With so many individuals and companies building tiny houses, how are you supposed to know who to choose? Some tiny house builders can build and ship homes nationwide or send their design plans across the world. Other, smaller builders, focus on their region and work primarily with locals. Choosing a Tiny House Builder The thing
Search Results for: eco-home/energy-efficient-lighting
Earth-Sheltered Home: An Eco-Friendly, Passive Housing Alternative
Folks on the street may call them “hobbit houses” in reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, but earth-sheltered homes have been around for far longer than 1937 when the novel was published. Though the practice of using a protective layer of earth to embrace your home exploded in popularity in the 1970s, it’s truly been around
Shipping Container Homes
Shipping container homes seem like a no-brainer. Approximately 30 million steel shipping containers are in existence, filled and floating, or standing empty in a port. 8 feet wide by 8.5 feet high, and either 20 or 40 feet long, the steel shipping container has been the globally standardized transportation module since 1956. Sending empty containers
Cordwood Homes
Cordwood Homes and Barns
Quonset Huts
The Quonset hut, designed for military use, is finding its way into contemporary livingโ with some important upgrades. The original huts, developed on Quonset Island, Rhode Island, were cheap, temporary housing for troops on the move. They were easy to put up, easy to take down and pack, and made of inexpensive materialsโcorrugated steel and
Floating Homes
AMPHIBIOUS ARCHITECTURE, Floating Homes
Masonry Heaters: Benefits, How They Work, And Photos
When you think of heating with fire, the first image that might leap to your mind is a crackling wood stove, the mainstay of cozy homesteading living rooms everywhere. But despite itโs current ubiquity in back-to-the-land imagery, the wood stove is a relatively recent invention, having been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742. If you
Silo Homes
Silos converted into houses.
Eco-Friendly Kitchen Sinks
Seekers of eco-friendly sinks, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news first: Affordable, new kitchen sinks arenโt 100% eco-friendly. When choosing a sink you’ll be balancing different aspects of sustainability. We’ve tried to give you a starting point for all the buying choices you’ll have to make. Kitchen Sink Materials/Colors
Off-Grid Heating Options & Alternatives
Last month, we debuted the first post in our series of Homesteading Questions and Answers. As we get questions from you, we try to formulate the best possible answers to help you on your adventure. This month is all about off-grid heating options. Sarah wants to know about “Heat alternatives that don’t require the grid,
Earthbag Homes
Earthbag Construction, Sandbag Buildings
Preparing Your Homestead For Winter
Freezing rain, sleet, high winds, heavy snow, ice, and extreme cold can present serious hazards, so it’s imperative that your homestead is ready. Whether or not you think it’s too early, it’s always a good idea to begin prepping your homestead for the winter. Preparation For Power Outages Cold temperatures and winter storms can be
Cob Homes
Cob Homes
Plastic Bottle Homes and Greenhouses
Plastic bottle houses, PET houses, recycled plastic home, plastic bottle building
Pendant Lighting: 30 Rustic, Modern, And Farmhouse Options
We’ve all been there. You move into a new house or apartment, and everything seems perfect until you realize just how dark certain parts of your home are. Or, you find your dream home, but the 90s light fixtures are begging for an update. When you’re lighting your home, your options include recessed lighting, chandeliers,
Flooring Ideas: 18 Eco-Friendly Options For Your Next Home Renovation
If youโre doing a home renovation or are in the market for some new flooring, youโre in luck. Right now, it appears that just about every type of flooring company has some exciting option youโre bound to love. Before choosing your flooring there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be sure that
Household Mold Removal
Gross, slimy, smelly, and dangerous to people and pets, mold is the last thing you want to see growing in your home. Mold wonโt necessarily destroy your homestead, but it can make family members and pets sick while it makes your home, barns, outbuildings, chicken coop, root cellar, livestock pens, and pump house look awful
15 Earth Homes
Some earth homesย take advantage of something called thermal mass, which basically means that the mass of a structure has some capacity to store heat. So the mass of a home can stay at a more constant temperature than temperatures outside the home due to the presence and absence of sunlight in a 24-hour period. Obviously,
Modern Underground Homes
Modern Underground Homes
Geodesic Domes
Geodesic domes are enjoying a resurgence as more people seek out eco-friendly building options . Architect Buckminster Fuller invented the geodesic dome. The American Institute of Architects calls it โthe strongest, lightest and most efficient means of enclosing space known to man.โ No doubt youโve seen geodesic domes before. Some as public structures, some as
10 of the Best Wine Grapes to Grow at Home
If youโre a wine enthusiast looking to venture into creating your own vintage, a relocation to Napa Valley isnโt necessary. Using some of the best wine grapes grown in a home garden will allow anyone to produce quality and delicious wine. Growing grapes to create wine at home can seem like a daunting task, but
Corrugated Metal Ideas For The Home
Corrugated Metal
How To Cool Down A Room: 15 Easy Methods
Lately, summers have been getting hotter. Without some sort of home cooling mechanism, the scorching temperatures quickly become unbearable — and in some cases, deadly. The human body isnโt designed to withstand high heat for long periods. Without reprieve, high temperatures eventually lead to heat illness and heat stroke. Discomfort, dizziness, profuse sweating, and disorientation
15 Useful And Natural Ant Repellent Ideas For Your Home
Last summer, our home was flooded with ants. We had never had a problem before but suddenly, ants everywhere. Insects repulse me, and even though Iโm well aware that ants are mostly harmless, I wanted them out. We purchased borax-based traps and littered them around our home in hopes of rapidly solving the problem. The
Organic Mattress Guide
Many mattresses contain harsh fire-retardant chemicals and inexpensive synthetic fabrics. Are these mattresses safe for you to lie on for 8 hours every night? Only a few mattress companies sell 100% organic mattresses. Most mattress companies use a mix of natural and synthetic materials. An organic mattress doesn’t contain harsh chemicalsโit meets fire safety standards
Eco-Friendly Playgrounds
Parents know the benefits of installing playgrounds and playsets. Beyond being a fun activity that gets children outdoors, playground equipment is important for a childโs cognitive, emotional, physical, and interpersonal development. A day in the backyard or at the park does wonders for kidsโ physical health, as well as improving their self-confidence and social skills,
Top 10 Reasons to Live in an Electricity-Free Home (PPB #27)
When I designed my cob house here at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage two years ago, I decided that I was going to live without electricity. I had no plans to buy a solar power system or a wind turbine. I was going to make the leap to live electricity-free in my home, in order to live
How Energy Efficient is Induction Cooking?
