Sustainable housing on wheels!
Canadian firm, Sustain Design Studio, is building amazing green homes that are built to last. Designer Andy Thomson and his wife have set out to discover a viable and affordable form of housing. I think they have accomplished that with the miniHome. This company rocks and I am going to put them on my companies to watch list!
The MiniHome is completely unique and unlike anything I have ever seen before. You can park this green home anywhere, on you own lot, in a trailer park or a parcel of land tucked away in the woods. The MiniHome comes ready to go with no additional service connections (sewer, water, power, etc); the MiniHome needs nothing! The MiniHome is not only green, it is stylish and the design is cleaver and extremely cutting edge.
Everything is designed to minimize use of electricity- the fridge, stove and heating run on propane in a dwelling so well insulated that a standard barbeque sized bottle will run for a month in the depths of a northern winter. “Electricity is a high-grade fuel” says Andy. “it is crazy to use it for anything but light and electronics. If you minimize its use to that then it is easy to generate enough from wind and solar” –of course, batteries are included.
Recipe for a green home:
1. Take the familiar - The lowly Travel Trailer
2. Build it to last, and be easy to maintain
3. Make 350 sf feel like 600 sf
3. Use only Green materials
4. Add Off-Grid, Solar and Wind systems
5. Let it run on biodiesel
6. Keyword: Multi-functional
7. Keep it extremely light on the land
8. Make it beautifulCombine all of the above into a package easily deliverable by truck anywhere in North America, that can set up on arrival in less than an hour.
Sit back, and hopefully watch it transform the both trailer park and suburb into the new American landscape of affordable, green domestic architecture.The miniHome uses 1/100th the electricity, 1/10th the fuel, 1/10th the materials, and 1/10th the water of the average, 2000sf home.
The miniHome is just plain cool. The base price is $107, 640 (USD) and the company offers many custom options: 2kW inverter, solar canopy, wind turbines, composting toilets, Whispergen system, roof gardens and even a balcony and stairs can be added to your home on wheels
According to the blog, the company is offering free shipping until November, 30, 2006. It could mean a $14,000 savings if you act soon. They have not met their order quota and unless orders come soon, the miniHome may not see the production line. I hope the company is able to drum up some business, I would love to see this business get off the ground.
Have a look at the minihome, www.sustain.ca
The miniHome blog, http://www.sustain.ca/wpblog/
Technorati Tags: green homes, MiniHome, green building, green home on wheels, sustainable living
Written by steve on November 3rd, 2006 with
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