Comments on: Eco-Home Built for £4,000

By: steve

steve — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:05:28 +0000

check out the Stove
http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk/articles/articles_53.html

the wood I burn is all already felled and left to rot by the forestry. plenty of it.

check out the hovel
http://www.envisioneer.net/newpics.htm#

It is only one way. Don’t diss mine. Build your own!

Steve James

By: eb

eb — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:36:21 +0000

these kind of houses will be everywhere in the next 50 years. we need to return to the land, she is our mother.the society as we know it will and is already collapsing! it is time to awaken and we are all doing so ongoingly and as one. each one of us is a child of the universe and we all have a right to be here. the moto “live and let live” has to be actualised, by allowing ourselves other spcies , animals and making way for our grandchildren of the future time.

peace and love to all.

By: c-dub

c-dub — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:43:28 +0000

Wood, if cut from sustainable sources and burnt correctly, is far more “eco-friendly” than electric heat, which is notoriously inefficient (particularly if the electricity comes from a coal-fired plant, which it probably would). And I don’t know much about Dumfries, Scotland, but there’s a good chance they don’t get enough sun to make solar heat viable.

There’s nothing inherently “wrong” with cutting down trees, just as there’s nothing “wrong” with harvesting other crops. It just has to be done as part of a proper, sustainable management program.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:35:52 +0000

I would look for a solar water heater and radiator. or electric heater cutting down trees is not
“eco-friendly”

By: c-dub

c-dub — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:24:30 +0000

@Violet:

chaymation’s right, but particulates in wood smoke do contribute to poor air quality. Wood stoves have gotten much better in the past twenty years. In particular, stoves equipped with catalytic converters release very “clean” smoke: the smoke itself burns, releasing even more heat in the process.

By: chaymation

chaymation — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:10:17 +0000

actually wood is a carbon neutral fuel, as the carbon dioxide released when it burns equal to the carbon dioxide it absorbed whilst it was growing. So the net effect is no change. As long as you plant trees as well as cutting them of course.

By: Violet

Violet — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:11:38 +0000

Wood burning stove? Isn’t that somewhat less than eco-friendly?

By: Boemelaar

Boemelaar — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:52:20 +0000

Thebes said, “But then again I cherish my freedoms…” Why do you hate America?

By: zoomzoom

zoomzoom — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:51:53 +0000

Thebes, are there really places in the US where building codes don’t exist? It’s my understanding the building codes are generally ratified at the state level. Maybe I’ve got that wrong, though…?

By: melissa

melissa — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:46:36 +0000

I’ve used composting toilets, and they’re way more normal than that sounds. I,too, had invisioned a glorified porto-potty. They’re not like that. And they don’t smell weird like I was afraid they would. They’re actually pretty cool.

By: BikerRay

BikerRay — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:40:21 +0000

Der Olaf - Hardly. Try looking it up in Wiki before making stupid statements.

By: Der Olaf

Der Olaf — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:03:42 +0000

“Composting toilet”. Now, this is probably the very nicest way of saying “hole in the ground”.

I sincerely hope that it’s a few steps away from the house…

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:32:53 +0000

“I just can’t help but think that picture makes the house look like a hovel. If the world is going to successfully promote green-construction, then …. find a better example.”

I think this is a great example:

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:33:02 +0000

I have been looking at troglodytes (cave houses) and building with cob for some time now and think its a better solution for heating cooling overall cost hiding the pipes and wires and the area I want to make the troglodyte is near a nice park with parking lot and close to a hiking trail an escarpment for rock climbing and paintball

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cob_(building)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troglodyte

By: Thebes

Thebes — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:33:57 +0000

There are quite a few places in the US where codes either do not exist, or else are generally unenforced. I think building codes are great for businesses- and I mean that in two senses.

First, codes historically came about to prevent professional builders from building the shoddy homes and passing them off as well built.

Second, there is quite an industry around code compliance, inspections, insurance, and mortgages (death pledges?). These sectors feed off of the price increases each of the others generate, and we end up with the mass of men never truly owning their own home.

Much better, imho, to let families and friends work together to build their own homes. But then again I cherish my freedoms…

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:13:04 +0000

I just can’t help but think that picture makes the house look like a hovel. If the world is going to successfully promote green-construction, then …. find a better example.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:39:44 +0000

Straw bale building is becoming more and more common these days. A properly built straw bale house is damn near fire-proof–much more so than a frame home.

I’m planning on building one of these myself in the next couple of years. Of course, I’m outside the city limits, so I don’t have to deal with any codes at all. One could build a mansion for the price of a small to medium single family home, provided one puts in the labor themselves.

By: melissa

melissa — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:11:54 +0000

Does Scotland not have building codes? While I’m intrigued and love the idea of an evironmentally friendly and cheap house, I don’t think you could get by with building this as a house to be lived in America. There’s no way it could pass inspection. Unless maybe he does some sort of code-fu and has it classified as a hunting cabin or a storage shed or something instead of the living space he obviously intends to use it for.

By: oakling

oakling — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:50:31 +0000

I love this. I want to build my own so badly! I wonder how much the land cost him, though. He doesn’t seem to mention it and out where I live it’d easily be another $75,000-$200,000 just for the lot. Cheaper than buying a house, but not awesome. Still, it will be great to know about this guy when I do get to build my own house!