Using Local Resources to Save the Global Environment

The modern civilized society has transformed our daily life in such a way that has uprooted us from our heritage. Modern civilization with its ever-increasing greed has exploited every element of nature, in such a manner that today our mother earth is in existential crisis. 

• CO2 Emission from Use of Concrete

The conventional process of house construction involves a high rate of carbon emission. The materials used significantly contribute to global CO2 emission, like cement一 one of the key ingredients in modern house construction一 produces 0.9 pounds of CO2 for every pound of cement production. According to the international energy agency, cement production is accounted for 7% of global CO2 emissions in 2019 (Reuters, 2021). The fossil fuel used in transportation of these materials also results in an increased rate of carbon emission.

• CO2 Emission from Prevalence of Gadgets

Apart from house construction, modernized urban lifestyle includes numbers of gadgets like Air Conditioners, Fridge (consuming huge electricity and releasing fluorocarbons they use as refrigerants deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming), washing machine (not only emits carbon but also absorbs gallons of water) all these creates a chain of carbon emission. Moreover, the market with its alluring advertisement constantly creates craving for more gadgets among the individual consumers. So, all these gadgets are consumed more than needed, triggering their ill effects.

• Increasing Rural Unemployment

Unemployment has been a social and political problem particularly for developing countries like India. The situation has worsened severely in the post-COVID situation, with unemployment in rural India rising to 11.2% and poverty levels rising by 15% (Roy, 2021).

Man is essentially a part of mother nature. True to her character, she incessantly tries to reinstate the balance among her different creations, namely soil, water or air, along with the huge diversity of flora and fauna on this planet. However, every part of nature seems to be witnessing a devastating transformation triggered by modern civilization and anthropocentric thinking— epitomized in our zoos, museums or botanic gardens. The construction of modern homes that trade in maximal comfort at minimal cost, but cares the least about the environment or future of the planet— is one of these instances that illustrate this lack of foresight, and constantly haunts our human existence.

The situation unnerved us, and inspired us to set out in search of a sustainable solution to this diverging riddle. In our quasi-nomadic decade-long journey, trying to blend global theories with local practices, we came across so-called backward communities who embrace the paramount balance that nature has bestowed upon each of us. These hard-working sons of the soil live a life of solace in her enduring lap, as if having achieved the Tao of living.

Their houses are modest, down-to-earth in its literal sense. Made from mud and bamboo, such constructions shadow the modern concepts of binder and reinforcement, and serve as a viable, eco-friendly and natural alternative to cement and steel reinforced concrete. IBUKU encourages using bamboo— “the most environmentally conscientious building material conceivable”— “because of its strength, beauty, and flexibility, and… its 4-year growth cycle and carbon sequestration capacity.” In the Western part of Jhargram district, locally quarried stone slabs are used in strengthening walls and floors. As a long-practiced culture among a different local community, thick mud walls also serve as a cheaper replacement of bricks, with a definite environmental advantage.  

The tradeoff with longevity and low-maintenance of concrete can be won over with the cutting edge of modern materials science and finite element analysis. The expertise on bamboo in our locality is well acknowledged, wherefrom we will use the treatment of bamboo with steam and borax to enhance its longevity and reduce corrosion from weather and termites.

In other parts of West Bengal, a mixture of charcoal and mud was used to construct a black house which still stands after ninety years of its creation by Ramkinkar Baiz in Shantiniketan, Bolpur. Houses with a thick mud wall provide a soothing experience in extreme weather conditions as its temperature difference with the outdoors is 8 to 10°C both in summer and winter. Of course the polish on the floor or walls, or weather durability has to be sacrificed if traditional methods are to be adopted per se. Our solution takes the essence of this age-old practice, and modifies or tunes it with modern technology. We plan to apply Finite Element Analysis in optimizing the structures of the construction and Materials Engineering to find the right additives, binders or treatment procedures— for the roof truss as well as mud walls— to get an optimal level of comfort, durability and beauty at minimal cost and by least harming the rhythm of nature. Various roofing materials are used in different parts of India, including straw, stones, wood or palm/coconut thatch. In windy regions the roof is sometimes harnessed to the ground as in tents to protect them from being blown away in strong winds.

In the Jhargram and its adjacent Bankura district of West Bengal, people use wooden logs with a “Y” shape at one of its ends to serve as columns of the structure. Orthogonal beams placed on these “Y” joints will not need nuts and bolts or fastening mechanisms to ensure rigidity. 

Rooms will be planned by an architect to enhance the feeling of space, ensure sufficient ventilation, comfortable personal or community kitchens, maintain a good sanitation system and include a garden to enhance quality of living and move towards self-sustainability. The house can be added aesthetic value by using local tribal or ethnic paintings using natural colors such as indigo, soot, ash or seasonal flower extracts. Pot (not the earthen pot but a local style of painting) artists in the near locality can be invited to paint some of the walls as a token of exchange in art forms across indegenous people living close by. With mostly local resources, it is expected the huge transportation cost and the associated exhaustion of fossil fuel can be minimized, replacing human labor and simple manual machines as far as practicable.

