A Labor-Reducing, Time-Saving, Amazing Machine Gives Rebirth To A Sustainable, Beautiful Blast From The Past

Henk van Kuijk, owner of Vanku Machinebouw (machine construction), from Brabantine Gilze-Rijen, the Netherlands, has developed an amazing machine called Tiger-Stone. An electric powered, gravity employing ballasting machine crawling along a sand base accurately laying sustainable brick/paver roads at an astounding 400 square meters (1,312 sq. ft.), a day. The width span can be adjusted up to 6 meters (19.68 feet) wide.

Brick roads have been road/street building material for centuries and pavers of one sort or another have been building roads for around 2,000 years or so. Brick/paver roads had fallen out of favor because they were so back-breaking labor and time intensive. But since the dawn of the green building movement and Tiger-Stone – they’re baaaacck! Bricks and pavers are easy to manufacture, reuse (a biggie), last an extremely long time, virtually maintenance free, and they are easily replaced in case of damage. They absorb rainwater between their seams helping renew aquifers and reducing storm water runoff. They can take intense heat, rain, snow, and freezing without cracking and the damage that leds to the potholes we’ve all come to know and loathe.

A mini-loader dumps bricks or stones into a hopper where up to three workers feed paving stones or bricks onto an angled plane, as the electrically powered Tiger-Stone travels in reverse. This allows (with the help of gravity) the angled plane to roll out a perfectly aligned, curb to curb, beautiful, sustainable, instant road.

In fact, watch the magic for yourself:

…. as the green future unfolds.

Turning Stormwater Problems Into Water Supply Assets

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), is testing a variety of different permeable pavement materials and rain gardens in the parking lot at the agency’s Edison, N.J. facility. Green infrastructure applications and approaches can reduce, capture, and treat storm water runoff at its source before it can reach the sewer system. Site-specific practices, such as green roofs, downspout disconnections (downspouts on many homes are connected directly the sewer system — I passed smooth out when I first heard about that little modern convenience!), rain harvesting/gardens, planter boxes, and permeable pavement are designed to mimic natural hydro logic functions and decrease the amount of impervious area and storm water runoff from individual sites. These applications and approaches can keep storm water out of the sewer system to reduce overflows and to reduce the amount of untreated storm water discharging to surface waters. (more…)