Showing posts with label sustainable design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainable design. Show all posts

DIY: Build This Cabin For Under $4,000




By Steve Maxwell

(Real Farmacy) Cozy Cabin 4000Rays of early-morning sunlight gently peek through the windows, easing you awake. Looking down from the sleeping loft, you see everything you need: a pine table; a box piled with hardwood, split and ready for the woodstove; and a compact kitchen in the corner. This is the cabin dream.

In this article, I’ll show you how to build a 14-by-20-foot cozy cabin featuring a sleeping loft over the porch for about $4,000. Who can resist it?

Sell Your Crap, Pay Off Your Debt, And Do What You Love! This Makes It All Possible!

Photo Credit: Minim Micro Homes
By Jeff Roberts 

(Collective Evolution) There’s something strange happening around the globe… but it’s awesome!

Lifestyles and needs are changing, and consequently, our houses are shrinking. The tiny house movement has blown up in the past few years, shifting the traditional North American housing models towards a more practical, finance-friendly blueprint. The movement is garnering attention from people fed up with the current consumerist/utility-based lifestyle which has placed millions of people in debt. Now, the idea of living your dream is no longer a cliché.

The typical American home is around 2600 square feet, while the typical small or tiny house is around 100-400 square feet. These tiny houses come in all shapes, sizes and forms, focusing on smaller spaces and simplified living. Jay Shafer, tiny house advocate and founder of Four Lights Tiny House Company, says that, unlike sprawling houses, tiny houses demand that their dwellers downsize to the essentials. Shafer states that tiny houses are undiluted reflections of the people who live in them.

Ecocapsule Promises Independent Off-Grid Micro-Living



(Gizmag) Bratislava's Nice Architects has revealed some renders and preliminary details concerning its Ecocapsule: a micro-shelter that operates off-grid and promises impressive sustainable technology including solar power, rainwater collection and filtration, and wind power. The firm will unveil a prototype later this month and plans to make it available for sale later this year.

Beautiful glass roof tiles heat your home with solar energy year-round

(Inhabitat) SolTech Energy, a Swedish company selling solutions for clean solar power, has developed a unique home heating system contained within roofing tiles made out of ordinary transparent glass. The attractive house-warming tiles (somewhat ironically) give roofs a beautiful, icy appearance quite unlike anything else we’ve ever seen before.


In 2009, the SolTech Energy System was selected by a jury and nominated among nine as the year’s “Hottest New Material.” Based on votes by the people, the company’s glass tiles were awarded with a gold medal from the North Building Fair, Nordbygg. “The winning entry combines an attractive design with essential functions for clean and sustainable energy. It is an innovative product that is well in time,“ said the chairman of the jury, PhD. Bengt Toolanen.

15 year old girl creates power generating water filter

By John Vibes

Last week, True Activist published a story about a 15 year old who invented a shoe insole that creates electricity while you walk.  His device was a submission for this year’s “Google Science Fair” which features a number of brilliant inventions, many of which were created by teenagers and young children.

Another finalist in this year’s contest is 17-year-old Cynthia Sin Nga Lam from Australia, who also has an invention that creates electricity.  Her invention is a water purification system that does not require an external power source, but actually creates electricity of its own.

Her device, which she calls a Portable Photocatalytic Electricity Generation and Water Purification Unit, or H2Pro for short, produces both clean energy and fresh water at the same time.

She hopes that one day her invention can be used to bring water and electricity to people in remote, poverty stricken areas who are currently struggling to find access to these basic amenities.
Cynthia explained in her application that “The entire process only needs titania and light — no additional power source is required. However, hydrogen production is generally low since photoexcited electrons tend to fall back to the hole (i.e. photoinduced electron-hole combination.) Fortunately, it can be overcome by adding reductants, while some organic pollutants serve such purpose. Hence, I propose to combine the two mechanisms together to enhance the yield and lower the cost of hydrogen generation, meanwhile efficient water purification can also be achieved.”

Luci inflatable solar lantern: eco-friendly, zero emissions and affordable—what more can you ask for?

(The Grommet) Luci is an inflatable, affordable, solar lantern that generates continuous light with zero emissions anywhere on earth independent of the grid; it can be charged under direct sunlight or cloudy skies (as well as incandescent light).

As easy to use as it is to deflate and stow, Luci’s durable, waterproof design makes it ideal for everything from boating and camping to outdoor entertaining, and power outages. In fact, lack of electricity was the inspiration for the idea. MPOWERD was co-founded by Jacques-Philippe Piverger, John Salzinger and Jason Alan Snyder. Principal inventor Jason Alan Snyder worked hand in hand with John Salzinger to develop the Luci lantern after an earthquake in 2010 left thousands without power in Haiti. Now, MPOWERD is on a mission to illuminate the lives of people who live in energy poverty all over the world.

10 reasons why we all should be building EarthShips

(HighExistence)
By Jordan Lejuwaan

Earthships are 100% sustainable homes that are both cheap to build and awesome to live in. They offer amenities like no other sustainable building style you have come across. For the reasons that follow, I believe Earthships can actually change the world. See for yourself!

1) Sustainable does not mean primitive

When people hear about sustainable, off-the-grid living, they usually picture primitive homes divorced from the comforts of the 21st century. And rightfully so, as most sustainable solutions proposed until now have fit that description. Earthships, however, offer all of the comforts of modern homes and more. I’ll let these pictures do the talking…

Flowers Top Awesome Shipping Container Guest House in Texas

(inhabitat) Jim Poteet Architects transformed a royal blue shipping container into an airy guest house in San Antonio, Texas. The container was customized to give the comforts of home, including massive glass sliding doors that open to connect the indoors to the outdoors. Aside from repurposing the old shipping container, Poteet used recycled soda caps and telephone poles in this gorgeous green guest house perched at the top of Stacey Hill.

To keep the message of sustainability at the forefront, Poteet decided to leave the exterior of the shipping container as is, including its original blue color and markings from when it was used to haul goods. The end was cut away and replaced with a large floor to ceiling window, while part of the side was replaced with sliding glass doors that create a flow of both natural light and air. The opposite end’s corrugated walls were kept with a smaller, higher window added, which allows for a private bathroom.