Low Cost Housing

Cob House
In green construction, cob refers to a mixture
of earth and straw similar to the adobe
homes you might see in the American
southwest. Cob is an inexpensive, versatile
material that allows builders to shape walls
any way they want. While adobe is usually
formed into bricks or blocks, cob is unique in
that it's applied in large handfuls to form the
structure.

Shipping-crate Home
Shipping-container
homes
are
gaining
popularity. They can be cheaper to build than
conventional homes and use fewer raw
materials, and the finished structure has a
modern, industrial look. Green builders can
use one shipping crate to build a relatively
small, single-family dwelling or combine
crates for a larger house or even bigger
structures, such as apartment buildings and
schools.

Straw-bale Construction Bales of straw

are also natural and inexpensive, and they
provide excellent insulation. This makes
straw-bale construction an economical
green-building method. Since straw is a
byproduct of grain farming, it often goes to
waste, so using it in construction is a great
way to reuse it.
Straw-bale construction is versatile, too.
Since you're using the straw bales either to
construct the frame or as insulation in
conjunction with a wooden frame, the house
itself can look however you want. And no big
bad wolf is going to blow down this house of
straw -- in most straw-bale construction,
recycled steel beams or bamboo rods
support the bales.

Wood-pallet House
Architectural firm I-Beam Design came up
with the idea of creating homes out of wood
pallets as an affordable and eco-friendly
solution for disaster relief housing. They first
designed the pallet homes as an entry in a
contest to solve housing problems for
refugees in post-war Kosovo, but you can
also use pallet wood to create something
more permanent.

Green Roof

A green roof is more than a cool architectural

feature. It can help manage storm water
runoff by providing a permeable surface, and
it can help offset the urban heat-island
effect. Rather than absorbing and storing
heat like a regular roof, a green roof reflects
heat and can help lower a building's cooling
costs. They are also great insulators and can
reduce both air and noise pollution.

Tito Ingenieri built his Quilmes, Argentina,

home out of 6 million empty glass bottles. He
sets the bottles in concrete to create a light,
airy space that's a testament to the amount
of empty bottles that go to waste.

On a home, the most practical type of green

roof is an extensive roof, which can support a
variety of small plants. Because these roofs
are designed to support only a few inches of
soil, they don't require much maintenance,
and you'll have a new kind of eco-friendly
garden to enjoy.

Earthship
Michael Reynolds, who designed the first the
Earthship back in the '70s, envisioned a
home that reduced waste and energy
consumption. Typically, an Earthship's frame
is constructed from reclaimed tires and an
eye toward maximum energy efficiency.
Reynolds' ultimate vision was to create offgrid communities of Earthships, so these
homes generally rely on renewable energy
rather than conventional electricity from the
power grid.

Green Wall
Living walls are as beautiful as they are
functional. These vertical gardens are able to
support a range of plants from succulents
and mosses to edibles. On top of turning
otherwise wasted space into green space, a
green wall on the south side of your building
helps reduce cooling costs in the summer.

Beer Bottles

Hemp Concrete
Traditional concrete is very energy intensive
to create, so one Asheville, NC, company is
looking to change that. HempTechnologies
developed an alternative concrete, called
Hemcrete, out of hemp, water and lime
that's more durable than regular concrete.
Because it's currently illegal to grow hemp in
the U.S., Hemcrete costs more than regular
concrete, but since the material insulates
better than concrete, you make that up that
cost over time in energy savings.
Walls constructed with this material are also
resistant to fire, mold and insects, and some
researchers think that it may even last as
long as 700 to 800 years [source: Lawrence].

Modular Homes

Modular homes have come a long way from

the types of prefab houses that you're
probably familiar with. Many modular home
companies are creating kit houses with a
modern look and an environmental twist.
Some buy the smaller kits to build guest
houses or outdoor offices, but for minimalists
and do-it-yourselfers, modular homes make
perfect primary residences.
Eco-friendly modular homes are often
smaller than traditional homes, so they use
less energy to heat and cool. Also, since the
pieces are all manufactured to fit together
perfectly, prefab homes minimize the waste
that goes along with a typical construction
project.

Source:
Google Image
http://home.howstuffworks.com/homeimprovement/construction/green/10alternative-housing-ideas.htm
https://theabysmal.wordpress.com/category/
cities-2/page/2/

Pre-fab Modular homes in the

Philippines can be stylish, energyefficient, income-earning
Pre-fab homes today are practically custombuilt, beautifully designed, sturdy, longlasting, energy-efficient, and ready to
meet the challenges posed by the
elements. Although built in quick time, no
compromise has been made on its quality or
integrity.
New
homes
that
use
this fast and flexible
building
technique have also been hailed for
using sustainable, recycled, low-energy
materials
and
fixtures that
result
in functional,
space-efficient,
ecofriendly design.The modular dwellings are
convenient to construct, flexible in terms of
space usage and cost much less than a
conventionally built home.The faade is
made of wood-like planks of finished
materials, while the actual panels are
reinforced with pre-cast concrete filled
with insulation materials for total thermal,
moisture and acoustic protection. These give
the homes their energy-saving properties.

Source:
http://www.wafflebox.ph/pre-fab-modularhomes-philippines-can-stylish-energyefficient-income-earning/

Disaster Resilient Houses

Bahay Panalag Laban sa Kalamidad by Mapua Institute of Technology.

FINALISTS Taklob: A Low-Cost and Disaster Resilient School and Evacuation Center by University of the
Philippines-Diliman

LAWS - BP 220