Disaster Shelter | Haiti Economic Conditions
Part 3 of a 5 part series

Solar powered cement production has been proven possible and, as a bonus, can be done not just efficiently, but without producing waste carbon dioxide, CO2, the greenhouse gas normally produced in this industrial process. The details are complicated but to quickly sum up this exciting new research, it’s possible to cheaply produce cement using solar power, in an environmentally cleaner way, producing less or no greenhouse gas by-products (CO2) and, as a bonus, the chemical reaction gives off carbon monoxide (CO) which is used as a raw material with a wide range of industrial applications.  This by-product is in theory worth more than it costs to produce the cement, making the cement production (practically) free with the assumption that the CO gas can be collected and sold.

From Nanowerk.com:

I know, it makes my head hurt too. The simple version is, solar thermal cement not only works but can work far better and cleaner than current production methods. This could change everything for Haiti... and the whole world, come to think about it.  Just think what it would mean if the cost of a bag of cement was suddenly half cost. Haiti has plenty of available labor and so many projects that need building. Dams, reservoirs, roads, bridges, houses, all would be in reach if cement was affordable.  Standards of living would rise along with jobs availability. Infrastructure projects would stimulate the economy in a thousand ways. Haitians know how to build and love to build. Inexpensive materials are the key to unlock the potential of the people of Haiti and practically free cement is now theoretically possible.

One final thought. Aid organizations and finance operations like the World Development Bank have money available for Developing World infrastructure projects that make sense financially. This project, that creates the building blocks of every subsequent infrastructure project in Haiti, should have little trouble gathering the support of those who make the planning of long-term strategy their business.

OK Frank, this is a bit long term. What about the short term problem of jobs in Haiti?

I’ve got at least one idea, in next week's Part 4.  I call it:  Haiti… One Brick At A Time.

READ Part 1.

READ Part 2.

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

Could Shelter In A Day's disaster shelter change the world?
Part 2 of a 6 part series

Can a building be versatile enough to be useful for disaster relief, nation building, displaced populations, military personnel housing and storage, and backyard sheds without looking like a greenhouse, steel oven box, tent or yurt?

What would a better, cheaper, faster building look like? What should it do?

Here’s a wish list for immediate housing:

• Can be made quickly as needed and economically. There’s never enough resources.
• Stacks small and tall and forklifts to save cargo space. Delivers onsite with any standard truck.
• Is fast and simple to erect, without costly resources like power, heavy equipment or even tools.
• Can be built by anyone in hours, not days or weeks or even months. No training necessary.
• Can be built with or without a foundation. One may not be available and the need won’t wait.
• Is easily expandable and easily configurable for different needs.
• Can be secured to the ground with a simple to install, screw-into the ground, tie-down system.
• Uses long lasting, sustainable materials that are termite, rust and rot resistant.
• Provides immediate, lockable security for those in need, and their precious belongings. 
• Offers real, permanent protection from the elements, not just shade.
• Comfortable in any climate with screened windows and cross ventilation.
• Is affordable not just initially, but over time. Saves most building costs.
• Can be easily modified with familiar tools to adapt to local needs.
• Can be disassembled, stored and reused when necessary. 
• Damaged parts are easy to replace as all parts of the structure are standardized.
• Provides dignified, familiar looking, but most of all, affordable housing.

Would you believe this house exists!  How was it done? What’s changed?

I have been a cabinetmaker for over 45 years. My kitchen shop has a computerized (CNC) router, a relatively new technology that cuts all my cabinets, saving time, mistakes and money. With the collapse of the building industry in 2008, I found the time to take up my longstanding dream and began designing furniture to be cut with the CNC router. I was cutting fiberboard because it was the least expensive material I could get to practice with. Slowly, I came to respect this seldom used material.

To get around fiberboards’ connecting problem, I re-invented an old-style carpenter’s joint, the mortise and through-tenon with locking peg, making it possible to cut all the parts using a CNC router. This new Tool Free joint is designed to be assembled without metal fasteners, using just a hammer, cut from the same fiberboard material.  The joint overcomes the connecting problems of the material and magnifies all its strengths. It forms a connection that has proven to be both easy to assemble and surprisingly strong, allowing the use of fiberboard for structural applications for the first time. These three leaps forward, (the ‘Green’ fiberboard material, the new joint, and precise cutting with a CNC router) working together, make Shelter In A Day a breakthrough development and an innovative, new technology.

According to World Population Balance website, our world population will add an average of 200,000 people every day. Additionally, millions, even billions of people now have unsafe, substandard housing made from found materials (that’s a nice word for junk). All these people need housing and this housing should be made from sustainable materials if we care about our future generations. Sustainable materials are used and reused and easily replaced, are natural in origin, are grown, not mined, and familiar to people

In February, my Shelter won a People’s Choice Award at the Inventors Fair in Palm Beach. This spring, Shelter In A Day took the really big prize, Most Innovative Product, from the very people who really know the Disaster Relief World, in a landslide vote by this year’s participants at the Aid and International Development Forum in Washington, D.C.

