The ZERO House
Most of us strive to leave "our mark" on the world. But, lately, the trend is to leave as little a mark as possible on our environment.
After listening to the media chatter about the rising costs of oil and the onset of global warming, many are seeking to reduce their personal ecological footprints, or harmful impact on the planet. People feel a tug of economical good sense and environmental stewardship to advance green technology. Green technology seeks to reduce factors harmful to the environment -- from excessive waste to reliance on energy that requires the release of greenhouse gases.
Even large-scale corporations have been investing in e nergy-efficient technology to reduce their ecological footprints and gain "street cred" with their green-leaning customers. Architects are no exception. Green building, which is the process of implementing green technology to make structures more energy and resource efficient, is steadily gaining popularity.
Today, plenty of buildings are described as sustainable -- using less fossil-fueled power than traditional structures. But certain designs, like that of the zeroHouse, threaten to revolutionize the idea of green building and overshadow predecessors to radically redefine sustainability. Few buildings truly live up to the idea of sustainability in the way the zeroHouse could. Using cutting-edge, green technology, the zeroHouse design works completely off the grid (as in the power grid), feeding only on the renewable energy of the sun.
Imagine a home that is not merely energy efficient, but doesn't have a single energy bill in its mailbox. Imagine a sustainable home that doesn't sacrifice your comfort. Not only that, but imagine being able to build this house in a remote location without power lines, constructing this prefabricated home in only one day and with only two flatbed trucks full of materials.
Not only is this Zero House by architect Scott Specht completely green, automatic and self-sufficient, but it looks so badass it could've come out of the movie Clockwork Orange. That extra wide roof holds a slew of high-efficiency solar panels that let you say goodbye to electric bills, powering the whole house and storing up enough extra energy in its batteries to keep everything running for a week, even if every single day is cloudy. That's just the beginning.
The house holds its water in a 2700-gallon roof cistern, and the sheer weight of all that liquid pushes water through the plumbing. When you flush the toilets, it all ends up in a compost container in the basement, which digests all that stuff organically, relieving you of attaching your abode to any sewage pipes. Goodbye, civilization.
Even so, this house is highly civilized unto itself, with LED lighting built into the walls and ceiling, using very little power and lasting 100,000 hours without changing a single bulb. It's off-the-grid living, in gorgeous style.
After listening to the media chatter about the rising costs of oil and the onset of global warming, many are seeking to reduce their personal ecological footprints, or harmful impact on the planet. People feel a tug of economical good sense and environmental stewardship to advance green technology. Green technology seeks to reduce factors harmful to the environment -- from excessive waste to reliance on energy that requires the release of greenhouse gases.
Even large-scale corporations have been investing in e nergy-efficient technology to reduce their ecological footprints and gain "street cred" with their green-leaning customers. Architects are no exception. Green building, which is the process of implementing green technology to make structures more energy and resource efficient, is steadily gaining popularity.
Today, plenty of buildings are described as sustainable -- using less fossil-fueled power than traditional structures. But certain designs, like that of the zeroHouse, threaten to revolutionize the idea of green building and overshadow predecessors to radically redefine sustainability. Few buildings truly live up to the idea of sustainability in the way the zeroHouse could. Using cutting-edge, green technology, the zeroHouse design works completely off the grid (as in the power grid), feeding only on the renewable energy of the sun.
Imagine a home that is not merely energy efficient, but doesn't have a single energy bill in its mailbox. Imagine a sustainable home that doesn't sacrifice your comfort. Not only that, but imagine being able to build this house in a remote location without power lines, constructing this prefabricated home in only one day and with only two flatbed trucks full of materials.
Not only is this Zero House by architect Scott Specht completely green, automatic and self-sufficient, but it looks so badass it could've come out of the movie Clockwork Orange. That extra wide roof holds a slew of high-efficiency solar panels that let you say goodbye to electric bills, powering the whole house and storing up enough extra energy in its batteries to keep everything running for a week, even if every single day is cloudy. That's just the beginning.
The house holds its water in a 2700-gallon roof cistern, and the sheer weight of all that liquid pushes water through the plumbing. When you flush the toilets, it all ends up in a compost container in the basement, which digests all that stuff organically, relieving you of attaching your abode to any sewage pipes. Goodbye, civilization.
Even so, this house is highly civilized unto itself, with LED lighting built into the walls and ceiling, using very little power and lasting 100,000 hours without changing a single bulb. It's off-the-grid living, in gorgeous style.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment