How do I stop this from sounding dull? Anyone for concrete?

I suddenly thought just now as I was considering some sort of title of a certain Peppa Pig episode where Daddy pig sends everyone to sleep reading 'The Wonderful world of concrete'.  Oh dear this could be me but only worse as in theory there are more people now reading this blog! (I must be delusional)  Then again I wasn't thinking about concrete oh no it's far more 'green' it's hempcrete.

We are going off to see a hempcrete house near Yeovil this Thursday which up to Passive Haus standards, which for anyone not completely up to speed it will, in theory, only need body warmth and a few house appliances to keep the atmospheric temperature up to pleasant warmth all year around.  Sounds good to me but I would like to go and see what in reality this actually means.  Sorry I digressed from hempcrete that as you might have guessed is made from hemp and concrete then mixed together making it considerably more environmentally sound.  I've heard about this stuff being poured into huge moulds enabling sides of houses to be constructed in a matter of days.  But I'm at heart an absolute pessimist so they're going to have to prove that it's great.  Apparently the hempcrete house is absolutely nothing like any of our drawings but it has lots of eco gadgets that may make everything easier or alternatively cost a fortune and make life a headache. I'll keep you posted.

My brainwave of the day is using the new Second Nature's Eden Block as a SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panel System).  At the moment the large panels are load bearing and fit into place to make a watertight skin of a building in around 6 days.  That is great in my book with speed and simplicity all in one.  The only trouble is the insulation sandwiched in the middle comes in the form of a high density rigid foam that has brilliant insulative properties but is a bi-product of the petrochemical industry.  Alternatively recycled news paper can be blown in and that again has great insulative properties but apparently after a time can squash / deflate leaving gap at the top with absolutely no insulation (I haven't proved this yet but we did have this done in a few panels in the Longhouse so I'm going to try this winter).



   Message back from Tom (our architect) the planners are on the case and we've been allotted a planning officer which fills me with complete and utter dread.


Last thing our topographical survey will apparently be done this week.  That's really not exceeding interesting but you know that I'll someone will be typing out a bill for Mr and Mrs Rawlingson Plant!