So I am completely enamored by Vodafone’s Extreme Mobile Solar Home design.

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m fascinated by just about any type of tiny home on wheels.  However, there are several things I love about this particular design.  First, I appreciate the modern design aesthetic.  Many of the tiny mobile homes follow Jay Shafer’s design lead and have very rustic, cabin-feeling interiors.  While those have a great appeal for me, as well, it’s refreshing to encounter a different style of design which creatively employs the use of glass, light wood floors, and loft-style elements.  The Vodafone could easily appear in the next issue of Dwell Magazine without being out of place.

Secondly, the Vodafone design uses its 19’7″ x 8’2″ dimensions extremely well in terms of spatial design.  There is a spacious (by tiny home standards) sleeping loft upstairs, a well-equipped kitchen, and clever use of convertible furniture and storage space (such as the cupboards below the stairway).  And, naturally, the solar panels incorporated in the design are another fantastic element.

The home is built with white polyethylene panels and clear polycarbonate.  The modern interior has a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and two beds upstairs. It was designed by Waskman Design Studio, with CuldeSac, for Vodafone to showcase its fixed phone and wireless internet services.

The home is currently occupied by blogger Marcos Morales and his family as they travel through Spain. You can follow their journey here.

Below is a video of the home being built.

Photo credits: Waskman Design Studio

One would be hard pressed to find a more innovative use of shipping containers than the Greentainer Project.  There are quite literally millions of shipping containers already built, and many of them are simply sitting on load docks all over ports around the world.  What could be more eco-friendly than taking these structures, already built, and turning them into homes and offices?  The Greentainer Project taps into this rather sensible notion in a big way, taking the standard 40-foot shipping container and really running with it.

The Greentainer takes the idea of large windows and ample light exposure to a new level, as the floor to ceiling windows wrap around the entire shipping container structure. Essentially, the vast majority of the walls have been replaced with glass, leaving the original shipping container floor, ceiling and support structures.

One of the first aspects of the Greentainer design that most people will notice is that it is quite beautiful. No doubt the design concept is simple, but the execution of that concept is well done and polished. Lit up at night the Greentainer looks more at home in a museum than it does in suburbia or an business district.

The eye towards functionality is high which also yields a great degree of flexibility in how the Greentainer itself can be used.

The entire Greentainer concept is one that is designed to be eco-friendly.  Solar panels are built into the top of the design to provide for the units energy needs, and the large floor to ceiling windows make the Greentainer an excellent choice for passive heating in colder climates.

The Greentainer is a truly excellent example of how new concepts in housing can be elegant, eco-conscious and very economical.  The notion that all homes must be built in exactly the same way is an idea that will likely not hold sway in the 21st century.

Some sustainable and green building concepts have been around for quite some time now.  Take, for example, Cob Homes.  Cob is generally referred to as any home that uses a mixture of clay, sand and straw.  It can be seen as being similar to adobe, yet cob uses a significantly higher percentage of straw.  Cob construction has been around for at least 800 years and has been practiced all over the world.  These homes can be cheap, as they are of course made of very inexpensive materials. However, one drawback is that they are very labor intensive.

While cob may have the drawback of being rather labor intensive, it does have a variety of benefits.  One major benefit that should catch the eye of anyone who is interested in having a green home is that cob uses all natural materials.  Cob construction takes advantage of some of nature’s most readily available materials-clay, straw and sand.  All three of these materials are cheap, abundant and are completely natural.  Thus, cob is completely sustainable.  Of course, this means that indoor air quality is improved, as one does not have to worry about potential VOCs from paint and building materials.

Now before you run out in your work clothes and declare, “today is the day I build my cob castle!” there are a few things you need to consider.  Cob homes are very labor intensive, but that fact aside, there are two problems that must be addressed.  One problem is that of codes.  Building codes where cob homes are concerned can be a sticky issue, especially depending on where you live.  Another issue that might impact your decision is getting that all-important bank loan.  Banks are usually not too eager to give a loan for someone to build a house that is literally made out of clay, straw and sand!  Yet, on the flip side of this issue, cob homes are, well, “dirt cheap” to build.

If you are interested in building a cob home for yourself then there are a few good websites you should visit.  One is cobworkshops.org.  This site will tell you were you can go and take informative workshops on cob in different locations.  For a good overview of what cob is all about check out Oregon based www.cobhollow.com. While there may be some challenges associated with building a cob home, no doubt, the price is right on this very eco-friendly building technique.

