Michelle Kaufmann just announced the launch of three new prefab homes available exclusively through Studio 101 Designs and built by Blazer Industries. These homes -- Ridge0, Vista0, and Contours0 -- are part of the Zero Series designed to produce as much energy as is needed over the course of a year. As you can tell from the renderings, they're undeniably contemporary and seemingly approachable at the same time.
The tiny house movement experienced a surge of sorts when a recent video hit front page Yahoo! But the movement has been growing in popularity over time, especially during the rough and tumble of the last few years. Tiny houses often include green elements or can be seen as inherently green because they're small and require tiny amounts of water and energy. PBS picked up on the topic and published this video embedded above.
Over the next five years, according to a subscription report published by Environmental Leader, total United States green building market value is expected to increase from $71.1 billion to $173.5 billion. The EL Insights report projects a compound annual growth rate of 19.5% in green building market value from 2010 through 2015.
A couple weeks ago, the FTC released a final rule relating to new labels for light bulb packaging. The labels are designed to help consumers understand the differences between traditional incandescent, compact fluorescent (CFL), and light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. They're also supposed to help consumers save money and energy, which is, after all, the ultimate goal with new technology.
Reclaimed Space is teaming up with Ecofabulous again to showcase one of their prefabs made from reclaimed materials at Dwell on Design. The rustic prefab will measure 28' x 14' -- a little bigger than last year's 400 square-foot rehab -- and built with materials from old deconstructed structures, including an 1830s German farmstead home, in Austin, Texas.
Popular Science just published an interesting roundup of green communities in an article now titled, "Nine of the World's Most Promising Carbon-Neutral Communities." You'll recognize several of these communities as we've mentioned them previously. What's important is the notion that reducing an environmental impact can be ultra effective when done on a large scale.
David Gottfried, founder of the USGBC and owner of this super green home renovation, recently launched a new business consortium with several industry experts, 19 founding member companies, and 60 real estate design, construction, and ownership affiliates. The U.S. Regenerative Network is an invitation only network of green building product manufacturers and service providers with two main goals:
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently released its annual Global Market Study [PDF] of the small wind market, and I thought I'd share this information considering the intersect of green building and small wind. According to the study, the U.S. market for small wind turbines -- those with a capacity of 100 kW of less -- added 20.3 MW of new capacity on $82.4 million in sales in 2009.
Blu Homes, a green prefab startup out of Massachusetts, is on a tear with $7 million in new cash and a contemporary set of homes. Today the company announced its latest design called Balance, which is a 1,632 square foot single-level home that prices from about $270,000. Balance is factory-built, ships anywhere in the country on two trucks, and unfolds to a spacious 34' wide and 48' long with 16' ceilings.
We've seen a lot of effort to provide emergency and long-term shelter for disaster areas. For Haiti in particular, some groups, like Shipping Container Housing and Green Container International Aid, are trying to reuse shipping containers to get people out of the elements and into something that can withstand hurricane season in a couple short months. The renderings shown here are from GCIA, who is seeking the donation of containers to construct container cities in the area.
