105: From Grain Silo To Green Home
February 20th, 2012 at 2:16 pm (Uncategorized, the human path, texas outdoor education, green homesteading, self sufficiency farming, self sustainability, eco building, homesteading)
Sam Coffman continues his discussion on eco-building with Kelly Hart of greenhomebuilding.com, discussing the creative and novel use of unexpected salvage items to build environmentally smart homes. These materials are both environmentally friendly, re-use existing materials to cut down on waste and are very affordable and simple to construct.
Sam and Kelly go over:
- using grain bins, railroad box cars and school buses as alternative house structures and how well they work
- how living in a smaller home makes a person more eco-conscious and less consumer-oriented
- using passive solar cooling, heating and lighting by utilizing a sensitive design
- building underground to use less energy
- green rooftops and earth berms to create the same effect
- methods of renewable energy
- benefits of using natural and local building materials
- growing and storing food in naturally cooled environments
Check out the first half of this podcast: Episode #104: Dumpter Diving For A House
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Kelly Hart is the founder and host of www.greenhomebuilding.com , www.dreamgreenhomes.com and www.earthbagbuilding.com, and has been involved with green building concepts for much of his life. Kelly spent many years as a professional remodeler, during which time he became acquainted with many of the pitfalls of conventional construction. |
| Kelly is knowledgeable about both simple design concepts and more complex technological aspects of home building that enhance sustainable living. He has even designed and built a solar-electric car that he drove around his neighborhood. Kelly, and his wife Zana, lived for many years in an earthbag/papercrete home that he designed and built. | |
