Dwellings That Sequester Carbon?
This episode discusses the three ways to reduce the carbon footprint in architecture: (1) Build Smaller, (2) Use Passive house techniques, (3) Reduce Embodied Carbon -see some background below.
This summer we embarked on the construction of two micro homes at Wally Farms. At the edge of a clearing in the forest, with some great views of the Catskills, the micro houses leave the clearing untouched and are tucked back into the forest.
Per zoning, they are farm worker dwellings. “Farm Worker” at Wally Farms refers to anyone who will stay for a week, or for several months to work the land, to research, to learn or to experiment with climate solutions. The micro homes will be usable year-round and will be connected to a grid powered by a solar field at Wally Farms.
Buildings are responsible for approximately 40% greenhouse gas emissions globally. These two micro homes experiment with and demonstrate ways to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, especially housing. Here are three key themes:
A Smaller Footprint
Both homes have a footprint smaller than 400 square feet or 1/6th of the average American household. They are intended to offer a model for building well-functioning, generous-feeling small living spaces. Downsizing or “right-sizing” should not mean sacrifice, but it does reduce the overall ecological footprint of its inhabitants. Whether as single structures, as part of a tiny home community, or a backyard Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) these structures are prototypes for small footprint living.
Passive House Techniques
The first passive houses were built in Darmstadt, Germany in the 1990s. Part century-old building knowledge about solar orientation and the value of insulation, part emphasis on detailing airtight building envelopes and installing controlled ventilation systems, passive houses use minimal energy to heat and cool. Walls, floors and roofs are highly insulated, windows face mostly South and West for passive heating and can be shaded in the summer for passive cooling.
Negative Embodied Carbon
We use natural materials with low or negative embodied energy wherever possible. In our case, this is primarily wood and hempcrete. Wood and hemp store carbon in the plants as they grow and it remains in the building for the life of the building (as opposed to being released into the atmosphere). During the construction phase, we plan to track materials and their embodied energy.
They will be homes, but they are also intended as learning tools. We learned a lot designing them and will learn even more building them. We continue to share this here. Follow this publication or @youarethecity on Instagram.