Can I really build a house, school, clinic or church…in an afternoon? 

Check back next week for Part 3.  Read Part 1.

READERS: What are your thoughts?

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

Could Shelter In A Day's disaster shelter change the world?
Part 1 of a 6 part series

When I see reports about the thousands of homeless in Haiti or in cities worldwide or those tornado victims in Moore Oklahoma, I think, what would it feel like to have nowhere to go this evening...or tomorrow… or next month? After the earthquake in Haiti, I couldn’t sleep… for weeks. I’d toss and turn, worrying that something, anything had to be done. But what?

Imagine yourself living in a shack made of scrap metal, old plywood or sticks and tarps, or the rags the tarps have become. Just imagine the walls of your home blowing in the wind, no lock on the flap that is your door, no privacy, no security for your family or possessions, rain leaking down on everybody and everything you have left, maybe a storm coming. Now imagine how it feels to know nothing is likely to get better for the foreseeable future…

I know, I said I’d lift your spirits so… It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

Food, Water, Shelter… Basic Human Needs

According to a Pew Research poll, after the earthquake, nearly half of Americans either gave or planned to give money for Haiti relief, at least 1.4 Billion…where did it go? It’s hard to say, and there’s the problem. This spring, I went to the Aid and International Development Forum in Washington D.C. and talked with insiders who know something about where donations go. Although a good deal went to food, water and temporary shelter, the overall picture for permanent relief and rebuilding is not good. They tell me that somehow even the best of intentions get mired in unavoidable costs.

What if I told you it’s now possible to affordably end homelessness?  Hard to believe?  To answer this we need to take it step by step to be clear… and I will reveal how, so Stay With Me. After all, it’s not every day you get to change the world.

Building anything, homes, schools, clinics, takes time and time is the enemy. Traditional building techniques use expensive materials, individually sourced and in greatest demand whenever the need is critical. Building also requires plenty of skilled labor, heavy equipment, tools, power and time…lots and lots of time. You and I know it’s frustrating to build anything…but we’ve gotten used to it because we don’t have any choices. We all know that time is money but we’re stuck in a rut. It’s aggravating, right?

Imagine you are trying to build just one simple house in the middle of nowhere but you need it now, or hundreds of houses for flood victims in say, Japan, or thousands perhaps in Moore, Oklahoma, or hundreds of thousands in Haiti because the need is so great. Now multiply that number by the total time to build anything including the foundation, tools, materials, the labor, and all the time related overhead like meals, lodging, transport, the list goes on and on and ... Wow.

It’s no wonder we, as a caring society, are overwhelmed. It’s no wonder government aid and disaster relief organizations and NGO’s with the best of intentions, can’t seem to make much headway.

Can we build Better, Cheaper, Faster? The old saying goes; choose any two. How do we get all three?

Check back next week for Part 2.

READER: What are your thoughts?

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

Disaster Shelter | Haiti Economic Conditions, Part 2 of 5

What can be done about deforestation in Haiti?

Haiti is suffering from a vicious cycle where poverty and overpopulation fuels the denuding of more and more ground. This cycle results in more ground being washed away which circles back to the beginning of the cycle. In general terms, Haiti needs better control of the rainfall they do receive. This means water projects, erosion control, dams and reservoirs, and irrigation, but all these projects are expensive and require lots of concrete and labor. Here’s the real problem standing in the way of progress… Haiti imports all their concrete (cement powder). There is always a ship anchored in the bay and lighters (smaller boats) ferrying the cement to shore where it is broken into individual shipments, loaded onto trucks and delivered throughout the country. All of this activity is expensive and made more so by the fact that it is all one-way traffic. The trucks return (mostly) empty, the lighters return empty and the ship returns empty.  All this is a real drag on the economy and it upsets the balance of payments because the country has few exports to offset the money drain from importing cement.

Cement is an indispensable commodity in Haiti. It would be hard to overstate that cement tends to come just after water and food in its importance to the economy and its reach into the daily lives of the people.  Because they have no forests and imported wood is costly, everything in Haiti is built with cement.

 The way it seems to work is this. If a family has a good week, they can afford the next bag or two of cement. Everywhere you go in Haiti you’ll see piles of limestone gravel next to piles of limestone sand. The cement is normally mixed on the ground with this sand and gravel to make concrete, poured into cinder block molds or poured into forms to build housing. Because every bag is precious and the need is far greater than the supply, all building materials are stretched to the limit and invariably, too much is attempted with too little, resulting in weak construction… which, by the way, fell down in the earthquake, killing hundreds of thousands. It sometimes takes years to build the family home, one bag of cement at a time and this piecemeal construction with its multiple concrete pours, also results in poor  quality. We all know that time is money. Taking years to build a house costs far more than it should because time has many costs associated with it. The important thing to understand from all this is; the high cost of imported cement is a major drag on the economy of Haiti, and the resulting poor quality construction was the major cause of the many, many earthquake deaths.

