1 Execution report of the Project ECOCASAS in HondurasJanuary 2009 Introduction As its main goal, this proje ct aims to “contribute to the sustainable development byconcretely improving the house and its environment, making it comfortable and worthyfor its inhabitants and simultaneously reducing the pressure on the environment such as the sources of energy and water”It intends to do so by building two sample houses in order to “ demonstrate such houses to the wider public then to have ample market studies done on a topic hardlyknown by people”As initially intended, the two sample houses were built in Honduras. The conception of the idea for this project is by itself a remarkable contribution to the development and dissemination of ecological practices in Honduras, which was possible through the crucial support from TRIODOS Foundation. The development ofthe concept and design of the compressed earth blocks house was possible due to the remarkable support of RRE Energy and Tjerk Reininga from Bear Architecten. The implementation of the project in Honduras took plac e through the crucial participation of our local partner FUNDEVI (Fundacion para la vivienda social rural y urbana), who provided the space necessary to materialize the initial idea of the project, making remarkable contributions through its invaluable staff and participation. Habitat for humanity Honduras also played a leading role providing supervision for our first Quality of walls in the “compressed earth blocks”house before and after STRO’s intervention through the use of earth compressed blocks. Before After
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experience in working with compressed earth blocks, through the participation of its
highly qualified staff.
Implementing this project was a very challenging experience in the sense of breaking
pre conceptions of traditional cost efficient construction techniques and alternative
provision of basic services, that have been improved technically in relatively recent
times, but that have been neglected due to lack of experimentation and dissemination.
But the true reward lies on a very enriching experience that took place in terms of discovering, contributing and disseminating our own national knowledge and qualified
human resources on eco housing, as well as international knowledge and practices. It
brought on the promotion and formation of networks and future sources of work for
our local contractors, as well as raising interest of potential users of the diverse
elements of eco housing. Through implementation of this project, we were able to
discover how remarkable is the willingness, faith and efforts of our own people to be
part of an experience that involved a certain risk, in the belief that better conditions in
social housing in Honduras can be achieved through the concept of eco housing.
Implementation of the project in Honduras
The project was implemented through two main phases:• Designing the local implementation scheme and website of the project.
• Building of the two sample houses
Designing the local implementation scheme and website of the project
• Ventilation system: Solar and wind orientation of the house and special roof
design to minimize solar exposition and increase inner ventilation.
In order to find a local partner for the construction of the two sample houses, a
marketing strategy was defined that would give a “modular” character to the house.
This means that our local partner would be able to choose which ecological elements
to implement on the sample house, in accordance to elements such as budget, specific
conditions of the site of the project, future potential users of the house’s expectatives
and local materials available. They were able to choose one, some or all of the before
defined main ecological elements:
Sustainability, operation and maintenance of the two sample houses were considered
as very important aspects in order to find a local partner for the building phase. It was
also considered convenient to approach the social housing sector institutions inHonduras, in order to tackle the needs of a larger target population group in Honduras
and have a larger incidence of the replication of the ecological practices. This sector of
the population also lacks more in access to basic services, and would find alternative
means and cost effective solutions to basic services and building materials very
attractive, as so would social housing credit institutions. With these aspects in mind, a
scheme was designed in which the costs of the ecological houses would be shared
among the partner institution and STRO. The first would provide a credit to the future
owner of the house, covering the costs of the non ecological elements of the house.
STRO would cover the costs of the ecological elements. In that way, maintenance of
the ecological elements would be provided by people who would inhabit the houses,
which are the credit holders.To fulfil this idea, two local credit housing institutions were contacted: FUNDEVI and
IHCADE. Promotional material was distributed (see annex 1 in Spanish), and after some
explanatory meetings and discussions, FUNDEVI was chosen based on interest
expressed and willingness to engage in the ecohousing project. They also had the
advantage of the potential to offer technical assistance as well, due to its technical
staff present in every region of the country where they have regional offices.
