Innovations in technology and infrastructure have given rise to McMansions in America over the last few decades, but as the old adage goes, bigger isn’t always better. That’s the thinking behind the recent trend toward tiny homes, spearheaded by citizens who want to live more simply on less. And given the recent housing bust — nearly 1 out of 4 Americans now owes more than their house is worth — smaller doesn’t just seem smarter. It’s more sustainable, too. Here’s a look at how seven microhome communities are challenging our traditional approaches to housing — and helping tackle big problems along the way.
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Tag: sustainable living
This College Is Creating Laboratories for Sustainable Living
Colleges are a great place to try out sustainable living initiatives. They reduce operating costs, provide learning opportunities for students, and can be incorporated into a wide variety of programs. So Western Technical College in Wisconsin is making some of its facilities “living laboratories” to educate students on sustainable living. The college is adding a curriculum to teach passive house construction (building houses that use insulation and air circulation to reduce energy consumption by 80%), and will be able to construct real homes as part of the learning process. The college is also adding a program in hydro technology, in which students will learn to operate a dam that generates electricity. Western’s initiatives are a great example of sustainable living laboratories, as the programs pay for themselves and open a wide variety of educational opportunities for college students and the community.
Solar Store Gives Customers the Genius Treatment
I don’t know how my cell phone works, but I know that I’ll get what I need when I go into that big shiny white store. The person helping me asks me questions about what I need to do, if I take a lot of photos, or if I watch movies with my phone. This is common sense selling, but it hasn’t been part of the consumer solar market. There’s all this talk about kilowatts and panel efficiency and deal-squashing upfront costs. But a sustainable living store in Austin called Treehouse is turning that around by giving customers what they need, in plain English. Treehouse also handles financing in the familiar way most of us buy cars: with low- or no-interest loans. By taking the tech and the hassle out of the equation, they help customers get to the important stuff: living more sustainably and using renewable energy. They’re setting a customer-first example that I bet we’ll start seeing with a lot of other green-tech companies. If you’re in a tech innovation space, how could you make your offering simpler to connect with more customers?
Treehugger’s Nirvana Opens in Washington State
If your idea of paradise is a close-knit, carbon neutral, bike-sharing community, I’ve got a deal for you. A new planned community on Bainbridge Island, Washington called Grow Community has it all built in from the get-go.There are apartments and single-family homes, community gardens, and all the pleasures of Seattle just a short ferry ride away—even a community car-sharing program. Of course, most of us live in places that weren’t built green from the ground up, but Grow Community gives us a working model of what’s possible with time, knowledge and intention. Every town can be a little greener in ways that add up to big quality-of-life improvements. If you like what you see, check out the One Planet Living program that helped shape Grow Community.