Sustainable Technology and Design in Auroville

Kunal Sahu (12BCL1034), Nataraja Sai Charan (12BCL1053), Harshit Kumar (12BCL1010)

A B S T R A C T

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. In this project we

have found out how the use of sustainable technology and design helps Auroville to have a better life. We

have shown the different technologies that are used in Auroville which serves as renewable resource. We have

compared the cost of Compressed Stabilised Earth Block (CSEB) with other types of blocks.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

1. Location

Auroville is located 12 kilometres north of Pondicherry, India. The term Auroville comes from the

French “aurora” meaning dawn, and “ville” meaning city. In the 1960’s, the fascination for India and the

longing to actively achieve sustainable development led a small band of people from various different

countries to join together in a common vision for this degraded region. At the inception of Auroville in 1968,

the founder - Mirra Alfassa (referred to as ‘the Mother’ within Auroville) was concerned with creating a

unique community that would integrate social, spiritual and environmental consciousness in its growth. This

social consciousness, alongside the natural environment has created the ideal experimental community for

innovation and design.

Satellite view

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.

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 approximately one-

third are Indian.

2. 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

In Auroville around 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. Six village settlements within the Auroville township area. 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. And remaining few

playgrounds, center field.

M E T H O D O L O G Y

Sustainable Technology

Technology plays an important role in the pursuit for sustainable living. 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.

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

heating systems.

Cost Estimation

A regular house consumption Consumption in Auroville

350 kWh/house 280 kWh/house

350kWh x 1700 houses 280kWh x 1700 houses

5,95,000 kWh Unit used 4,76,000 kWh Unit used

Rs. 42,50,000 by a colony in city Rs. 33,32,000 by a society in Auroville

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 CSR wastewater systems

designs are based around tenets of simplicity, affordability, and need for minimal energy input.

To avoid the inefficiency and high cost of municipal wastewater management, the CSR has adopted

various techniques of Integrated Decentralized Waste Water Systems. 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.

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.

Electric Vehicle (EV) Technology

A large portion of the energy consumption in Auroville is spent on transporting people and goods. 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.

1. Central to the success of EV is the instalment of charging points at convenient locations throughout

the community.

2. Awareness campaigns around the advantages of EV over the currently used petrol motorcycles and

mopeds are also important for the successful implementation of the EVs.

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.

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. 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.

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. A proper management of the earth resources can create a new and

harmonious balance between nature and the buildings, where each enriches and completes the other. Auroville

shows various possibilities for the use of quarries: as water harvesting ponds, waste water treatment ponds,

pools, basement floors or shallow Biological wastewater treatment depressions which are used for landscape

design, work or play areas, gardens, etc.

STABILISED RAMMED EARTH WALLS

This technique has been introduced in Auroville only in 1995, for the construction of Mirramukhi School, which

has been renamed as Deepanam School later on. A slipping type formwork has been designed and developed. The panels

are lifted up and the walls are built like piers walls. Our process is similar to the modern rammed earth system practiced

in USA or Australia, but adapted to the local context of a developing country. We ram by hand and we have developed

also some peripheral equipment.

Some sand is always added: 25 to 30 % according to the soil quality, so as to reduce shrinkage. Cement

percentage will vary with the soil quality, but in Auroville, they always use 5 % by weight of cement.

COMPRESSED STABILISED EARTH BLOCKS

A wide range of equipment for building with earth, the Auram equipment, has been researched and

developed from the very onset by the Auroville Earth Institute. It ranges from a press for compressed stabilised

earth blocks, quality control devices for block making, handling equipment, hand tools, scaffolding, to

rammed earth equipment. The Auram press 3000 is widely used multi mould manual press which can fit 16

moulds on it, for producing about 70 different types of blocks, with various shapes and thicknesses.

Wide variety of compressed stabilised earth blocks, by the Auram press 3000

CSEB made in Auroville with 5% cement, have an average dry compressive crushing strength of 50

kg/cm² (5 MPa) and a wet compressive crushing strength of 25 kg/cm². The water absorption is around 10%.

Country fired bricks have around 35 kg/cm² for the dry compressive strength and 12% water absorption.

Cost Effectiveness

CSEB are generally cheaper than fired bricks. This will vary from place to place and specially according to

the cement cost. The cost break down of a 5 % stabilised block will depend on the local context.

The strength of a block is related to the press quality and the compression force, and to the quantity of

stabiliser. This implies that to reduce the cost of a block one should try to reduce the quantity of cement but not the

cost of the labour with unskilled people. One should also not cut down the cost of the press with cheap quality

machines, which would not last and would not give strong blocks.

CSEB are generally cheaper than fired bricks. No plaster is needed in most of cases. Less mortar are required

and it’s 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.

CSEB is a very labour intensive technology. It requires13 people per press for manual pressing. This gives job

opportunities and livelihood to people and also insure sustainability.

Energy Effectiveness

Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) do not require as country fire blocks do. Around 100 tons of

wood burnt for 250,000 fired bricks. Studies have shown that building an m² of masonry with CSEB consumes 5 times

less energy than an m² of wire cut bricks masonry and 15 times less than country fired bricks!

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.

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)

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.

COMPARISON OF BUILDING MATERIALS IN AUROVILLE

(January 2007)

C O N C L U S I O N

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.

A top-down and bottom-up approach is essential for the successful implementation of sustainable living

practices in developing countries such as India. Effective top down policy should involve economic incentivizing for

green and renewable technologies as the current costs of these technologies dis-incentivize their adoption within rural

areas. Decentralized planning of community facilities such as water facilities, wastewater plants etc is also a more eco-

friendly approach to sustainability. Currently, in India there are very few and highly ineffective policies that encourage

sustainability within the rural communities. Institutions such as IFMR Trust can step in to advocate for more effective

policies for these communities.

An effective bottom-up approach must center on education of sustainability within the rural communities.

Without the appropriate understanding of the need, implications and benefits of sustainable practices and processes,

policies and projects are unlikely to be successful in the long-run. Social experimentation2 has shown that education

coupled with strategic social and emotional campaigns is an effective way of prompting behavioural change.

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.