Induction cooking is a promising new technology that could make food preparation much more energy-efficient (as well as time-saving).
Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Home Solar Systems
It’s still possible to generate your own electricity whether you live in the middle of town, or the middle of nowhere. To decide which is better for you, it’s essential to know the difference between off-grid and grid-tied home solar systems.
Cob Construction
Cob Under Construction
DECT Phone Safety
DECT Phone Safety, Dangers of DECT, low radiation dect phones
17 Of The Best Hanging Plants To Add Beautiful Greenery To Your Home
One of the most recent trends in home decor includes adding greenery to your home. Hanging baskets allow you to grow beautiful plants without sacrificing counter space. Hanging plants can add greenery inside your home and have been proven over and over to have positive impacts on your health and the air quality in your
Try An Eco Friendly Christmas Tree
Upcycled, recycled, reused eco-friendly Christmas trees are aย sustainableย alternative toย chopping down a living tree or buying a tree that’s been chopped down and shipped to you. Christmas tree farms are a classic example of monoculture, where a single crop is cultivated in a wide area. Row after row of similar trees does not make for a
Sustainable Living
With the effects climate change growing more and more obviousโnow it’s actually shrinking the world’s reindeerโwe all want to do more to live sustainably. Here’s how you can start to take action right at home. Meat-Free Kitchen The agriculture and food production industry has grown into a major environmental threat as a growing source of
Homes on Stilts
Homes on Stilts
30 Gorgeous Flower Box Ideas To Welcome Summer To Your Home
Pop a flower box underneath your homeโs front window, add one to your porch railing, or put a few around your patio. Colorful blooms add instant curb appeal and are an easy, inexpensive way to jazz up your homeโs exterior. There are so many different flower box ideas to consider, and they’re easy to customize
Accepting the Mess of Woodstove Season
Thereโs nothing cozier than curling up beside a crackling fire, the orange glow warming both body and spirit. We must have some sort of innate programming wired in our minds that draws us to fire, and it stands to reason why we brought fire into our homes as soon as we could figure out a
How to Buy an Eco-Friendly Dishwasher (In 2014)
While an eco-friendly dishwasher is already a bit of a redundancy, the model you choose & the way you run it can save even more energy & water.
Green Home Plans
California Passes Neighborhood Food Act
California gov. Jerry Brown signed the Neighborhood Food Act into law last week, asserting the rights of individuals to grown produce on their land.
Edison Bulbs
Edison light bulbs refer to those wound filament bulbs made popular by the Edison Electric Light Company. Marked by twisty and almost decorative-looking filaments of tungsten and carbonized bamboo, these light bulbs have mostly fallen out of favor due to high energy consumption. Most homes are illuminated through compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) or light emitting
How Much Does It Cost To Customize A Tiny House?
If youโve researched buying a tiny house you know prices are usually listed as a โstarting price,โ just like new cars are. Why? Because a tiny house is too personal for a one-size-fits-all option to work. So builders offer options to match a customer’s budget or lifestyle. Someone doing a lot of outdoor work might
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Too many cleaning products contain chemicals that are extremely harmful to the environment and its inhabitants, including humans. Eco-friendly cleaning products are an easy alternative and solution! The ozone, water, air, land, and the entire ecosystem are all affected by the choices we make as humans, including what products we use. Today I am going
Books
Inspiration Green Book Recommendations. Selected green, eco, sustainable books to read. Plus- sources of digital books.
Tiny House Living
As more people downsize and choose to โlive smallโ, you have to ask: Why are tiny houses so popular? People are joining the tiny house movement for many reasons. The increase in environmental concerns, financial constraints, and the overall burden of having so much โstuffโ are just a few reasons people downsize their homes. Why
Alternative Building Methods
When most people in the Western world think of building a new home, almost all of them imagine the same sort of construction process: Stud framing (as this most ubiquitous method is known) uses materials such as dimensional lumber (usually two- by-four and two-by-six) to form the skeleton of the house. The exterior of these
12 Stunning Driveway Ideas To Transform Your Home’s Exterior
After months of planning, house hunting, and endless emails to your very patient realtor, you’ve finally found the house of your dreams — but the driveway is showing every crack and oil spill from the previous owners, and maybe even the owners before them. Your home’s exterior is the first thing your family, friends, (and
13 Creative DIY Screen Door Ideas and Important Details to Consider
Installing a screen door allows a delightful cross breeze through the whole house without the worry of insects invading your living space. Screen doors keep bugs, birds, bats, and airborne debris from entering the home while allowing for light, air, and outdoor views. However, screen doors only perform that function if the screen is undamaged,
Glass Bottle Walls
glass bottle buildings, glass bottle building inspiration
Kitchen Of The Future
“Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resourcesโ says Clive van Heerden, Senior Director of Design-led Innovation at Philips Design. Philips believes the solution is likely to come from biological processes,