• The cost of the wooden house per square meter turned out to be almost the same
as the cost per square meter of a concrete block house built by FUNDEVI. However,
the cost per square meter of walls is likely to be higher. A very concerning issue is
the sustainability of wood as a construction material in Honduras, given that little
reforestation or preventive use of wood education is locally available and illegal
traffic and commerce levels are very high. The eco housing project could be
implemented as a joint effort to promote reforestation of local woods and building
of wooden houses in poles in flood prone areas. This would largely contribute to
the sustainability of this type of eco house. It is also possible to consider further
research on alternative light construction materials to keep the concept of a house
built in poles in flood prone areas, such as bamboo, locally prefabricated wall
sheets, etc.
• Some technologies for alternative sources of energy, such as solar panels, wind
energy generating systems, and solar water heating commercial devices could not
be implemented due to high costs, not in correspondence with the target
population defined for the eco housing project. This elements could be considered
for a further development of the project targeting a different sector of the
population• The implementation of a bio digestor as built by CEASO, a Honduran institution
that practices ecological agriculture, might be unsustainable due to the fact that
some construction materials are not found nationally. These materials have to be
brought from abroad and it is unlikely that the delivery is made for small
quantities. This element should be considered further for the development of small
or large residential projects.
• Building through the compressed earth blocks technique through a learning
process might be comparatively more time consuming (finding the right type of
earth, learning to operate the machine efficiently, carrying the right type of earth
when it is not near to the site of the project, increased costs due to
experimentation) than building with concrete blocks. However, this problem couldbe overcome by holding training workshops for local contractors, so they would be
ready and experienced when starting the building of an compressed earth blocks
house.
• Traditional “adobes” or earth blocks structurally work by compression, since they
are solid and thicker than the compressed earth blocks, needing no vertical or
horizontal iron reinforcement. This brings the cost of the walls lower than that of
compressed earth blocks. However, walls made with compressed earth blocks
represent better health conditions, have better appearance, and are more resistant
and durable than traditional adobe walls. It will be necessary to disseminate more
the advantages of the compressed earth blocks among local inhabitants, in order
to gain acceptance of the technique over the traditional adobe.• Financial risk is still an issue to consider when approaching the financial sectors of
social housing, who traditionally do not grant credits for houses built with this type
of materials. It would be necessary to have dissemination and participative
activities to change pre conceptions on wood and compressed earth blocks. It
would also be possible to build houses though fiduciary financial schemes,
decreasing the financial risk and making these alternatives more attractive to the
• The first rain water harvesting system built turned out to be very expensive in
comparison to a traditional piped water provision system. It was more expensive
due to the cost of non local qualified human resources necessary to build it.
However, it is an initial investment that pays return reducing considerably money
spend on water bills. Moreover, through training of local contractors, the
experience can be replicated, cutting costs down regarding qualified human
resources that can now be found locally.
• Building the houses in the rainy season brought in very much inconvenience,
operation problems within the financial system of our local partner, distrust on the
technique, delays and increased costs. It is highly advisable to build this type of
houses exclusively during the dry season.
Upcoming activities
1. The main upcoming activity is to continue measurement of performance of
ecological components built in the sample houses. Afterwards, activities will befocussed on dissemination of the experience, knowledge gains and results of
the project among the local and national housing sector. This would be done
with the ultimate objective of promoting ecological practices and influencing
institutional policies of the social housing sector, in order to make of them their
own institutional practices and replicate the experience.
It is also necessary to continue research on alternatives to the less favourable
results found through this project in respect to the use of wood as a sustainable
ecological material.
2. Dissemination of knowledge will be carried out through conferences attracting
the building sector at national level such as the professional association of
architects, engineers, construction firms, social housing institutions, etc. Theseconferences would be held once thorough measurement and analysis of the
performance of ecological components of the two houses is done. They will be
held in the cities where it would be possible to attract such institutions, such as
Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, El Progreso, Yoro, covering nearby towns.
