Global warming protest.

Wall linings - Want an alternative to plasterboard?

It is often the case when choosing building materials that there will be a compromise between choosing what is best for the environment and what you can afford.

The name for the material most commonly used to line the walls and ceilings of timber framed or metal framed houses differs around the world.
In north America it is drywall, in other countries, plasterboard, wallboard, gypsum board, etc. It may also be referred to by the name of the manufacturer, e.g., Sheetrock or Gyprock.

For my purposes I am going to call it plasterboard because it is manufactured by rolling gypsum plaster, (basically wet calcium sulfate) between two sheets of paper. Plasterboard is a very versatile and useful material and I am sure it will continue to be manufactured and widely used for many years.
Plasterboard is however neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly. Calcium sulfate has to be quarried or mined as gypsum or anhydrite, or otherwise manufactured.

When plasterboard is used in construction, boards have to be cut to fit as required so there is a lot of waste which ends up in landfill. Demolition or renovation of buildings containing plasterboard also adds to landfill.
You can't recycle plasterboard.

One alternative is known as VJ Paneling.

A company called Masterline use medium density fibreboard (MDF) to make panels with the traditional VJ profile.

MDF is made from plantation timber and so as a sustainable choice it is preferable to plasterboard. Working with MDF requires that you wear a suitable mask as the dust produced when cutting MDF is very fine and contains chemicals which could cause respiratory problems if inhaled.

A better alternative in my opinion is VY paneling made using plywood.

This is the product used by a company called SALA Homes, who are very serious about sustainability. They say
"SALA provides homes which significantly reduce your power and water consumption with minimal cost to you and to the environment. They are made of quality sustainable building materials, yet are initially affordable and will save you money in the long term".

Of course not everyone is going to like the look of VJ over the look of plasterboard.

And plasterboard will probably be cheaper to buy than alternative wall linings.

Plasterboard would be my choice for ceilings.

I would choose VJ ply for walls.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

A list of some US based energy saving calculators and other resources.

I must apologise for not being able to direct you to the site where I found this list, but its all about spreading the sustainabilty gospel so I hope they dont mind:

U.S. Department of Energy: .

Home Energy Saver:

The Building Life-Cycle Cost Program:

Personal Emissions Calculator:

General Electrical Energy Cost Calculator:

Carbon Footprint Calculator:

Energy Guide’s Carbon Footprint Calculator:


Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Footprint Calculator:


An Inconvenient Truth’s Carbon Footprint Calculator:


Power Score Card:


365 Ways to Save Energy:


EnergyQuest’s Saving Energy Page:

Alliance to Save Energy:

Changing, NOT Retiring.

Something I have noted about people, especially men who have recently retired, is that a lot of them seem to spend too much time dwelling on the past.

For instance they come into the library where I work asking for books that they read 30 years ago, oblivious to the fact that in the interim millions of good books have been published.

It is almost as if that now their working life is over they feel they have no direction or meaningful purpose.

Someone once told me that you should never plan to retire. Plan to be always doing something whether profitable or not.

Plan for the future and for as long as you are able, plan to be doing something.

It would be naive to suggest that getting older does not bring you problems.

And if you believe some of the more pessimistic commentators then there is not a lot to look forward to.


But how long we will remain active and able is impossible to know.

For the sake of our happiness surely we should hope that the glass will always be more than half full.

When discussing our proposed sea change with friends, The Woman and I sometimes get the impression that others think we are making the wrong move.

According to some, once the offspring have left home and you are looking at the wrong side of fifty you should be thinking of downsizing.
Perhaps moving into a smaller house, probably within a short drive of the grandchildren who will be arriving sooner or later, so that you can babysit them, allowing their fun loving parents to largely continue the party which has until now been their life.


But not everyone over the age of fifty thinks its all about the kids. There are the sun seekers, millions of them who having raised their own brood do not aspire to the role of unpaid babysitter, even if the rug rats are your own descendants.

They head off for a place in the sun. Perhaps Florida if you are American, Spain if you are British, to enjoy in retirement the wealth they have accumulated along the way through hard work or otherwise.

(Isn't it ironic, Alanis, that there is a lot of money being made by catering to a large section of the population who no longer work for a living? I mean of course the Retirement Industry, mainly real estate agents and developers building various types of housing aimed at the Over 55s; Seniors; Retirees, of whatever label you want to attach to people who have made it past the big five-o.)


Of course retirement means different things to different people. Not all that long ago it meant leaving work and putting your feet up for a few short years before you died!

But on average we live longer now. Most of us will see 80. And retirement planning through pension funds and supperannuation means many can leave full time work from the age of 55 on.

The woman and I have no intention of spending 25 years playing lawn bowls, golf, fishing, reminiscing about the past or most of the other stereotypical things you do "In retirement".

For us, the plan is to move to the coast to build a passive-solar environmentally friendly house on a rural-residential block of land big enough to support a permaculture garden and some fruit trees.




Its not retirement. Its a lifestyle change.

That said we have no intention of becoming slaves to the change.

We still intend to factor in plenty of time for recreation.

So dont plan to retire - plan to change.