco-Development and Eco-Tourism, the fastest-growing segment of Tourism. They were both to have wildlife preserves (Eco-Tourism is far more lucrative than trophy hunting. We shoot with cameras) and educational centers, with reciprocal privileges. Executive Summaries and Business Plans are available for all of our proprietary projects and systems.
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Wisdom Through the Ages
ABCC believes that “Healing Nature by Using Nature” is less costly in terms of money, effort, and most importantly, TIME.
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Eco-Development is Sustainable development and can prevent deforestation of wildlife habitat upon which our Food and Water supplies depend.
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“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
“In wilderness is the preservation of the world”
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
- Henry David Thoreau. American Philosopher and Naturalist.
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– Sir John Herschel. British mathematician, astronomer, chemist, botanist, inventor, experimental photographer, and architect who invented the blueprint.
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“A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” — Benjamin Franklin. Founding Father of the United States, Inventor, Diplomat.
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“I have three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” - Lao Tzu. Chinese Taoist Legal Philosopher.
“Ours can be the first generation to end poverty – and the last generation to address Climate Change before it is too late.” - Ban-Ki Moon. South Korean Secretary-General (2007–16) of the United Nations.
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“A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.”
– Sydney Smith. English wit, writer, and cleric.
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“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
―Dalai Lama XIV. Tibetan Philosopher, Buddhist Leader.
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“The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.”
— Chief Seneca. Squamish Nation.
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"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."
— Bertrand Russel. British Political Economist.
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“The desire that guides me in all I do is the desire to harness the forces of nature to the service of mankind.” - Nikola Tesla. Inventor. Croatian- American inventor and engineer who discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery.
“No matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and, more importantly, it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort.” - Oprah Winfrey. Social Commentator, Actress, Businesswoman, Philanthropist.
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."
- Maya Angelou. Author, Philosopher, Poetess.
“I know how to stand my ground. I know how to speak up. I know how to stand sturdy. But that doesn't mean I've hardened my heart.” “Dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.” “If we all climb together, we could climb the highest hill.”
— Dolly Parton. Songstress, Businesswoman, Philanthropist.
Coastal Construction.
“Water is the driving force of all Nature.”. — Leonardo da Vinci
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ECOncrete - Malaga, Spain. New pier at IGY Marina, Port of Malaga. Marine species proliferating. San Diego, CA breakwater.
https://econcretetech.com. ECOncrete’s patented, science-based technology, enables sustainable development for coastal and marine construction. Shoreline Protection Erosion Control, Flood Protection, Coastal Armoring Explore Applications Waterfront Infrastructure Ports, Marinas, Urban Waterfronts Explore Applications - Offshore Applications Cable Armoring, Foundations, Scour Protection.​
“The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: We are all in the same boat.”
— Jacques Cousteau. Marine Explorer.
Indigenous Climate Action: An Indigenous-led organization guided by a diverse group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, water protectors and land defenders from communities and regions across the country. ABCC believes that Indigenous Peoples’ rights and knowledge systems are critical to developing solutions to the climate crisis and achieving climate justice and balance.
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Indigenous knowledge of prescribed burns to control forest fires, and oyster shell barriers to protect coastline from ocean rise, coastal erosion, storm surge, and providing new oyster beds are a boon to us all. Non-till farming and crop and livestock rotation are good examples, too.
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“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” -Lao Tze. Chinese philosopher and poet, the ethics of Taoism, “the Way of Virtue”.
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Use Nature to Balance and Heal Nature.
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Eco-Development is Sustainable development and can prevent deforestation of wildlife habitat upon which our Food and Water supplies depend.