Over the years I have written many journals full of my ideas for eco-friendly living. At first (mostly because I was young and poor and strong) I imagined a Mother Earth News style mini-farm with free range chickens, a beef or two, large organic gardens and a funky looking 12vDC circular house built from landfill waste.
As time progressed I got older, a little richer and not so energetic I realized I didn’t want that lifestyle. I like using LOTS of energy—I have 6 computers, I like my house too warm in winter and too cool in summer, I don’t want to grow and can my green beans when they are 25 cents a can at IGA and butchering my own meat just didn’t float my boat.
There are things I didn’t mind. I love to walk places. For longer trips or when I needing to shop, I loved riding my bike, retrofitted with an old plastic milk crate for carrying a bag or two home.
I watched as my sister and brother-in-law put up wood every summer to fuel their wood furnace for their cold northern Indiana winters. And I watched as summer after summer the complaints got a little louder, the aches got a little more pronounced. I knew a wood burning furnace might be a nice supplement, but I also knew I didn’t want to HAVE to cut wood when I was 70.
So here is where I stand today: I make a good living working at home for myself and I have the freedom to live pretty much anywhere in the world I would like.
Finally I feel as if I can pursue some of the ideas that have been kicking around in my head for 30+ years.
My goals are pretty simple to state but may be virtually impossible to reach. Beats me. I want to come up with a lifestyle where all of the “inputs”—energy, water, food, labor—are more than offset by environmental benefits. In addition, this offset has to come without additional effort on the part of the people living the lifestyle.
We’ll see.
June 3, 2007 at 2:21 am |
You definitely need to look into and link to form works homes.
http://www.formworksbuilding.com/
Their product looks excellent.
June 3, 2007 at 2:26 am |
I’ve looked at this site, I don’t remember how I got there. It seems like it may have been after my folks in FL were in a hurricane.
But it does look like a good alternative. How does it compare on a /sq ft basis?
June 4, 2007 at 10:36 pm |
Their reps claim that the price can be as low as 40% less than conventional/traditional construction. I am sold on all the other features, so even if it cost 10% more than traditional construction I would still buy it.
June 4, 2007 at 10:46 pm |
I want to do some drawings and figure out livable sq ft v. dome radius.
There is no question a dome has the greatest volume for the surface area, but we kinda live in a square world.
I have some ideas I’ve sketched up using alternative building techniques that still provide for things like on-site thermal mass, high R-Valeus, etc. If I can figure out a place to scan them in I’ll show them to you and get your input.
Do you have any good sources on volume/usable sq ft?
June 5, 2007 at 12:40 am |
[...] Square Footage of a Dome v. Square Home I had asked Total Tranny about this in the comments here, but as I thought about it, it’s pretty easy to [...]
June 5, 2007 at 12:41 am |
I have their presentation book- it costs $24 bucks. But it has all the available floors plan, info on gaining financing (as banks are skittish due to its non-traditional nature), etc. I’ll check and see if it says anything that might answer your question.
If you dial the phone number on the website they are very helpful. I am sure they would answer your questions.