Learn about how to buy the picture perfect view with little money. Take huge advantage by picking the right terrain. The real gold is in the negatives. Find out why. Save 30% on the initial investment. Save big on the long run. In case of: failure, changes or pricey repairs … you’ll save tens of…
Details
Independence to the core. We claim it. Long story short. Buy a terrain without infrastructure. It will give you the advantage to negotiate. With the extra money you could buy solar panels from alibaba.com or the tesla battery. Keep in mind that zero energy houses consume less energy than normal houses, so you will need…
Details
Cables and plumbing. We position most of the cables within the “chimney effect”.This way the electric current that powers the house and the cables for the sensors are safe and sheltered from the environment. It’s quite easy to reposition them in time if need be. It’s like putting the cables on the outside of the…
Details
Read about the walipini and about the aquaponics system first. The final “product” won’t look like this. This video is just a quick sketch about the main idea. We show just 3-4 simplified ideas to demonstrate the concept. The underground lake lives in a symbiosis with the house. It is home to hundreds or thousands…
Details
The Termite’s Chimney: Biomimetic Cooling and the Bernoulli Paradigm The Desert Architect: The Flaw in Mechanical Air Conditioning In the scorching heat of the African savanna, where surface temperatures regularly exceed 120°F (49°C), the compass termite builds towering mounds that remain a constant, perfectly comfortable 87°F (30°C) inside. They do not use electrical grids, compressors,…
Details
how to ? Read this article first (30.30.30 rule). Nowadays everything is manufactured to have a short life. The economy has to keep going. Building something that last “hundreds of years” it’s not a good “investment” in the long run. Real estate, monthly bills and expenses as well as food is a “good business”. Doors,…
Details
There are various materials that can replace glass. Acrylic sheet is among the top on my list. Crystal clear view with the surroundings. 92% of light is passed through acrylic sheet. In case of mineral glass it’s only 80-90%. That means you will have a “premium” crystal clear view on your surroundings. Your senses will…
Details
The chimney effect. How we hide the house from a “whimsy” environment? Think about a tram station in a rainy, windy, cold autumn day. Right after we pass the plexiglas we’ll feel warmth and comfort within the station. Basically we’ll feel the real temperature … without the wind and rain. We just use this…
Details
The Cheetah’s Fridge: Bypassing the Chemical Battery Bottleneck with Hydronic Thermal Mass The Predator’s Logic: The Flaw in Modern Solar Storage In the wild, a cheetah expends a massive amount of energy to secure its prey during the heat of the day. But the cheetah doesn’t eat the entire kill at once. To protect its…
Details
energy for free | battery from nature that looks like luxury Read about the thermal mass first. The whole thing is pretty simple. I will explain in a minute and you’ll understand it. 1) Build a house with a big south facing glazing and insulate it very well. 2) Put thermal mass inside. Let…
Details
Fire. Using these materials (mentioned in the website) your house will ranked in the best and second best category related to fire safety. Your family would be safe. Additional pumps that use the underground lake’s water will be an extra measure to extinguish fire. The water could be pumped inside of the building, or in…
Details
The Monolithic Skin: Bypassing Portland Cement with Biomimetic Envelopes The Industrial Flaw: The Concrete and Fiberglass Addiction The modern construction industry is dangerously addicted to Portland cement and synthetic fiberglass insulation. This addiction is a catastrophic failure of both economics and building science. Portland cement is highly energy-intensive to produce, expensive, and inherently brittle. It…
Details
The Dimetrodon’s Sail: Strategic Thermal Bridging and Decoupled Hydronics The Structural Parasite: Unintentional Thermal Bleed The modern construction industry bleeds money and energy through a catastrophic architectural oversight known as thermal bridging. Standard development practices routinely pour external concrete slabs, sidewalks, and patios directly against the primary foundation of the home. Because concrete and steel…
Details
Cooling it’s simple and cheap. If everything is sealed well (30/30/30 rule) then the hot air will try to escape in the upper part. By its movement in the lower part creates space. New air will be sucked in its place. Just put tubes in the earth or in the lake (not in the underground…
Details
An insulated shutter in front of acrylic sheets combined with the chimney effect works out the best. You want to protect the house from the heat in the summer. The same shutter will keep the heat within your home in the winter nights. Don’t just put a single layer of tin insulation. Insolate it well.…
Details
energy study We “built” a 400square meter, 2 story house in our programs. We chose an extremely thick insulation. Read about the chimney effect. The house is on wooden pylons to save up the heat gained from the Sun (30 30 30 rule). We used a big south facing glazing (acrylic sheets) to achieve a…
Details
houses | castles | old buildings Measure the size of the windows. Buy the acrylic sheets to double or triple the insulation. You can easily “stick” the acrylic sheets near your existing mineral glass. Use long magnets to close the doors. Old windows with double glazing will be easy to upgrade. Just open the inner…
Details
Acrylic negatives. Everything has it flows and weaknesses. Check out acrylic sheets first. Think about your home. The place where you live now. Seriously, just stop for a second and think about your dream house. Think about your future bedroom, other rooms, living area. Think about the doors, furniture, clothes, curtains, carpets, TV, fancy equipment,…
Details
This type of walls in bathrooms and furniture is quite difficult to use because of the water vapors (in case of normal houses). In case you build your house after the ideas presented on this website than mold and extra heating bills won’t “occur”. Notice that working with primal materials like stone, wood, metal could…
Details
The weakest point of most zero energy houses is the energy storage. The battery is expensive. The electricity produced and stored onsite is, in most countries, more expensive than the energy from the city infrastructure. However we have good news. Solar panels are quite cheap.. and the zero energy buildings consume just a fraction compared…
Details