If you've ever thought that the place where you lived was shit, spare a thought for those living in new housing projects in Indonesia, as their houses
may actually be constructed from it.
Students from Indonesia's Prasetiya Mulya Business School have just won the 2009 Global Social Venture Competition with their invention, the EcoFaeBrick. With the local clay quarries overmined due to Indonesia's huge demand for affordable housing, pressure on the land has been enormous, so the environmentally-conscious students have taken advantage of an abundant natural resource: cow manure.
EcoFaeBrick provide a highly economical solution to a waste problem while helping to preserve the local environment from the damages caused by clay quarries. Not only are the bricks 20% lighter and stronger than the traditional variety, they are considerably cheaper and easier; and, in terms of CO2 emissions, they're cleaner to manufacture.
What's more, it's hoped that this venture will drastically increase the revenue of local farmers, whose cattle were previously only useful for producing milk or meat -- thereby increasing their quality of life and ultimately encouraging ex-clay miners to farm.
