At SASL over the years we have heard talks on many concrete reinforced wall systems. Here is one that hasn't made it to our meeting and one that is very difficult to find using Google.
Bill Loftus of Environmental Building Technology states that anyone with very little training even children can help build using their blocks which weigh less than 9 pounds each (about the same as a gallon of milk).
This video shows children constructing a demonstration building.
Their mortarless blocks, reinforced by concrete and rebar produce a finished wall with an r value of 12. The blocks include recycled polystyrene and wood chips and accept screws and nails.
Because the walls are built in stages and the spaces for the concrete only connect vertically, the reinforcing concrete can be poured in small batches without the need for the big pour typical of many concrete reinforced systems.
You can learn more about the system by clicking on "Guided Tour" on the main page of their website.
Mr. Loftus has hopes that the system can be used to ease housing shortages in developing nations. In the video you can see recycled styrofoam and waste tree limbs being ground up and mixed with concrete, then hand poured into forms and houses built in the Tampa Bay area using the blocks.
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