Last but not the least, a strong affinity towards eco-friendly living, getting used to a relatively naive form of comfort (like using khus-khus, a thick curtain made from the roots of vetiver— a local grass— instead of air conditioner, or earthen pots for cooling water instead of a fridge) can reduce the carbon footprint hugely. Modes of transportation like cycles wherever possible, or electric vehicles, can also help curb CO2 emission with a sustainable, cool future of the earth that will be worth living for generations to come.

The cement companies and real estate groups are creating half truth narratives about traditional huts, questioning its comfort and sustainability. This project is a challenge against the narratives born in the womb of urbanization, where a gigantic concentration of people is competing for limited resources. On the contrary, this project will show a path for developing a hygienic, sustainable and economical house. 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas (Census, 2001) and only  48.7% of housing is considered as livable (Census, 2001). Our project of low carbon house with its low production cost and easy maintenance can alter these statistics significantly if it can prove itself efficient and economic. We do believe our low carbon emission housing is an answer to the problems of housing in rural areas. Apart from that our project will walk towards a low carbon lifestyle, enriched with the gifts of mother earth, creating a more vibrant and balanced ecosystem in rural areas. 

For efficient construction of this hut we need two kinds of people. Firstly those who have learned traditional techniques of hut construction from their ancestors and implemented it in their daily life. Presently we are connected with–  

• a group of 5-6 people, having over 30 years of experience in building mud houses with or without bamboo reinforcement have shown their interest to join our project. 

Secondly we need people who have acquired scientific and technical knowledge from their formal education and are professionally working on it. We have a group of professionals and academicians having expertise on below specified domains-

1. Mechanical engineer

   1. Structural analysis using state-of-the-art methods (finite element method) to optimize the structural cost and comfort

   2. Materials Engineering for optimizing engineering properties of materials.

2. Civil engineer

   1. Soil stabilization: optimizing the physical and mechanical properties of soil for specific applications through controlled modification of soil texture, plasticity, structure and durability.

   2. Hydrological modeling and water management.

3.  Bamboo technologist

           Long experience in treating bamboo for durability, providing industrial supply and holding a national patent.

Apart from that people of different age groups having creative experience in various domains will take part in this project.

MIT university is working on economic sustainability and different innovative measures to prevent climate change, for a long period of time. We do believe our project is a small endeavor in that direction. And it is needless to say that MIT will be the best Institute to realize, understand and appreciate our sincere experimental endeavor. 

Any technical support provided by MIT in this respect will not only hone our skills or complement the team's experience, but also help us greatly in achieving our goals. 

We, the members of Mondihi are working on this project consistently for the last 3 years. In order to continue this project in the long term and advance it to the next level, we need substantial financial support. The award provided by MIT Solve can make this feasible

Traditional housing practices with mud and bamboo, however startling they may seem to the developed countries, is neither new nor very difficult to execute in a developing country like India. However, applying cutting edge technologies from different areas of modern science and engineering is something that has witnessed very little application in modern day housing. But they come with definite advantages and precious promises for the future.

1. The bamboo structure on which the roof and walls are built will involve minimal materials and workmanship— optimizing the number and sizes of bamboo poles, at the same time withstanding the impressed load, providing the required strength at its most vulnerable positions, and limiting the corrosion to improve durability.  This will be brought about by treating the bamboo through a scientifically viable process, performing materials testing to ensure strength and other necessary properties of the bamboo poles, and analyzing the structure with an industry-standard Finite Element Method package like ANSYS or NASTRAN.

2. The mud coating on the bamboo structure (or the entirely-mud walls) of the house will also be explored from a technical perspective and materials testing techniques in a way concrete is tested in labs. Small prototypes of the reinforced structure can be made and baked in the sun before testing the samples for compressive, bending and shear strengths. Destruction of the walls from termites or rain water can be reduced by adding a protective anti-corrosive layer— for which cowdung is traditionally used. We can go further to explore the possibilities of better materials for this purpose, considering resins, natural paints or lime as alternatives.

3. Planning the rooms of the house and its surroundings from an architectural perspective, arranging for water harvesting, reedbed technologies for wastewater treatment, preserving the environment with trees and other plants will remain our next layer of innovation centered around the house.

First year impact goals:

•   Identifying a project area near to our present location and starting a pilot project there.
•   Developing a low carbon emission housing after rigorous research in the structural and materials domains.

Five year impact goals: 

•  Identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the house for further modification.
•  Learning from the maintenance of the house.
•  Summing up three years experience and developing a standard procedure of  low carbon emission house construction.
•  Creating awareness programs and seminars to inspire other peoples to low carbon housing.
•  Finish constructing 50 houses in the surrounding locality and penetrate to six different zones around the place our pilot project is planned, viz. Jhargram, West Bengal, India.

Before trying to build a house, that will meet the primary needs both for humans and nature, we face a lot of social taboos working against these ideas. In order to eradicate these existing thoughts, we plan to spread awareness by organizing workshops. Along with these activities, we wish to reach people in two stages, which are: 

• Initially, we intend to build a house by ourselves using the existing traditional technologies blended with modern engineering ideas and funding. We can connect with many people during the inauguration of this house by taking different sets of feedback. This will be the first step to measure our impact goal. 
• Secondly, after analyzing the received feedback, we will propose to build some small sections of their houses using our own technology. The number of structures which we will be able to build considering their interests, can be considered as a progress measuring mechanism. 

It is also our motivation to work at six different places altogether by promoting our ideas and philosophies through digital or online marketing. 

The common process of constructing buildings adhered to modern lifestyle generates an imbalanced ecosystem. That’s why our intention is to bring a change in the lifestyles both from philosophical as well as application perspectives. Masanobu Fukuoka said in his book ‘One Straw Revolution’, - ‘The healing of the land and the purification of the human spirit is the same process’. This can be achieved through community living, focusing on local economy and collaborating traditional knowledge and modern scientific thinking

Advanced technical knowledge will be applied for research and development of this project. The most important technical parts of this project are:

• Structural -  Finite element model will be used to optimize the number and size of bamboo poles for construction of an economical, comfortable and sustainable housing with minimum materials and workmanship.
• Materials - The engineering properties(shear strength and bearing capacity) of materials will be tested(triaxial test, direct shear test) in engineering labs. To optimize these properties modern techniques of compaction, consolidation and soil stabilization will be done  after vigorous research work and lab experiments. 
• Water management - Numerical scheme of HEC-RAS will be used for Developing the most efficient drainage system for proper water management including rain water harvesting and waste water management.
• Bamboo treatment - Rapid treatment of locally available bamboos with steam and borax will generate high throughput bamboos for seeing up the house structure.
• Architecture and house planning- Experts in architecture will be responsible for planning the position, orientation, rooms, kitchens and bathrooms of the house in addition to providing a space for gardening or aquaculture of possible.

Over and above these modern technologies, traditional knowledge in building houses, farming, fishing or wall painting will be invaluable assets that will be useful to us as we trace the journey of our community living.

In our process of constructing a house, utmost importance is given towards the traditional knowledge of the local people combined with the prosperous thoughts collected from the modern civilizations. We are also concentrating on a methodology which will be certainly economical for all sets of people, which is our thought process moving towards equality.  

As our work is fundamentally dependent on local resources, we will be focusing on the diverse nature of the local knowledge and traditionally available technologies.

We have developed a methodology blended with traditional skills and engineering expertise to protect high carbon ecosystems and develop low carbon emitting households. We believe using the abundant application of local materials is the key point to this answer. 

The technology of developing such houses in the diverse regions of India will be patented from our side. Operating as a consultancy and service providing organization is one of our fundamental goals, for which we will be organizing awareness workshops in several regions of India.

We will be approaching individuals and organizations for this mission to make a Greener World. Apart from this, conscious use of digital marketing will be considered to promote ourselves. We expect, within five years we will be able to develop sustainable houses and protect high carbon ecosystems for at least 50 villages around our surroundings. 

Working as a Consultancy to provide service 

• To work as a service providing industry and as a consultancy, we are currently looking after organizing Awareness Workshops to protect High Carbon Ecosystems. Because of our journey in this field for the last three to five years along with our expertises in the required fields, we have been organizing such workshops from last year onwards, which are helping to generate a certain amount of revenue.     
• As we are trying to find out the traditional technologies along with the local resources to construct buildings, we believe we are working to rejuvenate a model of construction technology. The concepts and practices can be also accumulated to develop a certain course aligned to modern construction technologies. As many people start to take up these courses, we feel that our financial sustainability will become much brighter and clearer.   
• We are focusing on continuous research to find modern solutions in order to synthesize new materials for developing low carbon emitting houses. These new materials, with their unique properties will be readily available with a little pinch of technology and material synthesis added with it. We hope this knowledge will fetch us monetary values certainly. 

Along with these ideas, the driving force to become financially sustainable at present remains the collective identity of our community. Connecting with our goals, our focus is on becoming financially sustainable through the blending of traditional knowledge and modern technologies to build low carbon housings.

At present, we are not a big organization earning huge revenue from our business. We are much more focused on living our lives in a community, while concentrating our efforts on the continuous upgradation of traditional technologies and finding out the best treatment for locally abundant materials.

As already mentioned, the community is composed of different people, having different sets of expertises altogether. In order to achieve financial sustainability, the community is looking forward to researching and disseminating the modern concept of building low carbon houses and setting up a consultancy, from which a good amount of revenue will be generated