Are there eco friendly green homes being built?
6 Sustainable Homes you maybe didn’t know exist…
Sustainable Home (səˈstānəb(ə)l hōm) – A structure that not only provides shelter and basic living needs for its inhabitants but also takes note to the quality of building materials, energy systems and practices used to create, build and maintain the property.
Being permaculturists we love sustainable homes and we tremble at the idea of new suburban communities and apartment complexes still being built in this day in age that don’t take into account using materials and practices that are profitable but also benefit not only the inhabitants but the environment in which it is being built upon. Sustainable homes take into account not only the quality and longevity of the property and materials being used but also the impact it will have on everything before, during and after the building/project is completed.
So with that in mind here are 6 Sustainable homes that hopefully will become more common.
#1 Cob House – A house literally made out of dirt and water. Seriously, cob is a ratio of subsoil which is soil, sand and straw dampened and balled up into clay-like lumps that are compressed and sculpted. Wall surfaces are built up with this damp cob mixture to create smooth, curvie forms.
#2 Earthships -An offgrid house built of tires and recycles material that harvests its solar power, controls its water supply, grows its own food, and treats its own sewage on site. Seriously this is the only house the will travel through and withstand the test of time. The main infrastructure is over 1000 +earth rammed old used tires that creates its own thermal mass which then provides a constant 60-70 degree temperature regulated house all year around. Its metal roof and buried cisterns allows this earthship to catch and provide its own treated water plant. It has a grey water system that allows used water to be pushed through the greenhouse once before heading to the bathroom to fill the toilets for flushing. The greywater is then recycled for the last time for all flushing needs and as it turns to black water it heads out to the leech field for outside landscaping water needs. Besides using old tires, recycled glass bottles are used in a few of non-weight bearing walls to create a stain glass effect that is not only eco-friendly but also quite beautiful.By far our favorite option when it comes to the ultimate sustainable home that will last forever and potentially one of the simple survival models out on our property one day.
#3 Hempcrete Home – a traditionally built house but insulated with a material consisting of hemp and lime. Also called hemplime which is bio-composite mixture of hemp hurds and lime which can be used as a material for construction and insulation of a home. Hemp homes used similar methods used in building strawbale homes. Hempcrete can be up to ⅛ the weight of concrete but has highly insulating qualities A Standard built wall can have up to r19 insulation value and a 12 inch thick walls can provide up to R30 insulation value along with thermal mass capabilities. Fully cured hempcrete blocks can float; however hempcrete cannot be used for structural element but can help prevent racking in walls. It also provides a breathable qualities that helps prevent moisture, pests and improves interior air quality. Hempcrete is also considered a good fire retardant. Bonus Hempcrete fact: it is carbon-negative. Cement production and use generates too much CO2 – the most of any man-made material. Lime production is a lower temperature process that produces much less CO2. The hemp plant absorbs carbon as it grows. The lime absorbs more CO2 as it mineralizes back to calcium carbonate. The result is a material that consumes more carbon than it produces. And can sequester around 110kg to 165kg of CO2 per cubic metre.
#4 Strawbale homes are nice because you can basically grow your home, they have a high insulation value and they are aesthetically pleasing as well. Using a renewable source like straw as it insulation and it can also be load bearing when done properly. However most choose to build with standard framing and then packing the walls with straw and then applying a earthen lime plaster to hold it all into place and to of course finish off the final look of the walls. When using full bales the window sills create this beautiful wide bench affect great for reading and looking out in the window at your permaculture paradise. We have blueprints to build a tiny 600 sq ft strawball with a master loft someday.
#5 Tiny Houses – We are big fans of tiny house living for so many reasons. The sustainability rating will always be on top on the charts from their sheer tiny micro footprints alone. Also most tiny house dwellers source their materials with sustainability in mind. Usually repurposing materials when they can, or buying quality over crappy to increase the longevity and functionality of the tiny house overtime. We are also big fans because we own one and it was our first house we owned and lived in without roommates, lol from July 2015 – april 2019. We have since purchased a Denver home that is on grid and this is our first official winter way from our tiny house because it’s not winter conducive which most tiny house people will find that they may travel south in the winter if there house can move. However our Tiny house is stationary and very tall. You can stand in the bedroom it is dope AF. However, we made a huge design flaw and put our house on stilts on top of a hill in the prairie and the extreme winter winds cause major water freezing issues. Our house stays warm but our pipes do not and we ended up relying on my parents for the essentials like bathing oneself, doing your dishes and laundry. I know if all else fails parents and friends typically have your back but after so many times and years of living assistance, it is nice to break free and truly take ownership of our life and our daily actions and decisions. It was nice living mortgage and rent free for 3 years but it also feels good to have a place to call home in the city. Our tiny house waits for its boomsteader and it’s a great off-grid sustainable cabin that will be passed down to our god-babies and future generations.
#6 STRs and new companies like kasita – STRs stands for Short Term Rentals , I wanted to include this because you may be a tiny house dweller who doesn’t quite want to own a van or a tiny house. You might be an entrepreneurial or business nomad who invests his or her money in the now and wants to leave the lightest footprint around. Sustainable STRS are going to be a thing of the future. Nice, Sleek Designed tiny spaces that will offer functionality but also concierge like hospitality and the ever desired feeling of home away from home. Check what’s coming to Austin in 2020. The Kasita provides hospitality for the independent traveler that needs just the right amount of resources to keep living the dream. And its companies like Kasita that make us excited about the future of sustainable home design.
These 6 sustainable homes are just a taste of what is out there when it comes to home innovation and design. If you are in a place to move please try to make the sustainable choice. If you are not planning on moving anytime soon there is so much you can start doing to make where you life more sustainable. Stay tune to an upcoming blog that will show you 5 ways to make your current living situation more sustainable.
Refrences: http://www.americanlimetechnology.com/bob-clayton/