There is a lot more to building an eco-friendly and tiny home than might initially meet the eye.  It would be easy to say that a tiny home is, well not surprisingly, small.  But tiny homes these days mean much more than just small.

Most buildings and architects that are involved in the tiny home movement are also making sure that their homes have a variety of traits.  While not completely universal, these core set of “home values” pop up a great deal in the tiny home universe.

One core concept in the tiny home movement is that the space is used well.  Architects realize that just tossing up four walls will really not cut it when the space is limited.  Virtually all the architects involved in the movement realize that a tiny home is likely going to be much smaller than what people are generally accustomed to living in.  As a result, architects and builders usually work to make their tiny homes visually interesting or at the least, very user friendly.

Another tiny home element that is popping up in a great many of today’s designs is an eye toward energy efficiency.  The notion that going tiny is only an aspect of the battle again high home heating and cooling cost.  To this end, many architects and manufacturers are incorporating all sorts of energy saving strategies, such as energy efficient lighting, energy efficient appliances, smart use of passive lighting and high-efficiency building materials.

As many architects and builders are concerned about the energy issue, it is not surprising that many are taking the next step beyond energy efficiency and are moving toward solar power.  Many tiny home designs today are seeing solar panels incorporated right into the design.  The thinking is that a highly efficient tiny home, when combined with solar power, equals a home that is using just a small fraction of the energy of today’s average American dwelling.

When all of these different factors are combined they have a very large impact.  By using new techniques and approaches to home building in general, the new generation of tiny home architects and builders are making tiny homes that are very energy efficient.  This movement is great for the homeowner in terms of lower overall living costs and has obvious benefits for the environment as well.

One of my friends was asking me recently if all tiny Houses were also environmentally friendly houses, or visa versa. I thought I would focus three Blog posts this week on the connection between the small home movement and the green home movement.  First, I wanted to write about Tiny Homes and indoor air quality. (I have lots of allergies, so I tend to think about air quality a lot!)

No one wants to live in a sick building, whether it is a tiny house or not.  Indoor air quality is often overlooked by most consumers and builders. However, a few innovative architects and builders are focusing on making the interiors of their homes more human friendly as well.

Eco-friendly is increasingly making its way to the heart of the tiny home movement.  It is not uncommon for rain capturing systems to be built into the roofs of tiny homes and for a great deal of thought to be given for the treatment of water in general.  The processing of “gray water” is appearing more and more often in tiny home design.  All of this only serves to compliment the incorporation of solar energy.

While indoor air quality is not as common as solar power and energy efficient materials, many builders and architects are beginning to pay a great deal of attention to this environmental issue as well.  Indoor air quality is often far more polluted than the air outside.  Part of the reason for this pollution is that indoor air quality suffers from all sorts of modern materials that “de-gas” and produce a wide variety of potentially harmful gases.  Many builders and architects are looking to materials such as bamboo, which is renewable, has a comparatively low impact on the environment, and does not produce VOC or Volatile Organic Compounds.  Many materials are being sought after more and more as part of this new, greener movement in housing.

The designs of eco-friendly and tiny homes benefit indoor air quality in another and much more subtle fashion.  Most designs, by necessity, are favoring large outdoor decks in order to augment the space at hand.  This design and space use choice has the added benefit of encouraging homeowners to venture outdoors more often.  When combined with large sliding doors, windows or even retractable glass walls, the end result is a home that should receive more much more fresh and flowing air.

Of course, it should be stated that plants are our friends. One of the very best moves a homeowner can make is to have a variety of air cleaning plants in whatever home they live.  NASA studies have shown that a handful of the right plants, such as ferns, can do wonders to reduce indoor air pollution.

The way that modern society is building homes is likely going to change dramatically.  The idea of hauling material from one end of the country or even the planet just to build a home seems somewhat insane, doesn’t it?  The idea that locally sourced materials are going to play a major part is construction more and more in the coming years is likely to go without saying.  Prefabrication is a good step in this direction, as it cuts down on waste and even transportation/ assembly costs.

