Energy and low-income tropical housing in Tanzania

Low-income housing in Tanzania is traditionally made from mud and thatch. With thatch having a typical life span of 2-7 years and mangrove poles 5-15 years, low durability is identified as the key issue with the traditional low-income house design. This paper studies the financial and social implications, embodied energy (EE) and human energy (HE) of a variety of materials in a bid to identify both the positive and negative impacts of each material substitution on the overall design, the environment and the local community. Using primary data collected from houses in the Mbweni district of Dar es Salaam and The Inventory of Carbon and Energy to calculate EE, a qualitative and quantitative assessment of each material is made. 47% of residents questioned in Tanzania, identified low durability to be the key issue with their mud house, with design changes which address this issue therefore affecting the largest share of the population. Stabilised bricks are identified as the key material substitution that should be adopted by local people, they perform well in terms of improved durability, financial and environmental considerations, and have the potential to be socially beneficial as well. This research identifies the social considerations to be key to understanding how local people will respond to the suggested material substitutions and whether they are likely to be adopted in the future. Whilst the environmental considerations are important, this is not a concept local people can relate to and does not affect their day-to-day lives as much as financial and social implications. It is extremely difficult and ethically questionable, especially in communities with people living close to poverty, to expect someone to adopt a design which requires more effort/money on their part, just because it is better for the environment.