The labour intensive winning of paving stone direct out of the earth was and still is perhaps the most environmentally friendly of any method of production of building materials requiring mainly manual labour. Slate & sandstone mining generally takes stone resources from dry and barren areas where crops would not normally grow.

The environmental friendliness of stone continues on when it is used in homes and buildings. The thermal mass of slate & sandstone makes it an ideal heat bank. Used inside the home it adopts the ambient temeprature and thoughtfully shaded or exposed to the sun allows it and its surroundings to be kept cool in Summer and warm in Winter. Architects and designers of environmentally friendly and solar passive homes specify that dark coloured slate and sandstone be placed on the floors inside north facing windows. The sun's rays collected in these natural stone heat banks during the day are reflected back at night when the curtains are drawn. The use of natural stone heat banks significantly lowers home heating costs and in turn reduces the need for heating using fossil fuels.
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