As Green as it Gets

A new technology for building homes that heat and cool themselves - recently selected as one of the top inventions of the year by Modern Marvels.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• enertia
• solar
• green
• architecture
• building
• homes
• geosolar
• energy
• modern
• marvels

[leloodallasmultipass]

ok, so I poured resin all over my house as you suggested, but I am not seeing the effects that you promised.

[qdewill]

ha ha!

[d1incharge]

not only is it NOT green, but that double wall will eat up over 200sqft of floorspace, we pay avg 100$/sqft, so you are looking at 20,000$ minimum wasted AT THE LEAST. Way more lumber, less insulation value. Fire hazard. The greenest possible houses will be underground, and thats no fun.

[qdewill]

In a 32'x48' home, the doubled walls are 48' long by 6." An "extra" Sunspace wall is there anyway if you have a "sunroom." Only the inner North wall is "Extra" - 24 sq. ft.

In Enertia homes, insulation is not critical - it does not work by heating or cooling air and trapping it inside. It heats the timbers, which radiate heat to you in Winter. In Summer the key is to avoid buildup of heat.

Heavy timber is NOT a fire hazard. After all, which burns faster - a 2x4 stud, or a 6x6 timber?

[markhinr]

It's a very interesting idea that might be worth developing for milder climates? The concept of the envelope house was tried in the late 70's in Wisconsin but had too many drawbacks to catch on such as fire being able to travel through the wall cavities from basement or crawlspace to attic (building code now requires fire dampers), mildew odor during humid weather, and the advantages didn't justify the additional cost of construction. And it DOES use too much lumber to be truly "green".

[qdewill]

The use of heavy timber takes care of the fire problems that occur with 2x4 construction. The airflow combats the liklihood of any mildew, although in really humid climates some dehumidification might be used. And as for the timber, trees are replanted - many times more than used. Proper timber growing and harvesting processes are used, and while the trees grow the clean the air. Once in the house, their carbon content is sequestered.

[Pimpmastahanhduece]

global warming is real, what isnt clear is whether its naturally occurring or by man or some combination of both. obviously we know what are green house gases and that make a shit ton of it. however,i think scientists underestimate the effects of natural atmospheric heating processes. pollution poisons alot of wildlife, but its not any more than a negligent contribution by the real greenhouse gases we DO vent to the atmosphere. cant argue the stats in weather diaries,the earth is getting warmer.

[IKLIPTIC]

The real question is Who defines what is "Truly Green" and why should these people define Green for everyone. Anyone doing anything to help out is a good thing regardless of scale.

[scarymazegamefan]

Cool

[d1incharge]

here, when it is 115*f and the ground is 80*f six feet down, how are you going to get that house 72* and more importantly dry. No such thing as cool and dry, without an a/c here bud. How warm is it gonna get in there at 3am when it is -30 and the wind is blowing, just a bunch of office jockey engineers centuries behind the building community.

[kdogksw]

Love the ideas of these homes, not because I'm am so retarded as to believe in global warming but the savings in energy bills would be great.