Prefabrication is another major reoccurring them that one sees in the tiny home universe.  Prefabrication allows architects and builders to cut construction cost by eliminating waste and by reducing transportation costs.  The notion of being able to put finished tiny, modules or components on the back of semi-truck or railcar is a very attractive idea to builders and architects alike.  Prefabrication also gives builders and architects a great degree of control over what materials are used, thus making it easier to design homes that use less energy and are more environmentally friendly.

Prefabrication has the further benefit of helping architects and builders “go green.”  Adopting prefabrication allows for builders and architects to take full advantage of eco-friendly materials.  Materials such as recycled denim, recycled rubber made from car tires, and all sorts of other recycled materials often make their way into prefabricated homes.  The entire concept of being eco-friendly has evolved well beyond the notion of simply building a “tiny home.”

This move towards prefabrication also comes with some interesting, and perhaps even unexpected, side benefits.  One is variety.  With prefabrication it is possible for architects and builders to make their homes, tiny and otherwise, be much more adaptable to homeowner desires and needs.  The prefabrication movement is increasingly moving towards building home from core components and pieces that can be reassembled in different ways.  The end result is houses differently shaped on the inside and outside.

Another side benefit to the prefabrication movement is that prefabrication has the potential to make homes much more affordable.  Housing costs could be driven down dramatically through using prefabrication techniques.  When further combined by the interchangeability of many of the new designs, it should even be possible to avoid the “cookie cutter” look that has turned so many people off in the past.

Additional Information on Tiny Homes and Prefab:

• The Beauty of Mini Prefab Buildings
• Creating the House You Want with Tiny Home Kits
• Reclaimed Space Prefab
• Small Practical Prefab Living Space

If you are considering an eco-friendly tiny house, you should take a look at BuildingWithAwareness.com.  This great site has a lot of really impressive tips and information for those who want to build green or are interested in alternative building materials.  Straw bale house construction and different approaches to energy are given a lot of attention on the site.  They have a nice overview of how to build green with straw bale.  It might come as a surprise to learn that if done correctly, straw bale can be an excellent insulator.  How well insulated?  How about R-35, now that is a pretty high R-value.

Another big surprise concerning straw bale construction is that most straw is simply burned after use.  This, of course, means that this potentially great building material is just “tossed” away.  Earth plaster walls and solar panels are considered to be a vital part in the construction of a straw bale house, and the end result does seem like a very attractive and earth friendly concept.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the site is its breakdown of what it costs to build a straw bale house.  This is where BuildingWithAwareness.com becomes a uniquely interesting site.  They have a pretty detailed breakdown of all the cost with the end tally being about $88,000 to build your own straw bale tiny house.  The largest expenditures are labor and services such as hiring a plumber, which accounts for about $22,000 of the overall budget.  General construction materials come in as the second most expensive cost at $13,000 roughly.  This cost includes concrete, adobe bricks, various other materials and, of course, about 500 straw bales.  The third most expensive aspect of the straw bale house is the photovoltaic electrical system, which ran about $13,000.

Another good source of information on the site is its section on “Green Building Tips for Straw Bale Houses.”  The number one step is one that tiny houses fans will certainly appreciate-”build small and build only what you need.”  As they point out, this does a great deal in reducing heating and cooling costs.  But this tip is just one of many good suggestions on the site.

BuildingWithAwareness.com does have a DVD and book they are selling, and for those who are seriously considering building a tiny home (and most especially building a straw bale home), the DVD and book may very well be a no-brainer.

Plankbridge Shepherd Huts has a really cool take on tiny spaces.  Their huts are envisioned as being more of workspaces, studios and de facto add-ons for homes. However, these huts do a great job in showcasing how tiny spaces can be versatile, adaptable, and just plain cool.  These huts may be small but they do have a lot to offer.  Each hut has a lot of charm, as it is something of a “cultural heirloom,” as the people at Plankbridge like to put it.  The designs of their huts are based upon the designs of huts from well over a hundred years ago. Yet, there are some significant additions.

The biggest difference between today’s Plankbridge huts and those of the past is technology.  While many of the traditional hand-crafted elements are still present in the design, many new design elements have been incorporated as well, for example, insulation.  The Plankbridge huts are eco-friendly in that they use wool, or Thermafleece sheep’s wool, for roof and floor insulation.  The huts also come with double pane windows to help keep them warm and make the most out of furnace heat.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Plankbridge huts is how they have chosen to show how these tiny spaces can be used and adapted.  It is possible to add bunk beds and built-in desk, as well as storage benches, cooking stoves and heating stoves.  While there are lots of tiny space options on the market, one really has to give a nod to Plankbridge Huts for being uniquely charming.  Part of that charm is the quality of material, and the hand made touch that goes into each hut.

