Awesome Green Homes From Around the World
Even if you don’t have the money or ability to totally green-ify your current living space, you can still get excited about these awesome energy efficient, earth-friendly homes from around the world. Check out the trends and some interesting new innovations that are making a difference one home at a time.
America
Constructing an earth-friendly home from the ground-up can be very expensive—you have to hire architects, contractors, and designers to essentially rethink the wheel when it comes to your home site and exactly what you want.
Enter GreenPods: affordable, customizable, and earth-friendly modular homes. These quaint 300-800 foot homes have all the latest in green tech: solar panels, low-flow water systems, and energy-saving appliances, to name a few. The interiors are designed with sustainable bamboo, hemp, and cotton furniture and textiles. Starting at $160 per square foot, these can be cost-effective homes for anyone who wants a little green getaway. You can even get one that floats!
Scandinavia
Up there near the arctic circle, it gets pretty cold. The heating bill for Scandinavian homes must be a real nightmare, right? Not if you live in a home with a passive heating and cooling design. These passive homes don’t even have a central heating system, only a small “backup” radiator for emergencies. That’s right -- a home that stays cozy even in freezing temperatures, using about as much energy as your toaster oven.
How do they do it? A very clever central ventilation system, called a heat exchanger, and excellent insulation. The heat exchanger lets fresh air enter the home, but it warms it up first by transferring the heat from the old outgoing air. The results are a house that doesn’t get stagnant and still maintains a nice, comfortable temperature—without energy-intensive central heating systems. And, these passive houses only cost 5-7 percent more to build than traditional ones.
Australia
Australia is the continent known for its large number of sunny days per year. Home owners and builders are constantly thinking about how to use this great resource of continuous sunshine to make homes more sustainable.
In one such recent effort, designers created a home with a pretty weird looking angular exterior. This weird shape has a purpose, however; it’s designed to allow maximum sunlight into the backyard at all times of the day so that the owners can grow veggies and other food in their garden, year round. The house was also outfitted with a smart-shade screen, layers of recycled material that help keep the house cool while still letting in light. The house’s exterior is made of steel, which is much more sustainable than vinyl siding or other alternatives, and the interior features bamboo flooring.