I am looking for input on an idea I have.
Might this actually work?

Thoughts About Rebuilding After The Haiti Disaster:

Facts

• There is an enormous amount of concrete, steel, masonry and brick debris from collapsed buildings in Haiti see:

http://www.miamiherald.com/haiti/re...75904.html

• Recycling concrete into aggregate to make new concrete is a proven money saving technology see:

http://www.concretenetwork.com/conc...ncrete.htm

• Properly done poured in place cellular concrete is a very cost effective, strong and green building material see: http://www.alliedfoamtech.com/Appconc.htm

• The collapse of all these structures was due in large part to poor building practices see:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/231846

It looks like to me there is a perfect laboratory, in the Haiti disaster, to perfect a building technology that would be applicable world wide. Not only for disaster zones but everywhere.

Cellular concrete was developed in Sweden in 1914. It is not pie in the sky, over the rainbow technology. This would not be the first time cellular concrete has been used after a tragedy. Cellular concrete was used extensively to rebuild Europe after WWII. See: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-21053118.html

Why Not - gear up and produce large quantities of modular concrete forms that could be used to quickly erect low cost cellular concrete homes for displaced people? When you are done with the modular forms they could be transported to the next hot spot designated as needing fast low cost housing and that have the basic materials needed to make this building system effective.

Why Not - take the same cellular concrete technology and quickly build new hospitals, schools, businesses, government buildings, etc? At the same time you would be recycling vast quantities of garbage.

Why Not - turn a heart breaking tragedy into a building system that would not only vastly improve the lives of the people of Haiti but people world wide?

You may be thinking – who would be able to organize and implement such a grand scheme quickly?

There are lots of unemployed people that have vast knowledge of every aspect of the construction field right here in the USA. An organization like the US Green Building Council would be a perfect place to start finding qualified individuals for such an endeavor.

I have watched with fascination, as Greensburg Kansas rebuilt green after a devastating EF-5 tornado leveled the town May 4^th, 2007. http://www.greensburgks.org/

Greensburg's web page says it all - Greenburg: Better, Stronger, Greener!

Why not - Haiti: Better, Stronger, Greener

Why not – The World: Better, Stronger, Greener!

Great Concept! There's no doubt that the brain power needed to do this could be amassed in a very short period of time, and the labor is there, and "on the ground". However, in an ideal world (wherever that may be) it will take several years before the people there will be able start utilizing these new homes and buildings. I guess that the immediate concern is: clean water, sanitary facilities, and tents or other basic shelters, and, of course, food and medical attention. I realize that those needs are being addressed as we speak, hopefully effectively.

It seems to me that this is a 3 phased proposition, the first of which I described above. The second would be structures that could be in place in a matter of months, that would provide a safer, and more secure, form of shelter than tents. There would be nothing wrong with trailers, as long as they weren't finished off with materials that contain high levels of formaldehyde, as happened after Katrina. Whatever is utilized during this interim period should then be able to be easily, and efficiently relocated when needed again, much as Paul W. suggested as with the modular forms that would be needed in connection with the cellular concrete building system that he described above.

Now, I realize that there are "greater minds than mine", who are driven by a wide range of motivations, and, who are all over this situation. For anyone who was not at West Coast Green '09 in San Francisco, check out greenhorizonmfg.com , this appears to me to be the perfect solution for this "interim shelter" application. Now, before anyone says anything, be assured, these guys don't even know my name (However, I'm not saying that I may not try to rectify that situation in the very near future)

Other possible considerations in connection with the 2nd phase of this project might be refurbished shipping containers, there are a number of firms involved with this concept For expediency, and economy, there could be "wet core" units that would contain cooking, and sanitary, facilities, that could serve several "living/sleeping" units. This same principal could be applied to "flat pak" prefab units that would take up less space during transportation. etc etc etc

"We" might even come up with some viable ideas as to how to work some SIPs and ICFs into the 3rd phase, or permanent, solution. I'm pretty sure that one, or both, of these systems were used in many, if not most, of Greensburg, Ks, new "Green Building" projects.

Green Horizon are in CA, are they thinking of opening a plant in Haiti? That would seem the first step.

I do not know about the US but recycling concrete is pretty much mandatory elsewhere due to land fill costs. You can rent a sinle residence sized unit, I have not found them in the US.

But I doubt there are many Haitians on this site.