Plankbridge Huts highlights an aspect of the tiny home and tiny space movement that is often overlooked.  With tiny spaces and tiny homes it is much more possible to have a home or workspace that retains an element of craftsmanship that is slowly disappearing in our mechanized and industrial age.  One has to appreciate Plankbridge Hut’s efforts.  They have even done restoration on old huts and breathed new life into them.

Blu is a builder with some positive selling points for those looking to build a tiny home, green home or anyone just wanting to save a little money.  Blu homes have building costs that are 45%-75% lower than a traditionally built home.  That in and of itself should be enough to open most people’s eyes.  Yet Blu is also very focused on building green and ecologically friendly homes.  Their construction methods produce homes that cause 50% to 70% less carbon emissions than traditional construction, making these homes much more environmentally friendly than other forms of traditional construction.

What if you were told that Blu homes take about four weeks to construct?  In fact, a Blu home takes about four weeks to construct and this is only the beginning of the flexibility that Blu Homes offers.  They offer what is called Blu Flex Designs.  Blu Flex Designs is likely to be of interest to anyone looking to build a tiny home .  Flex Designs allow a home owner to easily add space to their existing home.  Often young families worry that a tiny home might not be for them as they are worried about running out of space when they have children.  Let’s face it, even the biggest fan of tiny homes might be a little worried about two kids, a dog, a cat and a visiting mother-in-law in a 400 square foot home, or even a 900 square foot home for that matter.  A concept like Flex Design is definitely a good one for it allows homeowners to add on additional space if needed.  Currently, they are offering a media room added with stadium seating, but other room add-on designs are on the way.

The Blu Origin home comes in a three model, a studio, one bedroom and a two bedroom.  The studio model is between $50,000 and $65,000 and is between 280 and 400 square feet.  The one bedroom model is between 420 square feet and 600 square feet and runs between $70,000 and $90,000. The larger two-bedroom model can be as large as 800 square feet with a cost between $99,000 and $120,000.  All their models are dedicated to being more energy efficient and producing less carbon emissions than your average home.  Blu believes that the Origin produces about half of the carbon emissions of a traditional home and uses about sixty percent less energy as well.

Blue Sky Homes is taking an approach that is easy to like and one, which is encouraging to see more and more companies beginning to use.  About 70% of the material that goes into a Blue Sky Homes creation is recycled and 100% of the material is recyclable.  Keeping with this greener edge, the Blue Sky Homes concept is one where the reduction of waste is critical.  To this end they have set up a factory fabrication process that eliminates much of the building waste that can occur using traditional building techniques.  (Often on a traditional building site up to an amazing 40% of the material used is wasted.)

While steel can be energy intensive material to create, it is also true that steel is far more durable and longer lasting than wood.  Blue Sky Homes uses steel for all of their construction for this reason.  Keep in mind however, that 70% of all their building materials are from recycled sources.  This is most definitely a good step in the green direction.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Blue Sky Homes is how they keep their home designs from looking like modular homes.  Unlike many modular homes, Blue Sky Homes does ship out completed modules.  Instead they ship out sections.  This gives them more flexibility in a variety of directions.  While it may not be immediately obvious,  modular homes that are sent out in a single piece are definitely at the mercy of logical constraints.  The width of the highway is a good example of a constraint that might hinder the process.  By using sectional design, Blue Sky Homes is able to bypass this limiting aspect of the modular process.

Watch the animated movie on the Blue Sky Home website.  Seeing the different ways they can configure their core pieces is really an eye opener.  The basic core piece design allows for the same parts to be used in a variety of different home constructions and in remarkably different shapes and sizes.  Their prototype home built in Southern California is a good example of what the Blue Sky Homes team is capable of doing.  No doubt part of this creative approach comes from founders Robert Brada and David McAdam.  Brada was once part of the executive management team at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and McAdam began his career as a newspaper journalist in California.  This difference of perspective could really make Blue Sky Homes one to watch in the green building world.