Habitat

As early as I can remember I have built things, from miniature models of my father's rock walls to stilts and huts, and then finer cabinetry and lathe work in his workshop. Making things has become so second nature to me that I have developed the (probably foolish) belief that I can make anything that I put my mind to. For a number of years I did remodeling professionally and I have renovated numerous houses that I have lived in.

During much of the time from 1997 to 2000 I designed and built an experimental home that my wife, Rosana, and I now live in. In this chapter I will describe how and why this Hobbit house came into being. In so doing, I will demonstrate many of the principles of sustainable architecture that are showcased at my www.greenhomebuilding.com website.

As "consumers" we are frequently confronted with life style decisions that can impact our environment. There are some choices in this life that can make a big difference in what the quality of life will be for those who follow us. Going with the flow of our culture is hard to avoid, and unfortunately the flow is not in the right direction for evolving a sustainable future.

The idea of being able to design a house that basically heats, cools and electrifies itself, without the need for burning fossil fuel, is a goal worthy of our times. If such a house can be made of mostly natural, local materials that require little energy to manufacture or transport, then we would be approaching true sustainability...

Save the Forests

In the United States we tend to build our houses with wood. It has been that way since settlers from Europe arrived and needed to clear forested areas just to plant crops. The forests were so vast, it was hard to conceive of the day when we would have cut almost all of the original trees. Only about 2% of the virgin coastal forests and 10% of the rest of our forests now remain in North America.

But wood is a renewable resource, right? We just need to plant more trees! The problem has been greed, an insatiable appetite for more wood, and lack of foresight. Timber companies, aided and abetted by the Forest Service, have gone after trees so voraciously that enormous ecosystems have been devastated, all across the U.S. (and in the rest of the word as well). Realizing that the source of their wealth is diminishing, the timber companies have finally started replanting trees in clear cut areas, but it is a hard go for the little saplings out there, baking in the sun.

The way we have treated our forests has negatively impacted biodiversity through loss of suitable habitat for plants and animals. Ground water is compromised, because forests attract atmospheric water and hold it in the ground. Top soil is lost through erosion, and the silt clogs our waterways and leads to flooding and declining fish populations. It becomes harder for new forests to take root, because the nutrient base is diminished. Forest fires become more prevalent because of all the logging debris that is left and the brush that grows in place of removed trees...

Naturally occurring materials often "feel" better to live with. When you step onto an adobe floor, for instance, you feel the resilient mother earth beneath your feet. A major reason for choosing natural materials over industrial ones is that the pollution often associated with their manufacture is minimized. And then there is the matter of your health; natural materials are much less likely to adversely affect your health.

Your home is an extension of yourself. It reflects how you feel about your environment and it nurtures you. Your home is very much a part of you, just as the shell of a hermit crab becomes part of the crab. Your home needs to "fit" your needs, give you protection and comfort. Ideally it does all of this in a totally beneficial way.

Not all houses (or work spaces) are completely benign, and they can subtly undermine our health. What constitutes a healthy (or unhealthy) home is a very complex question. The best barometer for whether your home is healthy or not is how you feel when you spend time there. If you feel vibrantly healthy and truly enjoy spending time at home, then it's got to be good.

It is satisfying, fun and economical to reuse old building materials. In our society there has been a stigma attached to "used" stuff. We value "new" above all else, or at least the advertising forces would have us believe that. I beg to differ with that view.

Antiques, of course, have acquired their own cachet and are valued because of rarity, beauty, and craft. It's that middle ground of stuff that isn't new and hasn't acquired the status of being "antique" that I would like to focus on here. The local dump is a great place to look for such stuff because it is often perceived as valueless. Our local dump has an area set aside for potentially reusable items, and they encourage people to sort through it. We found our kitchen sink there, in perfectly good condition, except for a little chip in the corner that I covered with tile.

The virtue of recycling used building materials lies in diminishing the need for industry to recreate it. All of the energy that is spent in manufacturing and transporting something can be saved. The raw materials that would be drawn from the earth can be saved. The need to cover the item in the local landfill can be saved.

Many other cultures are much more conscious of the value of reuse than in the United States. In Mexico, for instance, you see all kinds of things finding a second life. Old tires are used for making the soles of sandals; containers of all sorts find a second use; odd bits of metal and wood find their way into creating shelter. Necessity is the mother of invention, and lack of money helps this process.

Be Energy Efficient

Some big consumers to avoid are everything that heats with electricity, like space heaters, electric stoves, water heaters, and clothes dryers. Air conditioners also use a lot of electricity; evaporative coolers are much more efficient, especially in the arid west. Compact fluorescent lights use about a third the energy of regular incandescent bulbs, and they last much longer. So even though they cost more initially, it pays in the end.

There are certain major household appliances that make a big difference in how efficient your house is. The reason we are able to run our refrigerator/freezer and clothes washing machine with solar power is because we carefully chose models that are designed to use less energy.

Many appliances consume electricity whether they are in use or not, just by being plugged in. Especially electronic equipment like televisions and VCR's operate this way. It's called a "phantom load", and it can silently eat up lots of electricity, 24 hours a day. Anything that is plugged in with those little cubes that convert AC to DC power will have a phantom load going. The best way to eliminate this unwanted drain of electricity is to plug these appliances into a power strip, and then turn the power strip off when you are not using the appliance.

I've been living with solar electricity for many years and I love it. I am still amazed by all the work that the sun can do, providing totally clean, renewable energy.