Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Answer to Many of Our Problems
I just saw these houses discussed on tv tonight, and I think it's a great idea! I am not an environmentalist, but these houses make a ton of sense! They don't cost much to build, there are zero utility bills... Guys. Really. We need to start our own little commune/neighborhood where we live in houses like this. We can help each other build them, and maintain them, and add on to them. They can make 8 inches of rainwater a year last all year. They have atriums where they grow their own food. Another added benefit is that we would get to stretch our artistic muscles while we did it. Very good idea. Plus, if we didn't have utility bills out the wazoo, it would make gas hikes less of an issue until they find a way to power our cars using human breath. So what if the name of the type of house is stupid, we could rename ours "Pretty Inexpensive to Build and Run, Which Makes Us Smarter And Wealthier Than You houses"! I wanted to embed a YouTube video, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Maybe someone who knows how can tell me.
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15 comments:
I am all for starting our own commune. I've been planning one since I was a kid. Lets do it!!
Ps: I haven't got time right now to actually check out the houses you are talking about but after I do, I'll have to give an opinion on the technology. Sustainable tech has been a minor "hobby" of mine for ages. Getting an engineering education made me notice that alot of the sustainable tech ideas that are thrown around are very dumb. Lots of hype and exclaimation points but once you do the math, you have to laugh.
lol.
I note the first thing Wik says about the article:
"This article or section is written like an advertisement."
I like the idea of the greenhouse basically attached to the house, and reclaiming the water for use. I've been doing some amateur water collecting around our house, but I want to get more efficient at it!
Ok, I didn't actually read the article, I just saw that it was about these houses, so I slapped it up there. :) There are also some YouTube videos about them. A lot of the houses look like Luke Skywalker's house in Star Wars, but there are some more conventional looking house styles too. Liz wouldn't like them, they are in the adobe style.
I think that a lot of the ideas for this type of house are really very smart. If you see the interview with the man who invented these, he says he built the first one in the '70s, but that they are just now getting the technology to a place where people don't have to give up all of the comforts that they have gotten accustomed to. I'm sure if you don't have enough solar panels or if you don't turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth, you could run out of power or water. On the other hand, if you live in Seattle, you're unlikely to run out of water. :)
who doesn't shut the water off while brushing their teeth? barbarians!!
liz
Very cool! I'd love to live in an energy-efficient commune! I don't care what the houses look like. Times are getting tough maybe we could score some cheap land somewhere. I hear it's easy to buy land in Wyoming.
With satellite tv, internet, and radio we would be missing much. I'd prefer our company over the rest of the world's any day. :)
I read this interesting article about these people called The Amish. They live in these homes they build themselves. Then use recycled wax candles for light. They have livestock and farm fields for food. Most of their clothes are hand made out of recycled fabrics and they have great religious backgrounds so you can bet they don't listen to rap music too loudly. Then again you won't be able to watch Oprah or play the latest video games or continue a blog.. but hey Jeremy can get a gnarly beard...
It was interesting and had a lot of good ideas. I would like mine to be grid supplemented.
Living in a third world country helped me to conserve more, but not go all hippie. :) For a challenge we would do our morning bath and shave w/ a gallon of water. Turning the water off while brushing was not an issue as we had to use bottled water.
That's a good idea DC! I think they actually still have homesteading options in WY. (You know, like you clear the land and put a house on it, pay your taxes and it's yours!) Plus, Wyoming is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. It would feel like we were back in the "old days" with nothing but sky for miles. I agree about our great company, but they actually do have access to the Internet and that kind of thing in these houses as long as it is available in their area. Wouldn't it be great if we got one of those giant satellite dishes and then shared it? (Is that legal?)
Rob - gnarly beard! That's great! Oh, I don't care about video games and I don't watch Oprah. Her show is insufferable, so I won't mind missing her.
Erik - I like the idea too, but I agree with you. I don't think I'd want to live in a hippie commune. That's why I want to make one with all my friends. They are just weird enough to be entertaining, but not TOO weird.
i would love to be able to go off grid with my house. well i guess i would love to go off grid period but takeing my house off is a good start. i know renae and johns parents naborhood have an underground house. all you can see of it is the flat roof section and the door that has a little shed thing around it. i know there is a company we work for call koona foods. they bought an old limestone mine and turned it packing and storage place. they have freezing units inside but they told me that if the power went out it would take almost two weeks for the cave walls to thaw out. and they drive big trucks right into the cave. so you could do a cave. i takes very little(as in nothing) to keep it the same temp all year round.
There's an underground house over there and nobody told me about it until I moved away?! You guys are in so much trouble with me! I totally would have wanted to see it! ::pout::
john says that it's an underground house because they ran out of money when building it. :)
LOL! That sounds like something my dad would say. Speaking of my dad, I had a dream that he was pregnant last night. I told Jeremy about it and he said that if it had really happened, then all of their financial troubles would be over!
Omigosh, I have dreams about my mom being pregnant ALL the time (hasn't been possible for 20 years). What does that mean when you dream about pregnant parents anyway?
I don't know, but if my dad gives me a little brother or sister, I'm gonna be a little freaked. All this time I thought he was incapable of carrying a baby to term.
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