Building should be simple, fast, and should not require special skills, at least on a small scale. SAMI JUOLA, CEO OF EARTH HOUSE Earth House's electrical installer Timo Kettunen building a grain storage unit commisioned by Irish Aid in Zambia's North Territory, north of Lu-wingu. "This unit was the first in which we used Ensto's electricity. Ensto's solution streamlined the installation, and sped it up by at least three days in difficult circumstances - not to mention the quality!" ENSTO TODAY 1/2016 27 " “The community around the mine has everything,” says Juola, “but it’s being sold in five kilo quantities by families.” These are amounts too small for the mining company to deal with. “So we created the mechanism to enable collection from many families: centralized storage.” Agri-storage The Earth House agri-storage facility, constructed using the same technique and technology as its homes, can store the pro-duction of 200 families. At these larger quantities, Barrick will guarantee they’ll buy a family’s production. “It’s a win-win case for all involved,” says Juola. “The mining company gets a better product at lower price in a sustainable way. The local residents get a foundation for livelihood.” From one agri-storage unit comes a positive spiral of ben-efits. “Families then have income which can be used to build a proper bored well. Children stay in school, because then they don’t have to carry water all day.“ Juola says this aspect was not understood in the begin-ning. “It’s an example of living and learning. We were there to sell houses, but the women told us that they needed livelihoods. They could buy homes only if they first had an economic basis for doing so.” Green house, green partners Earth House currently guarantees 80 percent of labor and mate-rials sourced locally. "For the other 20 percent we want to be as sustainable as possible," says Juola, and so he has chosen to source from Finland's greenest companies, and those who share his values of social responsibility. Ensto has supplied connectors, luminaires, and distribution boards for Earth House. And while its products are green, they also just make sense: "EnstoNet is a click-in solution which does not require specialists to install. We can’t go wrong with it." Juola’s vision is for Earth House suppliers to see merit in investing in developing markets and local production. “A local solution with Ensto standards. That’s our long-term goal.” From family to family Earth House is now beginning to see some success on the long road to developing countries. A few prototype homes have been constructed, thanks to a deal made in December 2013. A family is constructing an organic farm education center in Northeastern Zambia, and an additional 12 buildings are slated for construction using Earth House technology. And so it’s per-haps only fitting that Earth House is also a family company with what might be considered a family approach toward business. “Our design is open source,” Juola says. “We don’t patent anything. Even though we come from as far away as Finland, we believe building a strong brand and choosing the right partners will protect us.”
EnstoToday 2016 No1 / ENG
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