The dirt is often from the home site, typically packed into a wood wall. Popular in hot, dry places like Australia and the American Southwest, rammed earth uses compressed dirt blocks as building bricks. Electricity will be used for normal household loads as well as a Thermolec electric boiler which supplies radiant heat, and a backup element to the solar hot water system.įrom May through September, the evacuated tube solar hot water collectors will provide nearly 100% of the home’s domestic hot water supply. Fireproof, termite-proof, storm resistant, extremely low-maintenance and literally dirt-cheap: all of these qualities make rammed earth an attractive natural DIY option for owner-builders. The 5kw grid tied photovoltaic (PV) system will produce roughly 6,000 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually. The new home should be “net zero,” meaning that it will generate as much energy as it consumes throughout the course of the year, required no fossil fuel inputs! Approximately 50 people visited to see the “striking” house which the MDI Village Soup said combines “the earthen feel of an ancient construction technique, the intriguing attractions of vintage elements reanimated by new use and the aesthetics of a contemporary sensibility.” Enjoying the Sunshine Turner and Karnaky were so impressed with the installation that they opened their home up this past October to be on NESEA’s Green Building Open House Tour. Knowing that the panels are creating our electricity leads me to consciously decide how I will use electricity and to be aware of not wasting it.” “We found that we could get a system that would cover the entire winter’s heat. “Deciding to go with solar was the easy part,” Susan Turner writes.
Turner and Karnaky’s sustainable mindset applied to their choice of mechanical systems, as well.
The home also features numerous recycled/repurposed elements including a recycled aluminum and steel roof, a soapstone farm sink from a cabin found on the property, and plank flooring and beams recovered from an 1836 house in Dexter. This dense material is an excellent thermal mass for passive solar applications, and practically soundproof. Rammed earth involves packing a mixture of sand, gravel, and cement into a form, which then that solidifies into walls. It was constructed using the “rammed earth” method and features numerous recycled/repurposed materials. Humankind has used the earth itself to build homes and other structures for. The new home of Susan Turner and Karl Karnaky will be net-zero, meaning it generates as much energy as it consumes during the course of a year. Houses built of rammed earth have several advantages over wood-frame. Although Maine is still the most oil dependent state in the U.S., a Bar Harbor couple is proving that people can live comfortably year round at our latitude with virtually no fossil fuel energy.
0 kommentar(er)
