One Man’s Trash…is Another Scrounger’s House (if You Know How to Live)
Jim Juczak, a middle-school shop teacher, hates mortgages. When he decided to build his own home on his 50-acre property, he decided to do away with debt. What resulted from…
Forget Small Scale Sustainability, Panasonic is Building an Entire Power Generating Smart Town
In an unprecedented move, Panasonic has extended itself into private construction in order to rebuild post-varied-disaster Japan into a model of sustainability and smarts. The company, working in conjunction with…
The New Compressed-Earth-Blocks are Earthquake Resistant, Energy Efficient and Cheap, but Will they Pass the Longevity Test?
In our quest for a greater sustainable living we have looked to the future for the clean, green technologies to provide us with the requirements of an ever-expanding human population.…
2014 New American Home is the Greenest One Yet, Snubbed by Critics “Too Monstrous”
The 2014 New American Home, which served as the model home for this year’s National Association of Home Builders International Builder’s Show, is the most sustainable home in the show’s…
The Cottle Zero Energy Home in San Jose is a True Marvel but was it Worth the 15% Premium?
The builders of the Cottle Zero Energy Home say their newly build luxury house was recognized as one of the highest-performance, greenest and most energy efficient homes in the entire…
Baker’s San Francisco Cottage of The Future: Zero Energy With a 30% Surplus
The future is starting early in San Francisco because of a little (but not so small) cottage that architect David Baker hand-constructed in order to illustrate that not only can you create…
Homes from Marijuana Plant – Exponentially More Efficient and Sustainable Than Lumber
Eco-conscious lifestyles are no longer the choice of just “hippies” and “tree-huggers.” More and more folks are changing their way of living in order to leave a smaller footprint and,…
The Ultimate Urban Recycling Project – Bay Bridge to be Reborn as a House
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, metal to… a new house? When the city announced plans to demolish the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, many mourned the…
Radiant House Opts for Bamboo as the Renewable Source of Material
A team of students from Santa Clara University designed the 980-square foot Radiant House which was entered in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Solar Decathlon. While their entry did…
Eichler Inspired Modular Homes that Can be Customized to Anyone’s Taste
A California-based modular design company Simpatico Homes, is pioneering an affordable, sustainable and infinitely customizable system based around a series of modular building blocks. These homes combine the budget-friendliness and…