The topic of sustainability is at the forefront of current international discussions. The rising importance placed on green practices has been prompted by the rapid depletion of natural resources, and the increased anthropogenic interference in the natural climatic balance. Private and public research institutions and bodies are continuously researching and working on innovative technologies and systems which are environmentally viable for the today’s society, and Auroville is a part of this pursuit for a sustainable future. The presentation deals with how the use of sustainable technology and design helps Auroville to have a better life. It shows the different technologies that are used in Auroville which serves as renewable resource, comparing the cost of Compressed Stabilised Earth Block (CSEB) with other types of blocks.

1. Construction
Management
Sustainable Technology and Design in Auroville

2. Auroville
 “Experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil
Nadu, India, near Pondicherry in South India.
 Auroville was founded as a project of the Sri Aurobindo Society founded in
1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as "The Mother").
 Designed by architect Roger Anger.
 As stated in Alfassa's first public message about the township, "Auroville
is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are
able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics
and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity."

3. Satellite view.

5. Master plan of Auroville

6.  Auroville is a universal township in the making for a population of up to
50,000 people from around the world.
 Auroville is located in south India ,in the State of Tamil Nadu (some parts
are in the State of Pondicherry), a few kilometers inland from the
Coromandel Coast, approx 160 kms south of Chennai (previously Madras)
and 10 kms north of the town of Pondicherry.
 The concept of Auroville - an ideal township devoted to an experiment
in human unity. The concept was then put before the Govt. of India, who
gave their backing and took it to the General Assembly of UNESCO. In
1966 UNESCO passed a unanimous resolution commending it as a project
of importance to the future of humanity, thereby giving their full
encouragement.

7. They come from some 45
nations, from all age groups
(from infancy to over eighty,
averaging around 30), from all
social classes, backgrounds and
cultures, representing humanity
as a whole. The population of
the township is constantly
growing, but currently stands at
around 2,160 people, of whom
approx one-third are Indian.

8. City Plan
The whole city is of 1.25 km radius. Mainly divided in following six regions:
1. Industrial Zone
2. International Zone
3. Cultural Zone
4. Peace Zone
5. Residential Zone
6. Green Belt

9. Details about Auroville
 EXISTING LAND USE :
 40% is Residential.
 Public spaces about 28%
 Commercial, manufacturing and other economic activities constitute about 12%.
 About 13% is under roads and streets serving both urban and non-urban uses.
 Developed areas :
 Village settlements : Six village settlements within the Auroville township area.
 Auroville Communities: At present there are 95 Auroville residential communities.
 The Commercial area in the Township includes retail services .
 The Manufacturing use includes about 100 large and small manufacturing and processing
units.
 Public and Semi-Public uses include amenities such as schools, health facilities, services
and utilities.
 Administrative and Institutional uses include centre (Bharat Nivas) & Auroville Foundation
offices.
 Recreational uses : few playgrounds, center field.

10. Sustainable Technology
Within Auroville, several research institutes are continuously working on
innovative processes to reduce energy and water use by modifying and
integrating new and existing technologies.
 Solar Technology
Solar technology is widely used within the various communities and is
the largest renewable source of energy in Auroville. The most common
application of solar technology is for water pumping, water heating, street
lighting, and in some cases electricity generation.
 Solar Electricity:
Some communities and buildings run completely on electricity
produced by photovoltaic (PV) panels. The PV systems used within Auroville
are custom designed by Aurovillian groups, and integrate inverter and
battery storage systems for cloudy and rainy days. Currently, there are 400
houses running solely on solar electricity within Auroville.