Does anyone have some basic info on recycling concrete? What type of machinery is used? Cost? I was thinking this may be a good business to start in Haiti. Sounds like there wasn't much rebar in much of the structures. My buddy is doing a huge social investing conference on Haiti in March and might get some social investing funds interested and would have tons of contacts there. I'd think recycling would be a double whammy, clean up of the debris and using it for construction material. Unless the plan would be using the debris to build additional piers at the port or something.

Social investing implies that at some point one might actually get a financial return. IMHO that's just not going to happen in Haiti.

If you want to go to Haiti as a charity to help then God Bless You as they need it badly. But Haiti has such unbelieveable poverty and corruption that there is no profit to be made. If you can develop a super low cost structurally sound building system then you may be able to keep it running at no profit for as long as charitable government (non Haiti) and nongovernment agencies are willing to give you funding. And it would really help if that project could provide jobs to Haitians (maybe more important than the shelter).

The reason their buildings had no rebar and were inferior is not that they don't know how they should build. The reason is they absolutely cannot afford it. They will build back the same way unless your system is cheaper than their current building techniques. So if you can go to Haiti and help fund building projects then please do but don't go if you are thinking there is money to be made.

Recycled concrete aggregate is the technical term, lots of resources if you google it.

My guess is that ignorance and greed are major factors.

It would be a great idea but  would take a philintrophic involvement form someplace in the developed world.   

To set up a recycled concrete plant with crushers, screens and all the conveyors needed would cost up-words of $500,000.00 using used equipment.  That is not including all the anslery support equipment needed. 

I just "yahoo'd" "Rebuilding Haiti". Habitat for Humanity is there, USGBC is working to put a program together. Many Governments have pledged $$ (let's not get into political issues here), building product manufacturers have pledged material donations (Weyerhaeuser has made an "initial" pledge of $ 250,000K in materials) However, this is an overwhelming situation, and now there's Chile. Someone that I was talking to today who spends a lot of time in South America said that the quality of construction in that country was the best in all of South America, and the loss of life numbers may bear that out though the location of the epicenter may have more to do with it than construction techniques. It did look like there would be a huge potential for recycling concrete in Chili, with all of those buckled highways and bridges along with buildings.

There are some particularly poignant videos on You Tube that are showing people who are building shanty type structures with whatever material they can find. One was a gentleman who obviously had good carpenter skills but was nailing short pieces of splintered wood together in order to come up with a full length wall stud or roof rafter. There was a brief clip of some folks stacking earthen blocks that they were making right there, no rebar of course, but evidently there aren't enough tents to go around, and, I guess that where they do have tents, they're having to sleep as many as 10 people in each one.

In any event, there's plenty of information out there on the internet for anyone who is interested. I also read articles that pretty much confirmed the "3 phase approach" that I'd mentioned in my first post, in regard to the rebuilding process there. (Not exactly "rocket science) One of the articles mentioned "one million structures needed" That's going to require a lot of materials, labor, and ingenuity, which is all out there, its just a matter of putting it all together. I know, "easier said than done" but "We" shouldn't let the naysayers, skeptics, conspiracy theorists, etc get in the way ( Having said that "those guys" aren't wrong 100% of the time, and sometimes they're 100% right)

$ 500,000 to set up a recycled concrete plant? I'm definitely no expert here but wouldn't the key question be "what would the capacity of this facility be?" Then of course someone has to pencil operating costs, the labor factor, etc. to get to the bottom line as to whether or not recycling is more resource efficient and cost effective than new material. This is probably not a simple formula but an important one. Maybe, it will end up being a better solution to just haul all of that debris to the ocean, and construct seawalls that will protect the island from future tsunami's? Then again, we have to be careful there, we don't want to further pollute the oceans.

And, so the beat goes on! It is refreshing to be involved in a GBT thread where everyone is offering sincere input, and looking for the best solutions to very serious situations. Even if someone submits ideas or concepts that aren't feasible, and someone can provide supported evidence that that is the case, we can all learn something. Now, somebody, maybe a lot of somebodies, is going to make some money through this process, and that's OK as long as the job gets done, and done properly. However, I do think that virtually everything that goes on here is going to be under a very powerful "microscope", and that anyone with just a "get rich quick" scheme may run into a problem. ( hey, I'll admit that I'm trying to come with a scenario where I might be involved to one degree, or another....but haven't come up with anything yet)

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