A Nomad Micro Home is Easier to Assemble Than Furniture

By Christine Walsh on Nov. 11, 2013

The Nomad Micro home is the brainchild of Vancouver architect Ian Kent, who is currently raising funds to begin producing the home through an Indie Go Go campaign. The Nomad Micro Home can be described as a sustainable tiny house kit. It is so small and lightweight that the buyer can ship it anywhere in the world, and once it arrives, anyone with some basic carpentry skills can assemble it on their own.

The Nomad Micro Home measures a measly 10×10 feet and features a living room, kitchen, and an upstairs sleeping loft. However, due to the size constraints, several of these serve a double purpose. For example, the shelves in the kitchen are also the stairs to the loft area and the whole bathroom is also a shower. The Nomad is designed to house one or two people, though several house kits can be assembled together to make a larger home.

The base Nomad Micro house kit will cost $25,000, which does not include optional extras such as solar panels. The panels of the home can be assembled using a cordless drill, and due to its simple foundation, the house can also be moved to a new location on a whim. Pre-engineered green packages can also be purchased as an add-on to the basic house kits, and include rooftop solar energy panels, and rainwater collection and grey water treatment systems.

The building is composed of metal structural insulated panels, with a floor and roof insulation values of R-24 and wall insulation of R-12. The exterior finish is comprised of galvanized metal siding. The electrical system of the Nomads is a 12V power system, which will work with a solar power kit and most other conventional power sources. Other optional add-ons for the Nomad include a compost toilet, a propane water heater, and a propane forced air stove, which taken together have the ability to make the Nomad an off the grid home.
The Nomad house is also well suited for construction in a wide variety of environments. The materials used to build the Nomad home resist rot, termites and fire. Due to this, the home is well suited to assemble in tropical environments and forests, while it can even be used as a houseboat. The home is also resilient enough to weather storms and earthquakes. Some added insulation would even make it suitable for extreme cold conditions.

Source:  http://www.jetsongreen.com/2013/11/a-nomad-micro-home-is-easier-to-assemble-than-furniture.html

19-Year-Old BOYAN SLAT Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7 Million Tons Of Plastic From the Ocean

By Timon Singh, 03/26/13

19-year-old BOYAN SLAT has unveiled plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic waste from the world’s oceans. The device consists of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms that could be dispatched to garbage patches around the world. Instead of moving through the ocean, the array would span the radius of a garbage patch, acting as a giant funnel. The angle of the booms would force plastic in the direction of the platforms, where it would be separated from plankton, filtered and stored for recycling.

At school, Boyan Slat launched a project that analyzed the size and amount of plastic particles in the ocean’s garbage patches. His final paper went on to win several prizes, including Best Technical Design 2012 at the Delft University of Technology. Boyan continued to develop his concept during the summer of 2012, and he revealed it several months later at TEDxDelft 2012.

Slat went on to found The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, a non-profit organization which is responsible for the development of his proposed technologies. His ingenious solution could potentially save hundreds of thousands of aquatic animals annually, and reduce pollutants (including PCB and DDT) from building up in the food chain. It could also save millions per year, both in clean-up costs, lost tourism and damage to marine vessels.

Image: boyanslat.com

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It is estimated that the clean-up process would take about five years, and it could greatly increase awareness about the world’s plastic garbage patches. On his site Slat says, “One of the problems with preventive work is that there isn’t any imagery of these ‘garbage patches’, because the debris is dispersed over millions of square kilometres. By placing our arrays hcowever, it will accumulate along the booms, making it suddenly possible to actually visualize the oceanic garbage patches. We need to stress the importance of recycling, and reducing our consumption of plastic packaging.” To find out more about the project and to contribute, click here.