11. The solar panels The solar bowl

12.  Solar Water Pumping and Heaters
Over 80% of the solar technology
in Auroville is used for water
pumping and heating. Many of the
operations for the waste water
systems, and well/boreholes rely on
this form of energy to move the
water. Aurovillian solar service and
solution experts have formulated
simple and low maintenance
pumping and heat ng systems.
Solar Water Heater

13.  Wastewater Technology
The Center for Scientific Research (CSR) has applied innovative methods to
customize the available wastewater technologies to fit the various Auroville
community needs.
The systems consist of underground containment and pre-filtration tanks, and
overhead oxygenating and polishing ponds. For commercial and urban
spaces that have little space for ponds, the institute has designed a
cylindrical vortex system which takes advantage of centrifugal and
centripetal forces to filter and oxygenate the water. The resulting ‘gray’ water
from the system may then be reinserted into the water table, or used for local
irrigation purposes.

14. Another technology used for wastewater treatment is Effective Micro-organisms
(EM). EM is an organic liquid composed of microbes, which
quicken the decomposition of waste and compose. When effectively
added to waste water, it reduces the amount of sludge in the black and
grey water.
Wastewater treatment system by lagooning.

15.  Electric Vehicle (EV) Technology
To reduce their carbon footprint, and
create a healthier natural
environment, Auroville is looking to
expand the use of electric vehicles
(small electric cars, electric bicycles
and electric motorcycles).
There are various working
components to successfully
integrating electric vehicles into the
community.
Electric Vehicle Parade In Auroville

16.  Wind Technology
Windmills for pumping water have been designed and built in Auroville since
the early pioneering days. One of the first designs was the Cretan windmill,
made of wood and cloth-sails.
The design has evolved from the practical experience of Aurovilians gained in
operating windmills over the last two decades. The AV55 can now be used for
pumping water from bore wells as deep as 100m as well as for low-lift high-volume
output from open wells.
Today, there are more than 30 windmills of various designs spread over the
Auroville plateau for pumping water.

17. Since Auroville does not always get
the high velocity winds that prevail
further south, the electric power
generation through wind has been
highly hampered. Two wind
generators, which under optimum
wind conditions are capable of
generating 4kW of power, are part of
a hybrid solar and wind energy
system that is being tested at the
Visitors Centre. However, the actual
output we are able to get in Auroville
is much lower.
The AV55 for pumping water

18. Introduction to Sustainable Design
Looking at design from a sustainable angle involves incorporating and
utilizing the natural environment into planning and design. Architects, planners
and product designers within Auroville have centralized the core of their
innovations around sustainable design. Auroville shows a wide variety of earthen
projects: public buildings, schools, apartments and individual houses.
Most of the projects are built with compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB),
as this technology benefits of half a century of research and development
worldwide. In Auroville, these blocks present many advantages compared to
fired bricks:
 Walls made of CSEB are always cheaper than fired bricks.
 The embodied energy is 15 times less than the bricks fired in the village.
 The strength of these blocks is most of the time higher than the local fired
bricks.
Stabilised rammed earth used for walls is slowly getting known and a few projects
already implemented this technique.

19. There are also three other earth techniques used in Auroville. These techniques
are very marginally used as only 8 buildings have been built with them:
 Raw rammed earth, for only two buildings.
 Adobe blocks, the traditional sun dried mud brick, for two buildings.
 Wattle and daub which is mud plastered on a wattle made of split bamboo
or palmyra tree, for 4 buildings.
Through the endeavour of the Auroville earth Institute, Auroville attempts
to revive the traditional skills, which were lost during the 20th century and
demonstrate that earth is still a noble building material, which can be used for
manifesting a modern, harmonious and progressive architecture.

20. Management of Resources
When building with earth, one should pay a lot of attention of the
management of resources. Topsoil should be scraped away, so as to be re-used
for agriculture or gardens. One should always plan how the excavation
would be used afterward.
Auroville shows various possibilities for the use of quarries: as water
harvesting ponds, waste water treatment ponds, pools, basement floors or
shallow depressions which are used for landscape design, work or play areas,
gardens, etc.
Wastewater Treatment

21. Water Underground rainwater Treatment and percolation
Basement floors Rainwater percolation system

22. What are CSEB?
 CSEB (Compressed Stabilized Earth Block) are a mix of soil, sand, a stabilizer
(often 5% of cement), and water.
 They are compressed in a press (manually or motorised) and cured during
28 days.
 They are not fired!!!
 They can reach a dry compressive strength of 9 MPa.

