The Green Challenge
HHH is a pioneering experiment on many levels. While building with hemp and lime is a bit novel, the awareness that we need to change the way we build and consume energy is an urgent reality. According to the US Department of Energy, buildings in North America account for 39% of the consumed energy. This needs to change. But is lowering energy consumption an isolated consideration? What is the function of a house?
Houses are homes, places where we eat, and sleep, and entertain, and retreat. In an increasingly connected world, they are also places where we often work, collaborate, and innovate. The planet we live on is a rapidly changing environment that demands that human beings become more conscious of our living arrangements. Living is an active word. The places we live give structure to how we live. Smaller spaces that require less energy are part of the emerging response to inefficient buildings, as are eco-villages with shared resources. Net Zero houses that produce the energy they will consume and permaculture designs that are mindful of the synergies of systems that support life in place. Transition movements, where people collaborate to create sustainable communities and locally regenerative life support systems are both thought experiments and sponsors of pragmatic actions. Alternative economies, open source governance, local food production, non-polluting energy generation, holistic health maintenance, to name a few of the many movements, are adaptive responses to the challenges of bringing human nature into alignment with Nature in balance. So, as the Hemp House was envisioned, the role of the single family home in the setting of a small urban environment was contemplated. Can this ever ubiquitous bastion of American life transition to a future that supports a more integrated humanity? How should our contemporary castles of middle-America hold the spaces or be the places where we learn to thrive in balance with our living environment? How can our living spaces support our adaptation to a less consumptive way of living that is also of higher quality? |
Our other initiatives
• Global engagement with hemp builders • Public Education • Professional Education & Training • Political Advocacy • Research and Development • Experimentation and Testing • Consultation and Advisory Worth Seeing •Tipu Ake ki te Ora: http://www.tipuake.org.nz • Rocky Mountain Institute: Efficient and restorative use of resources • World Resources Institute: Global sustainability researchers • Hemp Architecture: Hemp building architecture, design and research Post Carbon Institute:https://www.postcarbon.org/ |
