This year our office has submitted an entry in Habitat for Humanity’s annual gingerbread house contest and fundraising raffle. Entitled “Modern Urban Homestead” our delicious little dwelling tries to present many of the ideas that would go into making our homes more sustainable. The main concept is to change the orientation of the home from being a consumer outpost in a global food/energy/manufacturing system, to being about producing, giving back, taking responsibility, and turning wastes into food and energy – just like nature does.
Among the features represented (or suggested) in our entry:
Passive solar design
Detached accessory building for home office
Water collecting roofs and storage tanks
Solar PV
Highly insulated cob and light clay construction
Skylights for interior daylighting
Grey water recycling
Bicycle garage
Urban chickens
Fruit tree orchard and raised bed food production
Greenhouse
Three-bin composting
Green roofs
Our entry has been chosen along with 4 others to be raffled off. Hope it makes some money for this very worthy cause!
Leave a Reply