Green Modern Kits

Regular readers of BGTV have followed the exciting design journey of our star member GreenModernKits, also known as Copeland Casati.

Today, Copeland announced her new prefab green cottage kit, available at GreenCottageKits.com.

The kit "offers affordable, traditional cottage and larger cabin kit home design with green energy efficient technology" such as passive solar, rainwater collection, and the use of Structural Insulated Panel ("SIPs").

The 2000 (or smaller) square foot modular homes were inspired by traditional Virginian architecture including farmhouses, browstones, and colonial buildings.

Copeland teamed with architect Eric Drivdahl to complete the design, and floorplans of the two story homes are available on the kit's website (the sister site of GreenModernKits.com).

You can read more about the new design on Copeland's announcement in our Share section, and you can follow Greenmodernkits blog on our website.

Congratulations to Copeland and GreenCottageKits.com!

We're looking forward to watching these kits being assembled and turned into homes!

Hi everyone!!!

I am thrilled to announce our prefab Green Cottage Kit design is here!

Although a modern enthusiast, I grew up (and my parents still reside) in a home built in 1801. A Virginia native, I appreciate old farmhouses, Victorian brownstones, colonial and happy, yes, exuberantly happy cottage architecture.

So, when people came to me on GreenModernKits.com asking for a cottage, I understood.

So I kidnapped Eric Drivdahl, an award winning architect with a heart of gold, and he designed a gorgeous, passive solar, SIPs, cottage kit with so many thoughtful details:

- 2,000 sq. ft. (and less: this house has 3 configurations)

- 3 bedrooms (or less)

- Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) for energy efficiency

- Passive Solar

- Trombe Wall

- Nooks and Crannies where you can curl up and read your books!

We haven't even named it yet, but we're so happy.

If you have any names you'd like to suggest, we'd love to hear them!

Sincerely yours,

Copeland

aka Green Modern Kits! : )

Well, my fabulous contractor, Ron Bernaldo of Giant Oaks Construction just called to tell me...

He has the building permit for our modern plan casa ti house kit in his hand!

Now the fun begins!

Stay tuned!

If you'd like to follow along, you can also check regularly on my modern prefab green building project page and my blog for our own casa ti house kit.

You may have noticed I've been musing on lighting.

Despite silly recycled lamps documentation, I am technical in nature and have been mulling over lighting, wiring, and outlets for our off grid casa ti we're building as soon as it's warm enough to pour the foundation.

Here are my thoughts:

We are doing everything possible to minimize expense and maximize efficiency.

By advance planning for outlets/wiring, we can designate it into our SIPs panels, therefore increasing efficiency and decreasing further labor.

As an off grid house, by using DC power wherever possible (not just in lighting), it is more efficient than using the inverter and eliminating the less efficient pull between the power source and power consumer.

By proposing in advance where you need lighting, you benefit by using lower voltage.

We plan to further expedite efficiency by hanging our lights from the ceiling where needed-- but the switch is not in the wall, it is in the wiring to the lamp itself! (Swag lighting) That bypasses all of the complexity of wiring, saving energy daily in use, as well as initial construction expense.

Think of the flexibility! If you want to move the dining table (uhm, I do that sometimes...) and then, the light, you simply move the hook in the ceiling and re-hang the light.

On a design note, this is a perfect opportunity to use interesting wires/steel cables that are so popular with halogen systems for visual *and* practical effect.

Taaaa-daaaa! (stands up, brushes off jeans with a satisfied smile)
Whew. My lighting musings are over.
Onward!

I am searching for lighting.

We have been fortunate to find most of our lamps in thrift stores.

But I have been thinking of the casa ti we're building... and darned it, I'm itching for a little design! So, yes, I haven't even started construction, but this girl's got lighting on the brain.

I ran across a site, that has a great selection: http://www.gnr8.biz/categories.php?cPath=1_20&page=all

What I like about their offerings is that the lighting is modern, yet not too cutesy whimsical, or too "let's just copy something retro" and that there are a lot of affordable products. What I *would* like to see are more environmentally friendly offerings... readers, do any of you have suggestions for these manufacturers to replace the polyether that is used in so many affordable, attractive lighting designs?

Here is one I could totally see over my dining table:



Love how the part that hangs down is at an angle so that you could easily see your fellow diners instead of, like many low hanging lamps, obscuring them.

And of course, just for fun, this train of thought led me to walk around snapping pictures of our own locally recycled lamps, ALL previously owned before finding their way into our household!

Here they are!

We actually have tons more in the basement in storage... it makes you realize *how much* you can do / decorate through recycling! (Pretty much any of the furniture you see was recycled as well) In fact, doing this just made me realize... I have never bought a new lamp! ... and... Wow, I have a lot of lamps!

I was worried we were going to have to tweak David Day's casa ti gorgeous design to ensure we could house all of our off grid systems.
But... *Phew* looks like it t'ain't so!

Ok, this is what we did.
The battery & hot water storage are now in the foundation- opened with a trap door, as close to the hot water consuming systems as possible.

Basically it's an insulated box with a membrane in it and saves the cost of having to house and pay for a conventional hot water storage tank above the foundation.

The other information of note is that, while exceeding my (yes I will say now it was a completely ignorant goal) 50k goal for affordable housing, it does look like we will finish our own off grid casa ti at around 100-110k.

But don't forget:
This puppy is off grid! Gorgeous! And solid! Passive solar! Award winning architect!
For the price of conventional construction.
(Hold yer breath, Knock on certified sustainably harvested wood that is)

We will have to review all the numbers once the project is completed. But... that is where we stand today.

Ok now I'm going to go back to playing with GoodGreenNews.org. I'm going to do it all in .net because I haven't done anything in .net in a few months.

This is what I do on Saturday nights.
Pretty sad, isn't it.

(imagine a smiley with hands up, shrugging... and maybe some pink hair on it)