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There is a reason why I have not been on Match Doctor much the last two weeks, other than my grotesque looks and miniscule bank account scaring all the womenz away. I have been working day and night on the design of the houses of the future!
A Creek friend of mine is involved with the development of an off the grid community in the mountainous desert lands north of the Big Bend area of Texas. A couple of weeks ago, she contacted me with the request to purchase energy efficient house designs for structures that could be built by owners in regions where there is no public water distribution or electric lines. She also added that such designs would also be useful for the massive Indian reservations out West. She knew that I had designed a bunch of award-winning, energy-efficient houses in the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia back in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Alas, I regretfully responded that I had no such designs on my computer. I switched over to computer drawing (CADD) in 1988, but the primitive programs I used to design those houses couldn't even be read by the software I use now. It inspired me, though. Besides, there are some new technological breakthroughs which make those old designs obsolete.
She just might have given me the ticket for survival through the Second Great Depression, however. The Economic Stimulus Act includes massive grants to Native American housing authorities to build energy efficient housing as prototypes to encourage non-Indians, who are not so inherently concerned about the environment, to do likewise. Therefore, I have been drawing night and day since then - churning out house designs - small, medium & large - that generate all of their own electricity, get all of their potable water from natural precipitation, are sufficiently strong to resist tornadoes and hurricanes, and can be heated with two sticks of oakwood.
You see, we right now have the technology to build such houses economically, but no one is doing it. There is a new technology for mass-producing cheap plastic solar electricity generating film like it was "Saran Wrap." Most all of North America, except for the most extreme desert locations, get enough annual precipitation, for houses to supply all of their water needs from water collected by roof tops. Large shopping centers and industrial plants could even be supplying clean water to municipal water systems. However, only in a few areas of the country, such as Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, are rainwater cistern systems common. Architects have known for several decades how to build energy efficient structures that need little artificial heating and cooling. In 1984, I designed a shopping center in Asheville, NC that only had to turn on its furnaces below 20 degrees. However, few people seemed to have cared.
Since being trapped here in Georgia during a nasty separation-divorce, I have repeatedly tried to convince building owners to incorporate these energy-saving, cost-saving ideas. They were not interested. They were only interested either in the initial construction costs or their idea of esthetics. Homeowners would often ask me to reproduce the appearance of certain photographs of different houses in Southern Living Magazine, IN THE SAME ROOM! 
When I suggested active or passive solar, wood stoves, or earth-sheltered designs, the response was almost always the same . . . They didn't want their friends to think they were hippies or Democrats!
Well, when any of you folks are thinking about getting back to the land or changing your lifestyles, the technology is there. It is just a matter of USING IT.
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| The Self-Sufficient House of the Future |
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Josuha
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Feb 13 @ 8:49AM
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One of the things we need to change as you pointed out, is 'building codes'..
These codes and laws have went overboard, restricting people from building homes and rising the costs.
We looked into straw bale construction which is very energy efficent.
Anybody with some basic skills can build one.
The next would be 'chord wood' construction..
Solar panels are about $5.00 a watt..
This is old technology.
There is a company that builds 'solar film'.
This can be applied to roofs or even a frame.
The film costs $1.00 a watt and has a 20-25 year lifespan.
But this company will only sell to government or corporations.
Not private home owners.
The EPA for example, another federal agency, regulated wood stoves to have a catalytic convertor which almost tripled the cost of wood stoves.
This convertor burns out the first year in most cases.
It would appear they do not want the average person to be 'independent'.
Maybe if we could free ourselves from bureaucrats, people could start building their own homes and start a life again without big brother over our shoulder and free ourselves of government and corporate greed.
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Etowah
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Feb 13 @ 8:56AM
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Some of the alternative structural systems are not strong enough to withstand high winds. This is one of the criteria that my friend in Texas gave me. Also, almost all the Indian reservations near the Gulf Coast are in hurricane zones, whereas Oklahoma is nortorious for its tornadoes.
All of my house designs include concrete storm shelters only a few steps away from the bedrooms. When a tornado strikes at night, people often have only 10-30 seconds from waking up till facing the full fury of the storm.
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eastham
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Feb 13 @ 10:58AM
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I would encourage you to take a look at last month's Dwell magazine. It was their pre-fab issue. Another resource would be Brad Pitt's "Make it Right Foundation." Many of the designs in the 9th ward are geared toward energy and water efficiency and conservation.
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KnittinKitten
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Feb 13 @ 11:14AM
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Richard:
Because you had discussed that, I kinda figured that's what you were up to. I always knew lots of your ideas and designs were great - Maybe it was only a matter of your "time not having come yet", at this stage of things in your life.
But, in case ya wanna know, I've got a good feeling that those days are rapidly approaching you and, maybe it won't be long before we open magazines to see
"Designs by Etowah"....You're gonna make it just fine, my friend....just fine!.
Fondly,
KK 
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CHARLIgurl1
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Feb 13 @ 12:01PM
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My father in Portugal has solar panels on the roof.. and 2 generators.. the generators arent all the time, but he has them becuase the Portuguese electricity is about as reliable as snow on Christmas day..lol..
Later this year we plan to have solar panels installed here.. and I want to make a system that collects the rain from the roof and collect in a tank for watering the garden etc.. so much rain just drains away then when summer comes.. hose and watering are restricted for lack of water.
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