What the What?

In my first Substack post last Monday I provided readers with a view of the “who” that makes up Nova Terra - basically me and my company - and from a high level who we represent as a brand. Today I am going to introduce you to the “what”, which is our patented building system and what has evolved to become Nova Terra’s EcoBlox. What is an EcoBlok?

Nova Terra’s EcoBlox are:

• Free of cement

• Fireproof

• 4x stronger than traditional adobe

• Climate friendly

• Mold resistant

• Earthquake resistant

• Bulletproof (no really, ask the US Army)

• Produced from waste - Nova Terra is using sand and clay fines from rock quarries to build EcoBlox. These raw materials are actually considered an “overburden” by the aggregate industry; they are a simple by-product of excavation operations, but raw material for Nova Terra! 

The Nova Terra Differentiator: NREL, West Gate and the Colorado School of Mines (testing/innovation program). Prior to gaining entrance into West Gate I wasn’t floundering on the science side, because I am an engineer, but I also wasn’t moving the innovation needle forward fast enough for the world we live in now.

EcoBlox can work in a variety of climates while maintaining the sustainable loop of excavating local dirt in order to produce Colorado EcoBlox, New Mexico EcoBlox, Utah EcoBlox, Texas EcoBlox, Oklahoma EcoBlox and so on down America’s dirt corridor formerly known as Route 66.

The science, innovation and commercialization is already in motion thanks to NREL. I knew I needed a partner on the science side and though I had made a valiant effort over the years to try and find an innovation partner I failed consistently for a handful of reasons not related to effort, but rather access. In my case, access to the actual science and business mentorship. 

When I learned about the two-year West Gate lab-embedded entrepreneurship program, the decade of confusion suddenly cleared, revealing a smart, clean and efficient road. As a result Nova Terra is investigating the addition of phase change materials (PCMs) within the building envelope, which could provide additional energy savings benefits over traditional insulation materials.

https://syndego.net/

PCMs provide a fascinating opportunity to shift peak energy demands and store thermal energy. Similar to the properties of thermal mass, PCMs do this while changing the phase of a material - from solid to liquid in our case. 

My fellow engineering nerds might appreciate the following statistical details:

EcoBlox Stats:
Size: 6″ x 12″ x 3-1/2″ and 4″ x 12″ x 3-1/2″
(height can vary from 2″ to 5″)

Weight: 15.85 lbs average

Compressive Strength: 1250 psi average

Modulus of Rupture: 305 psi average

Dry Density: 152 lbs/ft³ average (normal weight)

Thermal Conductivity: 0.35 W/mk

R-value: 0.42/in or 2.52 for 6″ wide block (our double insulated wall achieves an R-17)

EcoBlox have been tested in accordance with ASTM methods and meet the physical property requirements of the IBC Section 2109.

Drawing the header image

Next week I plan to show you “how” we make EcoBlox.

–end