Homestead House by Michael Jantzen

Modular home generates solar and wind electricity, harvests rainwater.

Designed by Michael Jantzen, the Homestead House is a design for alternative housing that explores the potential use of renewable energy generating systems and recyclable materials to reduce the carbon footprint of its owners. The modular house is to be made from recyclable steel sheets, which are to be bolted together for easy disassembly. This allows the homeowner to construct it with ease and in minimum time and with minimum cost.

Being easy to disassemble, the house can also be reconstructed at any preferred location without spending too much on the entire process. Once the steel arches are bolted together, they don’t require any additional material to hold the house together.

The Homestead House is designed to function off-the-grid, where photovoltaic cells and a small vertical axis wind turbine generate the required amount of electricity to power the home. Other than on-site energy generating systems, the Homestead House harvests rainwater through the roof arches and directs it to water storage tanks that can be placed underground. Passive solar techniques are used to heat and cool the interiors according to seasons and the requirements of the homeowners

Uboat, houseboat that’s wholesome green

Solar-powered houseboat recycles waste.

For those of you who have had the pleasure of living in a houseboat, the experience might have been mesmerizing. From fun, this experience can quickly turn into a necessity if glaciers keep on increasing the sea level at a pace at which they’re today. Industrial designer Wyatt Little is trying to keep abreast with the needs of the future in the greenest possible way. Little has designed a stunning houseboat, which has been carefully planned after living in a houseboat for about six years.

Dubbed the Uboat, the electrically propelled houseboat eliminates the environmental issues commonly associated with boats. Mostly in all urban areas, there is always some sort of large body of water, be it a canal, bayou, lake, or ocean, which Little wants to make just as livable as land. By implementing this idea it would reduce commuter and residential pollution, all the while bringing a fresh new look to city waters that more often than not go unlooked.

The boat will not produce any sewage what-so-ever. All waste will be incinerated using a special toilet. Water comes from 2 different sources - the gray water will be collected by the vessel’s Heavy Duty PAR pump at the bottom of the vessel. This pump is capable of pumping 24 gallons of water per minute, so it is perfectly suited for daily tasks that require large amount of water like showers.

When considering drinking water the designer focused on the statistics that everyone needs to consume 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight. So, with this formula in mind Little designed a water cistern in the form of a glass wall that will sustain one person weighing approximately 200 pounds for at least a year. When the rain water is collected it will pass through a filtration system and zapped by an ultraviolet light inside of the tank, which makes it suitable for consumption The houseboat’s wooden deck is made from Plyboo FSC certified bamboo plywood, which is 100% renewable. The facades are Insulated metal panels which have a thin metal skin and foam insulation for the core. They provide excellent thermal protection and efficient use of materials. The boat floats on two large pontoons made of recycled polypropylene.