Hello all!
I am excited to see so many 'green leafs' on the side of builder's trucks and trailers! I am excited to see each company making a name for themselves in green building. Remember back in 2006 when there was so much resistance to the change? Exciting to watch the change unfold before our eyes!
It is basic economics to see a company change with the times, to adjust their approach to meet the needs of customers, and that was part of the plan for change from the beginning. Regardless of the motivation, I am happy to see more houses being built that are energy efficient.
I am curious thou, if those that are now building 'green' understand that building green does not just mean that you are building an energy efficient home. It is much more than that. I remember being invited to a 'high performance' building group to discuss how we can make houses more efficient. It was neat at the time to share my research and discuss how to save a few buck here and there on energy costs, but even I was missing the boat.
I will give you an example of other areas that green building encompasses. Trees. Did you know that one big shade tree has the cooling effect of 20 window sized air conditioners? Or, did you know that it takes several acres of trees to filter out the air pollutants that a family of four puts out in just one day?
I hear people talk about Global warming, and I hear what they say about it. This blog post is not about global warming, but consider how much warmer a building site becomes once the trees are removed. As designers and builders, we try to compensate for the increased sun exposure by building larger overhangs to shade the house. This is common practice of someone savy in Passive Solar Design.
We have a project that just started that has a large, almost ancient Maple Tree that we are saving. It currently casts a nice shadow over where the house will sit. How will this tree, minus the leaves in the Winter time, hamper/compliment the passive solar design of the house? We will show you! Stay tuned for more information on that.
So, I ask again, do builders and people who now call themselves builders now understand fully what green building is?
Green building is much more than an energy efficient house...what about safe household cleaners? Even with a constant air exchange, if you store (not to mention use) deadly cleaning compounds in your super tight energy efficient home, you will no doubt start experiencing symptoms in your home that will make you ill. Can you imagine building a home that you trust someone to build, and then getting sick in that home because no one was aware that for every thing you do in a home, you have to expect something to happen in return.
Again, I am very happy to see so many companies stepping up to build green in our industry. Be careful though! It may not take a degree to build a house, but it does take a broad knowledge and vast experience to build a safe house that will take care of its owner...
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Saturday, August 9, 2014
The Puddingstone Cottage
Hello everyone!
I am excited to announce that we will be starting our next project on August 18th! This project will be built in Southwest Michigan and we will once again be filming this project for weekly web-i-sodes and also as part of a pilot for television that showcases underground homes.
The project's name is: The Puddingstone Cottage Project, and the house is a true flat terrain earth shelter, with full berms on three of the four sides of the house. This is a system that I have designed and is part of a series of homes that we are designing and building that feature an earth shelter design in one way or another.
The Puddingstone Cottage Project will use Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) for all exterior walls and the retaining walls. There will be an entrance door and windows on the south facing wall of the house, which will be the only wall that does not have a full berm.
What is a Puddingstone? Is it possible to build a house from start to finish in just a few months? Can anyone install ICFs? Stay tuned to our videos and I will answer these questions and more each week...
I will post more information soon on this interesting and exciting project, stay tuned!
There are rumors going around that I am enrolled in a Masters Degree Program for Green Building...well, the rumors are true! I was accepted into the San Francisco Institute of Architecture earlier this year and have worked very efficiently to achieve one of my life goals. I will be finished with the program this week. What will I plan to do with my Masters of Science in Green Building Degree? For now, I will hang it on the wall.
The Masters Degree education has been a great compliment to my practical experience. I look forward to teaching soon and also to take my career to the next level..
More on the new project and degree coming soon.
All the best!
Adam
I am excited to announce that we will be starting our next project on August 18th! This project will be built in Southwest Michigan and we will once again be filming this project for weekly web-i-sodes and also as part of a pilot for television that showcases underground homes.
The project's name is: The Puddingstone Cottage Project, and the house is a true flat terrain earth shelter, with full berms on three of the four sides of the house. This is a system that I have designed and is part of a series of homes that we are designing and building that feature an earth shelter design in one way or another.
The Puddingstone Cottage Project will use Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) for all exterior walls and the retaining walls. There will be an entrance door and windows on the south facing wall of the house, which will be the only wall that does not have a full berm.
What is a Puddingstone? Is it possible to build a house from start to finish in just a few months? Can anyone install ICFs? Stay tuned to our videos and I will answer these questions and more each week...
I will post more information soon on this interesting and exciting project, stay tuned!
There are rumors going around that I am enrolled in a Masters Degree Program for Green Building...well, the rumors are true! I was accepted into the San Francisco Institute of Architecture earlier this year and have worked very efficiently to achieve one of my life goals. I will be finished with the program this week. What will I plan to do with my Masters of Science in Green Building Degree? For now, I will hang it on the wall.
The Masters Degree education has been a great compliment to my practical experience. I look forward to teaching soon and also to take my career to the next level..
More on the new project and degree coming soon.
