Home Green Home - Webisode 8: We All Made It Happen!

[towersandy]

I just finished watching all of the videos. This is an absolutely beautiful setting and incredible concept home. There was a lot of discussion during the videos about staying on budget. Were you able to do that? Its interesting that there are people that are critical of the project. You could have done this betteryou could have done that differentlycome on peoplethe tractor work could have been done by hand toobut lets be reasonable. Outstanding House!

[PtrOBrn]

Just finished all 8 episodes and there was no talk about using underground Thermal heating and cooling for the home or anything about the potential use of wind or solar power for the home. Fluorescent lights have mercury in them and need to go to a special recycling center so the mercury can be removed. Could have utilized low voltage lighting which also uses lower watts than standard incandescent lights.

[PtrOBrn]

I also forgot to mention the total and complete tear down of the previous structure was very distructive. Did that timber go into a landfill? There are lots okf people and places that want old barn wood for new uses. Not very home green home.

[HousePortInc]

Hi PtrOBrn,

Thanks for the comments and input. Its great to know there are others out who share our passion for sustainability. For this project, we werent able to factor in an underground thermal heating and cooling system. Our goal was to complete the entire construction project for under $250k, which was achieved, while doing our best to address the obvious sustainability concerns.

[HousePortInc]

House Ports initial plan was to include solar panels on the prototype of the Pop-Up House but the project was postponed due to budgetary constraints. Were currently revisiting the solar panel project and expect to install them within the next several months. This will definitely be beneficial to virtually all of the dimmable fixtures in the Pop-Up House, which are LED-based, by providing efficient energy usage, longer life spans (approximately 100,000 hours), and are mercury-free.

[HousePortInc]

As for the deconstruction of the previous building on the property, it was an old chicken coop converted for human occupation many years ago. House Port salvaged what was salvageable (useable wood, nails and screws, etc.) and used the materials to add to and repair other items around the property including the barn and garden. In fact, we kept the unused salvaged materials in an area on the property for later use.