FLORENCE, Ala., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The Federation of American Scientists is testing a polystyrene-based housing material for use in earthquake-prone, Third World areas.
The federation is working with a Florence, Ala., concern that's been developing the cheap, energy efficient and lightweight foam material for two decades, the BBC reported Wednesday.
H.H. Haddock uses a panel with a 4-inch to 12-inch-thick core of expanded polystyrene sandwiched between two half-inch sheets of cement.
On a construction site, the 120-pound, 4-foot-by-8-foot panels interlock as do Legos, meaning such houses go up in a third of the time it takes to build a conventional "stick" house, says Haddock.
A federation spokeswoman says one of the advantages to the Haddock approach is that polystyrene products are made all over the world.
In earthquake-prone Afghanistan, the foam would be wrapped in a low-tech layer of chicken wire, then covered with a thin layer of concrete.
The federation has asked architect Harry van Burick of the U.S.-based group Shelter for Life International, to design a two-room starter home for Afghans, using Haddock's expanded polystyrene foam panel system.