All the best!
Adam
Sunday, January 12, 2014
State of the State of Hybrid Homes
Greetings and happy 2014 to everyone!
I am happy to report that we have made a great move forward after taking 3 years off to build the world's largest off the grid Earth Shelter. One of my original reasons for taking the earth shelter project was to transition out of building, that is a true statement. I had reached a point that I was disgusted with the way things were going, I was disgusted with myself, and I felt like I was not living out my purpose anymore. I started building again because I felt there is still a need for someone to think outside of the box. Too many others have took only one step and are doing well enough to be comfortable and complacent..in so many words, I packed up our camp and set off for the unknown once again! I salute any of your who wonder what's over the next hill and actually set out to see! SALUTE!!
With that said, I made it known to the world through the book I wrote, 'Build Green, Make Green, Save Green' that I had built several types of homes and that I wanted to share that information with the world. I did not even think about the fact that we would be in almost every library in Michigan and in libraries all over the country. This exposure open us up to a nation wide market! Wow. So, writing the book was a great idea not only for spreading the word about green building, but also for our business.
I decided that we would start installing our own ICFs, and that turned out to be a great idea. We did not have the problems associated with other companies installing our ICFs. That part of the process went very well for us. So much so, that I have decided to invest more this year into our ICF part of the business, more on that in coming months.
2013 was a great year for meeting new people and creating working relationships with them. My decision to start designing houses has re-invigorated me. I have always loved to draw houses, now I get to draw them then build them! The process is so much more fluid. I will be investing in upgraded CAD software this year so the end product is 'tighter'. I am working with people all over the country now, so even thou we can't build the houses in other states (some day we will), I can still draw the houses and help the homeowners find the right companies to help them out!
This is a short message, or better yet, a more to the point message. Hybrid Homes and our design business is growing rapidly once again. I have the help of several people who are helping me to make the correct decisions to ensure we have positive growth and less liabilities. We will be actively recruiting people to work with us and for us. I am hoping to add more team members in 2014 and to slowly increase our workload.
I have openly made the statement that I do not know how much longer I want to build. That is a true statement. I have always wanted to be part of something special, and when the day comes that I no longer feel that way, then I will have to go on to my other purposes in life. That is not in the foreseeable future, as we have multiple projects that we are working on that are amazing in every way!
The state of the state of Hybrid Homes is good and growing..and after the road we have traveled, that is something to be proud of! Here's to another great year!
Thank you everyone for the support and if you are looking for something special in your home and/or the design of your home, email me and lets talk!
All the best!
AB
I am happy to report that we have made a great move forward after taking 3 years off to build the world's largest off the grid Earth Shelter. One of my original reasons for taking the earth shelter project was to transition out of building, that is a true statement. I had reached a point that I was disgusted with the way things were going, I was disgusted with myself, and I felt like I was not living out my purpose anymore. I started building again because I felt there is still a need for someone to think outside of the box. Too many others have took only one step and are doing well enough to be comfortable and complacent..in so many words, I packed up our camp and set off for the unknown once again! I salute any of your who wonder what's over the next hill and actually set out to see! SALUTE!!
With that said, I made it known to the world through the book I wrote, 'Build Green, Make Green, Save Green' that I had built several types of homes and that I wanted to share that information with the world. I did not even think about the fact that we would be in almost every library in Michigan and in libraries all over the country. This exposure open us up to a nation wide market! Wow. So, writing the book was a great idea not only for spreading the word about green building, but also for our business.
I decided that we would start installing our own ICFs, and that turned out to be a great idea. We did not have the problems associated with other companies installing our ICFs. That part of the process went very well for us. So much so, that I have decided to invest more this year into our ICF part of the business, more on that in coming months.
2013 was a great year for meeting new people and creating working relationships with them. My decision to start designing houses has re-invigorated me. I have always loved to draw houses, now I get to draw them then build them! The process is so much more fluid. I will be investing in upgraded CAD software this year so the end product is 'tighter'. I am working with people all over the country now, so even thou we can't build the houses in other states (some day we will), I can still draw the houses and help the homeowners find the right companies to help them out!
This is a short message, or better yet, a more to the point message. Hybrid Homes and our design business is growing rapidly once again. I have the help of several people who are helping me to make the correct decisions to ensure we have positive growth and less liabilities. We will be actively recruiting people to work with us and for us. I am hoping to add more team members in 2014 and to slowly increase our workload.
I have openly made the statement that I do not know how much longer I want to build. That is a true statement. I have always wanted to be part of something special, and when the day comes that I no longer feel that way, then I will have to go on to my other purposes in life. That is not in the foreseeable future, as we have multiple projects that we are working on that are amazing in every way!
The state of the state of Hybrid Homes is good and growing..and after the road we have traveled, that is something to be proud of! Here's to another great year!
Thank you everyone for the support and if you are looking for something special in your home and/or the design of your home, email me and lets talk!
All the best!
AB
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