I’ve decided that I really enjoy reading about innovative, affordable, sustainable housing designs. I have a friend doing a Masters of Design program at Carleton University right now who’s all over these kinds of projects. The real push for this sort of design-for-sustainability seems relatively new, too — even Carleton University has only just started up this MA program this year. Hopefully it will become popular as it’s got so many benefits!

Take this one, for example — it’s made from recycled matierals, fits in a small space, yet is large enough to fit 3 people, a kitchen, a reading room, a living room, bathroom, and hydroponia area! And it kinda looks like the Deathstar. I mean, maybe that’s not a sell for you, but I’m certainly all ears.

These prefab pod homes can be built quite fast and adding an affordable price tag to that, it makes it an option for any socio-economic level and a viable solution for emergency housing, too.

This particular pod was designed by Broisson Architects of Naucalpan, Mexico.

“The shelter could become another option for developing low cost housing with very short building time and could improve the quality of the life for people without access to decent housing,” say the architects.

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1. Diapers: …and not just the cloth ones. Did you know that, on average, a baby will go through about six thousand diapers before they’re potty trained? Well, a company called ‘Knowaste’ makes disposable diapers that can be recycled.
2. Soap: That’s right — soap! A non profit organization called ‘Clean the World’ collects leftover soap and shampoo from hotels and donates it to those in need.
3. Caskets: This one nearly blew my mind yesterday and, you know, I don’t know why cause you’d think this was a no-brainer: Why not be buried in something that will easily biodegrade or is made from recycled materials? Seems silly not too, but I suppose that’s just my opinion. And besides being eco-friendly, it’s also much less expensive, too!
4. Running shoes: I am a big gym-goer so I own several pairs of running shoes, cross trainers, ones with shock absorbtion, etc. When you’re done with running shoes that are still in relatively good shape, they can be donated to the less fortunate. But the thing is, for me anyway, they’re so incredibly pricey that you can be sure that I use them until they can no longer be worn. The good news is, they can still be made into building materials. Check out RecycledRunners.com to find out where you can bring your old runners.

After chatting with staff about the spa’s commitment to the environment, I took the opportunity to check out what the facility had to offer first hand. Sorry, I’ve got no pictures for you as (I should have known, of course) the spa has strict rules against phones and cameras on site.

I was quite impressed! While the spa lost a few points for handing out bottled water to guests and two clean towels each, I was very impressed by their floor to ceiling windows for all natural lighting during the day and their dim indoor lighting and bright outdoor solar lighting at night.

Their brochures were all packed to the brim with informatiton on recycled paper, the toilets were all low flush and used greywater, and all of the steam rooms and saunas were run on timers as to not unnecessarily waste energy and electricity.

Everywhere you looked their were bins seperated into waste, paper, plastic, and food (for composting) — all done in very tasteful ways to incorporate it into the theme of the spa.

A lot of the spa was outdoors using nature instead of building facilites — like the hammocks and chair swings — all of which were tethered to trees instead of having a separate building for those who wish to lounge.

An outdoor fireplace stood in the middle of the outdoor pool area instead of a wasteful electric fireplace like I’ve seen in so many other public buildings.

And to top off everything, there were rainwater collection barrels scattered throughout the lot — a great use of all that space! They use the rainwater that’s collected to water the plants. Perfect.

Before this experiment I would have never noticed any of these things, I’m sure — but I’m glad I did. I’m definitely becoming more eco-concious and am certainly aware now that in a facility like that, if there’s no attempt at sustainable development and operation, it could easily be a hugely wasteful place! I was glad to see Le Nordik make such a great effort to not only be as eco-friendly as possible, but to make sure that their clients aware of these efforts, too.

Kudos, Le Nordik!

On a personal note, I highly recommend spending a day at this place — it’s beautiful! And there’s nothing like a steam bath and then a jump in a 4 degree (celcius) water fall to make you feel… alive (and so, socold)!

Today while in Chelsea, Quebec on a top secret mission, I’m scheduled to visit the nice folks at Le Nordik Nature Spa and sit down and chat about their promise to act responsibly towards the environment through ‘eco-friendly actions’.

Here are some of their eco commitments:

• Recuperation of all recyclable material for reuse
• Recycling of paper, plastic and other materials
• Recycling of waste water to be reused in flushing systems
• Energy and electricity management with timers and software systems
• Recuperation of rain water to be used for watering the plants
• Printing on recycled paper for certain documents
• Use of renewable energy

And soon they’ve promised that they will be composting of plant and natural based waste and using geothermy throughout each of their buildings.

