Spray-on Instant Homes

Our traditional housing stock rarely survives in the aftermath of severe hurricanes, storm surges, earthquakes and floods

Arin Waugh at Argonne National Laboratory, Ill., and Jim Paul at Casar Grandee Intel., Mechanics ville, Pa., have developed an unique alternative to traditional housing construction methods- They call  it Concrete Spray-On Structural Cement and Rapid Construction Process for Low-Cost Housing

ANL states: "The Pre-mixed, environmentally friendly Concrete magnesium-phosphate cement powder is mixed on site with water and sand (or any other locally available aggregate) into a slurry.  Using a modified mixing and pumping system, it is then sprayed to a thickness of about 15 mm on both the exterior and interior sides of foam frames assembled from 1.2 x 2.4-m expanded polystyrene foam sheets, held in place by aluminum channels attached to a foundation."

The material itself is fire-resistant and water-proof, with a fracture toughness of 0.6-0.7 Map m1/2 , making it extremely resilient against cracking.  While the raw material cost is above that of conventional concrete, the reduction in labor and construction costs more than compensate for the disparity. 

In a matter of two days, a 74-m2 house can be erected, creating real options for impoverished nations or for  emergency situations that require rapid temporary shelter.

The buildings can be made more intelligent and hurricane proof by strategically placing smart bricks throughout the structure, that measure stresses on the house  and by incorporating smart flexible cement  (see future posts on hurricane proof rooms, smart bricks and flexible smart cement and smart roofs that absorb hurricane force winds)

Widespread use of this type of upgraded housing technology could make make disaster insurance obsolete

More info:www.anal.gov

ETA : 2005;

Level: Intelligence Level (1) Adapting: Modifying Behavior to React to/Fit the Environment

Status: working lab prototype and commercial version pending

What do you think of this smart technology ?  Pros or Cons?  Impacts?

Walter Derzko

Expert and Guest Speaker on the Smart Economy and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy

Comments

[Walter Derzko]

Re Jack Smith's comments about sensible applications:

In a study published in April 2005, by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, a panel of international experts were asked to rank the 10 nanotechnology applications in development worldwide with the greatest potential to aid the poor. With a high degree of unanimity, the 63 panelists selected energy production, conversion and storage, along with creation of alternative fuels, as the area where nanotechnology applications are most likely to benefit developing countries.

The top 10 nanotechnology applications mentioned were:

1. Energy storage, production and conversion;
2. Agricultural productivity enhancement;
3. Water treatment and remediation;
4. Disease diagnosis and screening;
5. Drug delivery systems;
6. Food processing and storage;
7. Air pollution and remediation;
8. Construction;
9. Health monitoring;
10. Vector and pest detection and control.

Walter Derzko

[jack smith]

Walter- good job on identifying new and emerging technologies - what i also think could be very useful would be a way of organizing smart technologies into systems of sensible application-that address major challenge areas for humans in this periosd of early turbulence for the 21st century e.g. sustainable low energy shelter; culturally vibrant and safe cities; clean and renewable water systems; cost-effective and technically efficient and enabled public health - in other woirds create a framework from which individual technologies can be seen as systemic contributors for useful innovations.