23.  CSEB are also called as E’Blocks, as Eco-friendly, Economical, Earth Block.
 Top soil is removed and only deeper soil is extracted.
 CSEB are the major tool for the renaissance of earth architecture
worldwide.
 It is today the earth technology which is used the most worldwide.
 The Auram Press 3000 can produce about 80 types of blocks with 18
moulds.

24.  The Auram Press 3000 can produce about 80 types of blocks with 18
moulds.

25. Variety of blocks produced by the Auram Press 3000.

26. A Strong Material
 CSEB blocks are strong:
Average dry crushing strength of 7.5 MPa (upto 9 MPa in Auroville).
Wet crushing strength of 3 to 4 MPa (after 24 hours of immersion)

27. Low Initial Embodied Energy
 It is a good indicator of over all environmental impact of building material
or systems.
 The initial embodied energy of CSEB is in general less than other building
materials.
 CSEB are environmental friendly as:
No firing is required but only curing (4 weeks with cement stabilization).
Less transport is required and the production is manual.

28.  CSEB consumes 10.7 less energy than country fired bricks. (Pondicherry)
 CSEB consumes 7.9 less energy than country fired bricks. (India Average)
 CSEB consumes 3.9 less energy than kiln fired bricks. (India Average)

29. Low Carbondioxide Emission
 Carbondioxide emissions are in general less than other building materials.
 They are mostly coming from cement stabilization.
 Emits 12.5 times less Carbondioxide than fired bricks (Pondy).
 500 tons of wood burnt for 100,000 country fired bricks in Pondicherry area.

30. Cost Effective
 CSEB are generally cheaper than fired bricks.
 No plaster is needed in most of cases.
 Less mortar are required and its cheaper.
 5% of waste against 10% for country fired brick.
 Cost comparison per m2 of CSEB and fired brick wall (Auroville, July 2012).
 CSEB wall 24 cm thick = 861 Rs/ m2
 Country fired brick wall 23 cm thick = 1076 Rs/m2

31. Cost Effective
 CSEB is a very labour intensive technology.
 13 people per press for manual pressing.
 This gives job opportunities.
 This gives livelihood to people.
 This insure sustainability.
Labour represents more than 40%.
Cement and equipment are about 30%.
Raw materials are less than 30%.

32. Building Examples with CSEB

36. Stabilised Rammed Earth
In Auroville, the earth is rammed by
hand. Until 1994, Auroville had only one
house made of raw rammed earth.
Stabilised rammed earth was promoted
since 1995, after the construction of
Mirramukhi School (presently named
Deepanam). Stabilised rammed earth is
getting slowly more known and presents
the advantage of being cheaper than
compressed stabilised earth blocks.
Deepanam School
(Mirramukhi School)

37. Digging the trench and filling the frame Lifting the frame

38. Lifting the frame
Ramming Adding 200L of sand in 1 bag of cement

39. Conclusion
The success of the Auroville experiment has highlighted the import of
integration of all sectors and all levels of planning and design for successful
sustainable living. As the international community continues to intensify the
promotion of technology and processes to reduce anthropogenic carbon
levels, and conserve natural resources, the Auroville model presents a simple
and innovative model for sustainability.
As global temperatures continues to warm, sea levels rise, and natural
resources become even scarcer, communities in rural India and the rest of the
developing world are the most vulnerable to associated climatic change.
Sustainable development must therefore place modification of rural
unsustainable practices at the top of political and social agendas as failure to
do so may lead to issues that have the propensity to accumulate into civil
unrest and conflict.

40. Thank You