The first one I mentioned way back in July 06 was the Earthips made from recycled materials. See article. The problem with Earthships is that they are lot of work to build.
This problem is solved by the land arks and garden arks that I wrote about in in July 09. See article. The arks are ready made and can simply be placed anywhere. The problem is that are very small and will never be a realistic replacement for the average family home.
Luckily ZEDFactory, the company behind the land ark has a solution, the RuralZED. An upgradable 3 bedroom house that is a pleasant realistic family home. It ranges from from level 3 to level 6 on the code for sustainable homes. Level 6 is the maximum level and is assigned to true zero carbon homes. The RuralZED can even surpass level 6 becoming carbon negative by using a vertical axis wind turbine to produce an excess of electricity that can be sold back to the grid.
The name RuralZed comes from rural in reference to the fact that 70% of UK homes are in rural low density setting of less than 50 houses per hectare and ZED (Zero Energy Demand).
The feature and technologies in the full level 6 house are very impressive: -
The company site is here
Here are some pics: -
5 comments:
The option to put the house on stilts also looks good, not just handy for flood plains but also building on areas which are sloped.
Size is also pretty good, 10m x 6m floor plan, excluding the sunspace is compact but usable. Downstairs looks good for those with mobility issues.
The stilts option also allows the space under the house to be used as a car port and storage area.
The downloads section of the website has a full brochure in pdf format. It is very detailed and very interested.
Downstairs looks bad if you have a mobile inquisitive toddler though! You need solid walls for babygates, he's nearly pulled ours off the wall and where would you put them in an open plan place?
You cannot just heat a couple of rooms in winter if too open plan.
The house uses a wooden frame with lots of wooden pillars that would allow baby gates and additional doors if needed.
Heating is done with vents feeding pre-heated fresh air to each room the vents can be closed for rooms you don't need to heat. Although the heating is done almost entirely by passive heat collection from the environment so cost is very very low
I have always been a appreciator of quality content. I geniunly feel that this is one of those quality article too!
Toughened Glass Splashback
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