Tiny Houses, Living off the Grid, and Alternative Buildings

As the world's population continues to grow, there is an increasing need for housing alternatives that take up less space, use fewer resources, and are friendlier to the environment. While McMansions, villas, and traditional housing are still being built, alternative living options like tiny homes, shipping container houses, modular homes, and the use of alternative building materials are growing in popularity.

As people look to consolidate their living spaces to minimize expenses and lower their carbon footprint, they are beginning to take more creative approaches, giving the concept of "housing" a makeover. Today, if you are looking for options, looking for a change, or just wanting to live a more sustainable existence, you have choices.

In this post, we're going to look at three environmentally friendly alternative living spaces that are affordable and comfortable. Both living off the grid and green building materials are changing the way we build.

Economical and Innovative Alternative Living Spaces

Shipping Container Homes

The Dutch were the innovators of this alternative home style. They popularized shipping containers as a living space in response to a shortage of accommodations for students attending the university. The firm Tempohousing created small apartments for students out of old containers.

Today, prefabricated shipping container homes are gaining in popularity as containers are durable, available worldwide, and require minimal construction. In the US, companies like Dwell Containers are creating beautiful, cutting-edge alternative live and workspaces out of repurposed containers.

Tiny Houses

The tiny house movement has been steadily gaining steam. What some consider a movement, has advocates living simply in small, environmentally friendly homes that typically use sustainable technology like solar panels and summer/winter insulation. While styles can vary widely, tiny houses tend to emphasize high simplicity and efficiency in design. They utilize multi-functional furniture like beds that fold into sofas, and lofts to save space.

Tiny houses are a useful option to offset worker housing, especially in a seasonal or temporary situation. As an additional dwelling unit, they can provide additional living space for a family member, or guests, or even as a secondary income as a rental. The flexibility and low entry point make them attractive. In some cases, tiny houses are set up in a housing development where you may or may not own the lot. As with any residence, you must first consider zoning laws.

Yurts

These traditional nomadic structures hail from Central Asia, and they are becoming more widely spread as they offer a low environmental impact, comfort, and affordability. Yurts are easy to construct and transport. They consist of an expanding wooden circular frame with a durable cover that, due to its shape, is resistant to high winds.

These alternative spaces are growing popular and becoming more available. As they gain acceptance it has created a new industry in itself. Builders and engineers from around the world are thinking outside of the box to create alternative housing that makes sense financially while still promoting environmental sustainability.

Living Off The Grid

As the popularity of alternative living spaces continues to grow, it's spurring other sustainability initiatives like living off the grid. Going off the grid is an attractive option that often goes hand in hand with tiny houses and alternative living spaces. Creating a life where you're no longer dependent on the electrical grid and produce your own power with a generator, pump your water, and often grow your own food.

Many tiny houses come equipped with solar panels and miniature wind turbines to help replace or offset dependence on electricity from the power company. This fits perfectly into the philosophy of the tiny house - lowering environmental impact and living more sustainably. If the home is permanently sited, digging a private well or installing a cistern, and installing a septic system can further take the house off the grid. Depending on location, you may need to supplement your utilities for heating and cooking. Having an electric stove and electric heat can use much of your manufactured electricity. Supplementing with a whole-house propane system for warmth, cooking, and hot water can help to conserve your electricity better, adding to the home's overall sustainability.

Alternative Materials

Straw Bale

This one doesn't rely on new technology; in fact, straw bale construction has been around for centuries. Straw bales are used to create walls inside a frame, replacing other materials like concrete, gypsum, or stone. When adequately sealed, straw bales provide excellent insulation. Plus, straw is hugely sustainable as a fast-growing, renewable resource.

Rammed Earth

Walls that have a similar feel to concrete can be constructed by using soil, tightly tamped in wooden forms. Rammed earth technology has been used for literally thousands of years. Modern tamped earth can be structurally enhanced by using steel rebar, or bamboo, and mechanical tamping can reduce the labor needed to create sturdy construction.

Bamboo

Bamboo is trendy now, but in fact, it's been a locally sourced building material in many parts of the world for centuries. Bamboo is a promising material for modern construction thanks to its lightweight, high tensile strength, and because it's fast-growing and renewable.

Recycled Materials

Ferrock

Ferrock is a new material being researched. It's made from recycled materials, including steel dust, to create a concrete-like building material that's stronger than concrete. Even better, this material actually absorbs and retains carbon dioxide as it drys and cures. It's not only less CO2 intensive than traditional concrete, but it is also actually a carbon-neutral material!

Recycled Plastic

New concrete products are being formulated to include recycled plastics and hemp. This is lightweight, substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and keeps more plastics out of landfills.

Summary

These are just some of the innovative materials and housing options that designers, builders, and engineers are developing for sustainable alternatives to traditional non-environmentally friendly options. The movement toward sustainability and the growth in homes, energy, and building materials is driving change toward more mindful living in harmony with nature. It not only makes financial sense, even if that is the driving force. but it will help us to preserve our planet for future generations.

With In Green Living, Joni Keefe shares nature-based design choices for buildings, urban greenspaces, and Interior Design. Her interests follow Real Estate & housing sustainable agriculture, eco-friendly building products, and the latest trends in green design. She is a published writer with horticultural design work featured in national publications, this is her newsletter.