ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT OF PRODUCTS IN RAW EARTH

1. Raw earth in the life cycle
Raw earth is a low-energy, renewable, easily disposable, local, zero kilometer, the raw earth is a material almost unlimited and does not become waste at the end of life. The sustainable yield of E. Daly teaches that “the speed of withdrawal of the resources must be equal to the speed of regeneration” then with the absorption capacity sustains that “the rate of waste production must be equal to the natural absorption capacity of the ecosystems in which the waste is placed”. Raw earth does not pose any problem in all these aspects.
In its various techniques of implementation is a material with a closed cycle of life, controlled throughout the construction process, fully recoverable and recyclable. The specific level of embodied energy is extremely low. Then, operators involved on the site do not incur any risk or impact. No processing or special waste is produced.
Now we know that 50% of consumed raw materials are used to build and heat our buildings, and not insignificant is the amount of inert waste products¹. But still we analyze what are the environmental costs and gross consumption of materials during the extraction, the processing, the production of goods and building components. And which toxic emission develop during these stages; which materials are discarded to produce a kilogram of aluminium, a kilogram of copper or a kilogram of any other metal. Instead when we go to dig 1 cubic meter of earth, we use all this². Not only, we use a material that is beneath our feet, at zero kilometres, immediately available around the site or a few kilometres away. This is a material resource that collects in it the most common parameters of sustainability. It is totally environmentally friendly, uses little energy during the extraction and the processing, it is put in place and has no toxic emission, and it’s totally recyclable to dispose. […]