But this will offer a comparison of five different sustainable home types all in one place.
I compared the sewage/water, electricity, and heating systems of 5 different types of green homes: strawbale homes, earthbags, earthships, tiny houses, and zerohouses. Without further waiting, here are my research notes. For some, I just focus on the heating/cooling, sewage, and electrical systems since those were my main deciding factors. For others, I name some other attributions.
Strawbale homes:
-Sewage treatment-most often uses the biotex sewage system (uses red worms and tiger worms to break down sewage). However, this occurs at a big operation plant. Not self-sustaining.
Benefits of strawbale houses:
-Straw is a regular by-product of hay, so sustainable resource. Insulate well
Earthbag homes
-Construction materials: bags filled with “earthen” materials (or sand bags). Often used to make military bunkers, Barbed wire holds bags together.
-Relatively easy to build with little experience. Inexpensive
-Eliminates 95% of lumber used to build a stick frame house
-Work best in an area where the day and night temperatures are extreme-exhibit thermal flywheel effect (absorb heat during day, release it at night as walls start to cool).
-Adobe type home
-plumbing-sewage system drains into septic tank
Earthships:
-Sewage: contains and reuses all sewage in indoor and outdoor treatment tanks. results in food production
-gray water is cleaned in an interior botanical cell
-Path of waste:
1. Water used in bathtubs, sinks, then drained into interior gray water treatment systems
2. That water used to flushed toilets
3.Next, goes out to outdoor septic tank with a line to a conventional leach field. uses solar power
-Electricity: combination of photovoltaic energy and wind energy. One of the devices used (for wind) is a Vertical Axis Dynasphere Wind Module. It's quiet and durable for up to 20 years. Better than conventional wind turbine.
-Electricity stored in batteries, then transferred to outlets.
-Electricity stored in batteries, then transferred to outlets.
-Electricity used for washing machine, computers, kitchen appliances, printers, etc. Not for heating and cooling.
-Heat: sun admitted through windows. stored in walls. Cool: 55 degree earth temperature brought up from earth through tubes
-difference between insulation and mass:
Insulation: has millions of tiny air spaces. slows down passage of temperature from outside to inside
Dense mass: collects and stores cold and heat. no tiny air spaces. good conduct for temperature.
-Earthships have dense mass
-Earthships have dense mass
Tiny houses:
-electricity: plug house into outside power source
-sewage: plumbed to be connected to public water and sewage systems, or public tank.
-less=more sustainable
Zerohouses:
http://zerohouse.net/wordpress/what-is-zerohouse
-similar to earthship in that it’s self sustaining.
-prefabricated house parts shipped-you assemble it yourself wherever you want to. Doesn’t require connection to sewage or water treatment plants.
-electricity: solar panels. stores it in batteries.
-waste: all waste goes below the house-made into compost that is taken out twice a year
Con: no creativity really involvedIn conclusion, I am definitely going to go with designing an earthship because they offer the most self-sustaining way of life and the most ecologically sound, as well. Also, I can design my house to be imbedded into the hillside if I (still) want to :)
Also, in closing, I'd like to say that I rented Garbage Warrior and I'm going to watch it sometime next week!! I also got in contact with Arlene and we're going to set up a time for me to go tour Ecovillage in the following week or two.
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