The interesting thing is, cement is simply cooked, limestone powder. The whole Island of Hispaniola is made of limestone…it’s literally everywhere, underfoot.  So you might ask, why doesn’t Haiti produce their own cement? The answer in a word is… energy. It takes energy to cook limestone powder at almost 900 degrees C to make cement, and Haiti doesn’t have any available. All their oil is imported and there is no local, natural gas industry. The result is that it’s still cheaper to import cement made where fuel is cheap than to import fuel and make cement even if the raw material, limestone, is practically free.

What they do have in Haiti is limestone, inexpensive labor and sunshine, lots of sunshine.  Putting these ideas together we come to the really important question, is it possible to cook limestone with solar power?

The exciting answer is…YES. I’ll tell you how in Part 3 (coming soon!).

READ: Part  1.

READERS: What are some suggestions you might offer?

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

About
Frank Schooley, Designer | Disaster Shelter

On the day of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, furniture designer Frank Schooley was saddened and moved by the destruction he saw replayed on the news.  It’s been estimated that 3 million people were affected by Haiti’s earthquake with approximately 316,000 souls perishing and 1 million Haitians left homeless. Haiti’s government also estimated 250,000 personal residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were either severely damaged or just collapsed altogether. Over three years later, sadly not much has changed. A traveler to Haiti today will find that the same disastrous construction is being rebuilt in the same dangerous way.

Being an industrious furniture maker, Frank knew he could help. Using the same techniques and materials he originally developed for his eco-friendly furniture line Terrapeg, he immediately starting drafting plans for a disaster relief shelter he calls Shelter In Day.

Learn more about Frank Schoolye's innovative disaster shelter or contact us today.

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

We are excited to announce that Shelter In A Day won AIDFs 2013 Most Innovative Product Award for our disaster shelter.

Shelter In A Day is the perfect home for Haiti or those displaced by natural disasters. Shelter In A Day's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure housing in a hurry. 

Shelters are incredibly easy to construct. Our green disaster recover shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and a rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows. Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be quickly erected anywhere, in one day, without tools, or electricity.

Frank Schooley, owner of Shelter In A Day Day said “We’re absolutely thrilled to have won this. We were not expecting to win and we appreciate the recognition.”

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Winner of 2013 Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) "Most Innovative Product Award." Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day. 

Disaster Shelter | Haiti Economic Conditions, Part 1 of 5

After several trips to Haiti after creating my disaster shelter, Shelter In A Day, the thing that stands out about Haiti's economic conditions are the lack of jobs. Sadly, no matter where you go in Haiti, there are always plenty of people around who obviously need something better to do. It was in Haiti that I first heard the word ‘funemployment’ which means that you have work you are doing but there is no paycheck involved.

I met and talked to people all over the country and there are several impressions that worked their way into my mind: First, The Haitian people, as a whole, are the happiest and friendliest people I have ever encountered in my travels. Second, they love to be busy and if there is no work, they will stay busy somehow (funemployment). Third, they have a deep respect for education as the way forward for their people.

The dysfunctional politics of Haiti can be mostly blamed on the economic conditions that prevail. There is not enough economic activity in general and almost no exports in particular. This results in a small tax base and chronically underfunded government. This was made far worse when most government buildings were destroyed by the earthquake. The overall economic conditions can be blamed on many things but from my perspective, much of the fault can be attributed to the fact that Haiti and the Haitian people have always been victims of their odd geography.  The Island of Hispaniola which contains both Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR) is situated in the tropical trade-winds. Haiti is downwind (west) of the DR and ringed with mountains along its windward borders.  The moisture laden, northeast (winter) and southeast (summer) trade winds are forced upwards by the mountains on the DR side.  This causes them to drop their moisture on the way up. The result is that most rainfall occurs in the DR making that country relatively lush and Haiti gets what rainfall is left, which isn’t enough to support the population agriculturally without irrigation. This rainfall difference is dramatic when seen from the air. The border is starkly delineated by greenery on the DR side and bare ground on the other, and deforestation is spreading, compounding the misery of the Haitian people.

You might ask where is this going?  What can be done?  To find out more check back next week for Part 2 in our 5 part series - Disaster Shelter | Haiti Economic Conditions.

READERS: What are some suggestions you might offer?

About Shelter In A Day | Disaster Shelters
Shelter In A Day is the brainchild of eco-friendly, furniture designer Frank Schooley. Shelter's disaster recovery housing provides safe and secure, simple to construct, green homes for those displaced by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. 

The disaster shelters are a solidly constructed, termite, rust and rot resistant house, with lockable doors and windows.  Homes are crafted from waterproof, recycled wood fiber material and can be easily erected anywhere, in one day.