The ever increasing environmental pollution and the rise in emission levels have caused serious damage to the lives of millions and millions of people has a lion's share in contributing to this environmental degradation.  Sooner rather than later, builders, architects and designers and decision-makers in the government will be compelled to ban construction technologies which are energy intensive and that cause a significant rise in pollution levels.

Here is a construction technology, that is Ferrocement! cost effective, energy efficient and environmentally sound and more appropriate than conventional technology products.

Ferrocement !  Is it a type of cement used in building construction?

No.  Ferrocement is an innovative technology which finds multiple applications in housing and construction.  It derives the name from 'Ferro' meaning steel or iron and 'cement' meaning a binder or cementitous substance.

Ferrocement is a highly versatile form of R.C.C (Reinforced cement concrete) possessing unique properties of strength and durability.  It is made up of rich cement mortar and wire mesh reinforcement.  This technology has proven applications in the areas of shelter.  The fact that Ferrocement Technology is increasingly gaining popularity and acceptance by the people is primarily attributed to the unique features and advantage that are offered by ferrocement over conventional building materials.  They are :

i)	A high ratio of strength to weight in comparison to R.C.C
ii)	Cost - effectiveness compared to R.C.C
iii)	Lower intensity of material use
iv)	Speedy process of construction
v)	Flexibility with regards to cutting, drilling & joining
vi)	High acceptability in terms of shape and form

Besides these advantages, ferrocement products are more energy efficient than their equivalents made in Reinforced Cement Concrete.

More energy efficient despite the use of high energy-embodied materials like cement and steel?

Yes.  Not surprising.  Ferrocement, despite using rich cement proportion and steel, are more energy efficient due to the fact that ferrocement products are relatively thin in size thereby causing reduction in the intensity of material consumption.

Let us consider an example of a prefabricated ferrocement product which is used in roofing applications.

Ferrocement Roofing Channels

Ferrocement roofing channels are essentially prefabricated, cylindrical shell units having defined shape and size.  The length of these channel units equals to the length of the room to be roofed.  The thickness of these elements is just 25 mm.  This is the reason why ferrocement roofing channels enable cost savings upto 40% and saves energy upto 25% in comparison with R.C.C roof.

Ferrocement roofing channels are designed such that efficient utilisation of steel reinforcement is ensured.  A channel unit uses approximately 3 kg of steel in the form of mild steel bars and wire mesh reinforcement put together per sqm of roofing area whereas R.C.C uses 7-10 kg of steel per sqm. Of roof area.

Ferrocement channels are prefabricated and cured for a period of 2-3 weeks, after which they are ready for roof construction.

Roofing is constructed with these channels by installing them in series directly on end beams or wall supports without the use of any intermediate beam.

Use of these channels saves 3 weeks of construction time as no shuttering is involved.  This is the USP of this roofing technology.  

The comparison of strength, performance and other aspects of ferrocement channels with traditional and conventional flat roofing options are tabulated as follows :

Parameters	Reinforced cement Concrete Roofing	Stones	Reinforced Brick Cement	Ferrocement Roofing
Strength to weight ratio	Low	Very Low	Medium	High
Performance	High	Medium	Medium	High
Durability	High	Medium	Low	High
Equipments for roof	Shuttering required	No Shuttering	Shuttering required	No shuttering
Skills required	Skilled	Highly skilled	Highly skilled	Semi skilled
Cost range (Rs.) for a span 3.6-6.0 M	450-600	400-500	400-550	375-450

With a view to promoting ferrocement, Development Alternatives has currently undertaken a project on development of "A Ferrocement and Marketing Package for Ferrocement based enterprise".  This project is sponsored by Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, of Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, Government of India. 

The potential ferrocement applications in the area of shelter which have been identified through an evaluation of the current status of the technology are :

q	Ferrocement Roofing channels
q	Ferrocement understructures for sloping roofs
q	Ferrocement wall panels, door shutters etc.

These key areas of application are the needy areas too!  Which require design optimization and improvement of production process.

With a view to increasing the productivity and upscaling of production enterprise from business perspective, Development Alternatives has been involved in the mechanization of production of these ferrocement elements.  Preliminary investigations have shown indications that are leading to a generation of commercial viable business proposition using ferrocement technology.

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