Dissemination of practical knowledge and experience gained would be
developed through training workshops for local contractors, using the recently
improved capacity of the contractors that participated in the construction of
both houses, so they can hold the training workshop themselves. These
trainees would afterwards offer their services as supervisors of houses built
with ecological materials, further disseminating training activities, in the same
scheme that the two sample houses were built.The training workshops could be specialized in each of the ecological elements
(rain water harvesting systems, ecostoves, “ferrocemento” tanks, dry latrines,
sun heated water, biodegestors, etc. This way, local capacity building would
take place and local applicability would be higher.
The trainees could also be further trained in the creation of microenterprises
that build and install ecological elements. The microenterprises could then
receive support for commercialization of their products in the local market, for
Social Trade Organisation (STRO)Social Trade Organisation (STRO)Social Trade Organisation (STRO)Social Trade Organisation (STRO)STRO es una ONG Holandesaoperando en Honduras desde el
2003. Su misión es encontrar
modelos económicos y tecnológicos innovadores que
promueven el desarrollo económico local, utilizando lo más
posible recursos locales para vitalizar el mercado local. Para
esto STRO contribuye en la construcción de un sistema deintercambio equilibrado, basado en economías locales biendesarrolladas y diversificadas y en un tipo de moneda neutral que no
lleve a un crecimiento compulsivo ni a la creación de pobreza através de transferencias de interés del rico al pobre.
ECOCASASECOCASASECOCASASECOCASAS consiste en un
proyecto impulsado por STRO
que tiene como objetivo
construir casas que den a sus
habitantes un vida mas agradable (mejor ventilación
interna), cómodo (cocina sin humo) y sano (aguas
residuales). El concepto ECOCASAECOCASAECOCASAECOCASA encaja una gran
variedad de prácticas de construcción y de habitación que
no dañan al medio ambiente, aprovechan lo más posible y
de forma sostenible los recursos localmente disponibles,incluyendo energía, agua, materiales y capacidad humana,
reduciendo costos. Usa también vegetación y árboles
frutales con fines múltiples: mejorar la alimentación y salud,
dar sombra, limpiar las aguas
presión sobre el medio ambien
energía y agua.
Mas concreto este mini proyecto• Llegar a un diseño efectivo e
When the system was finished and a little rain fell, the users tasting the water,
affirming that it has good taste.
• Eco stove: A stove made out with some local materials, which uses 40% of the
wood that traditional “fogones” or
stoves use, producing less smoke. It is
at the same time an oven, which can be
used simultaneously. Some pieces of
the oven that were not made locally can
be replied through local contractors.
The construction of this oven is highly
participative, since non qualified
workers are a great help in the
construction.
During the construction of this element, many women neighbours approachedthe site of the project, expressing interest on the techniques and uses of the
eco stove, learning about how it is built, operated and how it could be
replicated.
The Eco stove
Fabricating the “ferrrocemento” water tank Close up of the metallic grid before the
They are a local couple living and working in el Progreso, Yoro, with two children.
Wilmer Alfonso Cruz works at the
nearby oil processing plant
Hondupalma and Julia Maria Diaz
Quintero works in a maquila. Due to
their low level of income, they were
initially not eligible for a credit
through FUNDEVI, but through STRO’s
participation in the project, they got
the maximum amount of credit
possible according to their level of
income. Julia Maria’s mother and
sisters, who live in the larger plot
where her own plot is located, oversee
the construction of the house and are
in charge of administrative issues.
Final design adaptationsThere were no significative changes in the design adapted to local conditions,
based on the original design from the Netherlands.
Time of construction1.5 months, having started on October 9, 2008. By November 17, the roof had
been built; only the placement of doors, windows and sanitary furniture wasmissing, which took approximately one more week, at the beginning of December.
Hereby a chronological reference of the construction of the house, in reference to
the elements to be built by STRO (foundations, poles, floors, walls and roof)
o September 30, 2008: Commissioning of the wood and construction
materials necessary to build the house to a local hardware store
o October 9, 2008: Delivery of the construction materials to the site of the
project and starting order for
the building of the house given
to the local contractor
o October 16, 2008:
Wood delivered to the site of the
project
The owners of the house subscribing a credit with FUNDEVI