I’m hoping to talk to them about what motivated them to make this commitment to the environment and sustainable development as well as, of course, checking out what their facilities look like! I’ve never been there and I’m glad that’s about to change. And maybe we’ll become great friends! I could really use some good friends with a spa, heh. I’m looking forward to meeting you and chatting about your top notch eco-friendly spa, Le Nordik!

I’ll be trying out mobile blogging on location again so stay tuned for pictures and tidbits from my sit down with Le Nordik!

Alright, this might be the coolest news story I’ve read all week: A report released by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers is claiming that a building covered in algae are awesome for the environment. Now that’s a green building!

“…sealed containers of algae photobioreactors could be integrated into the sides of buildings to produce biofuels and sequester carbon…” (Inhabitat)

And what’s more?

• using algae for biofuels means that it can use waste water and ocean water making spills or leaks relatively harmless
• algae grows much faster than corn or soy
• photobioreactors are expensive, but could very easily be integrated into our existing structures

It’s really good to see the wheels turning — to see engineers really starting to think about these kinds of things. Very encouraging!

How would you feel about your apartment building being covered in algae? I think done well it could look pretty cool, personally. And with all those benefits, I hope to see this in the near future!

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How fun would it have been to design these?

These cool apartments are called “The Interlace” and they’re built taking into account the surrounding micro-climate, wind and solar resources, and – of course – privacy for its residents. And what’s better? Rooftop gardens and balconies with flower beds. Built efficiently with plenty of green space. Kudos!

And hey, when trying to give directions to your place, you can proudly explain that you live in the Jenga building!

If Singapore sounds good to you, I suggest you hurry — I bet these will go fast.

What a great idea! I hope it’s as structurally sound as it looks. Well, as long as no one pulls out the wrong apartment block, I suppose…

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Yummy sustainability

We know by now that Brad Pitt is crazy about sustainable living and being green friendly, with his deep involvement in rebuilding New Orleans’ lower 9th Ward with his Make It Right foundation and his work on the green hotel project in Dubai.

Well now the hunky actor is involved in a green project in Aviles, Spain that’s looking to boost environmental sustainability. Brad Pitt apparently went to visit the site recently and is excited to support the project.

“Brad is interested in supporting the project, both in cultural and architectural aspects” said the mayor of Avilés, Pilar Varela. “He is interested in building with innovation, novelty, and especially sustainability.”

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This fish and snake are both recycled and upcycled pieces of art on the streets of Jacksonville, Florida.

I wish Ottawa had neat things like this — maybe that’s a sign that I should start building things like this myself, right?

Maybe I will! Any ideas? I’m thinking of a giant robot made out of cans with vinyl records for eyes… I think that could be a city attraction as well as a neat way to use recyclables.

“Come too Ottawa to skate on the canal, stay in Ottawa for the giant, angry, can robot!”

I can see the billboard now.

I spend a good portion of my work day monitoring Twitter for trends and conversations and virtually shaking hands with companies from all over the world — it’s a great way to share ideas and learn new things. Well recently, I’ve noticed a new green trend: broadcasting energy consumption on Twitter.

The University of Mississippi is about to jump on this bandwagon with Facebook and Twitter updates detailing several of its main buildings’ energy use. The purpose? To alter behaviour to reduce electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Included in the details will be consumption from lighting, temperature controls, and appliances. All this will be done with the help of a smart grid company called SmartSynch. Neat! Good for them to be so open and public (and accountable) for that kind of information.

I’d love to see this become a very popular trend.

Speaking of Twitter, are you following me? I don’t know why you wouldn’t. It’s the cool thing to do, of course. And for those of you who’d like a feed of the site, follow the site’s feed here!

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I never had a treehouse when I was a kid. I didn’t really have parents that were comfortable climbing trees and building structures stable enough to hold their kids safely.

But as an adult, I’ve definitely thought about it more than once. I love being outside, I love building, and most importantly, I love sky high panoramic views.

This tree house – featured here – definitely caught my eye.

It’s becoming a neat eco-trend to repurpose lookout towers into homes. That’s right, I could live here! (Though I’m assuming it’s safe to say that this is likely out of my budget.)

So, who wants to rent me a repurposed watchtower, shipping container, or lighthouse? I’m open to any and all.