ABSTRACT
The construction and servicing of buildings probably has a greater impact on
the global environment than any other human activity. About 30 per cent
of the UK’s total energy consumption goes into the servicing of domestic
buildings, and a further 8 per cent of the total into the construction of build-
ings. There is a wealth of published material relating to the need to control
resource depletion by reducing energy consumption and to the problems
associated with the atmospheric pollution caused by industrial production
processes (to which the construction industry is a major contributor). This
brief introduction is not, therefore, a polemic, intended to convince the scep-
tical of the merits of green building. Rather, the aim is to explain how the
use of unfired earth and other associated natural materials can play a signifi-
cant role in reducing energy consumption while at the same time having a
minimal impact on the natural environment. In order to do this, it may be
helpful to first explain some definitions, or eco-jargon, which sometimes
cause confusion, and then to show how earth-based materials perform in
relation to these various environmental criteria.
