The architect Mark Stephens begins a series of guest blog posts on going off grid

Welcome to this first in a series of guest blog posts that came about following the many enquiries and questions I receive as part of my everyday work and through the Ask the Architect service. This particular question came from Sylas Harper with the basic premise being that people haven’t got much money at the moment but they still need somewhere to live, and that throughout the country there are derelict houses that could be turned into homes. What I’m talking about here is living off-grid — a home that is not connected to mains electricity, water, gas or sewage. A home that is self-sufficient, sustainable and lowers the demands placed upon the planet. Once the enclave of the hippy or the hermit; the concepts behind living off-grid are now completely mainstream; solar panels and wind turbines are now commonplace and it is essential that we look for ways to lower our carbon dioxide emissions and to live a more sustainable life. As a theoretical experiment it may not be possible to adopt all of the points I’ll raise, but some of the aspects could be adopted by anyone seeking a more ecologically aware existence.

Now the initial question was posed thinking of the traditional Irish cottage wrecks dotted throughout the country, but with the recent news on the ghost estates throughout Ireland I came to the opinion that these ghost estates are the modern day equivalent of the derelict homes left to rot and be visible for generations to come. Surely there’s some way of getting ghost estates back into the hands of the ones that should be owning them - ie the people - especially now that all these homes are now effectively owned by the Irish tax payer via Nama. The Irish cottage concept is equally valid, and the points raised in these guest blog posts will equally apply to all types of housing.

Maybe it’s too big a jump to ask to get these ghost estates occupied and in-use? The argument could be made that living off-grid is possible for a sole dwelling but for an entire community of people? Well, Nick Rosen in his excellent book How to Live Off-Grid (ISBN:978-0-553-81819-2) discusses thoroughly the arguments and concepts for off-grid living and through his off-grid journey meets individuals and entire communities living beyond the constraint of national services. I cannot recommend this book highly enough —  if you’re interested in off-grid living in any way, buy it now!

So what are we talking about here? We basically have four facets to living off-grid:

1. WHERE

We need somewhere to do it; that is an enclosure that gives us protection and shelter from the elements; a defendable space that we can call our own - a private space to retreat to and a public space to interact with others.

This will be the argument behind the first main blog post — I’ll be looking at what you will need to look for to provide your ideal off-grid dwelling. This blog post will also incorporate passive house concepts; a dwelling adhering to passive house concepts (airtightness, high levels of insulation etc) will obviously require less energy to heat than a more conventional house.

2. POWER

We will need to provide power to the houses without relying on the national grid. It’s too much to ask people to live in houses powered by candles, to go to bed as soon as it gets dark or wander around your house with LED lamps strapped to the head. The dwellings will need to be powered in a reliable yet sustainable way.

Therefore, the concept of this second blog post will be investigating methods of providing enough energy to adequately provide light and heat to the house and providing hot water for baths and showers.

3. WATER & FOOD

Each dwelling will also require a potable water supply, and the third blog post will investigate what will be required to bring water to a site with no discernible, potable water supply. I will be looking at methods of extracting water from the ground (wells) and water harvesting/purification to provide water for drinking as well as the ‘grey’ water for flushing toilets etc. I’ll also be taking a little detour to see how any land associated with the dwelling (or even communal land) can be used to grow vegetables/fruit and again contribute to a more sustainable and self-sufficient life.

4. EFFLUENT

Each dwelling will need to safely dispose of its effluent; this will probably be the biggest problem (as evidenced by the current strict
standards regarding obtaining planning permissions involving a new septic tank). But equally this theoretically should be the easiest problem to solve as Ireland doesn’t have a national sewage infrastructure and the use of individual septic tanks and effluent treatment units is well established (ground conditions permitting). I’ll also be looking at composting toilets and reed bed systems.

The plan is to do one of these guest blog posts every week, so hold onto your hats for an interesting ride and a theoretical experiment in off-grid living with the first blog-post looking at where we are going to do it.

Comments welcome.

Mark Stephens RIBA MRIAI is a UK and Ireland trained chartered architect, based in Foxford, County Mayo, Ireland. He specialises in one-off, residential houses, extensions, restorations and refurbishments. His slant is a modernist approach using traditional forms and materials; his work also combines a contemporary architecture with an ecological and sustainable soundness.

Comment (1)

Sorry for the slow stream of blog posts recently, I've been out of the office a lot. I spent yesterday looking at some innovative home systems for dealing with wastewater in Dundalk, and I'll try to blog about that soon. But for now, here's a bumper bunch of links.

Interesting profile of a small Welsh town designed in 1925 with some green principles in mind: Sustainable Cities Collective

Vapour profiles help predict whether a wall can dry: Green Building Advisor

The pyramid of energy efficiency — is this a useful tool for approach energy upgrades? Treehugger

How Britain's homes could make cost free emissions cuts: Guardian

Insightful interview with renowned green architect William McDonough on "cradle-to-cradle" design: Forbes

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings — IIEA conference in Dublin, Sept 3. IIEA

London's new "green" Strata tower named ugliest building in Britain: Treehugger

If the grid didn't exist, would there still be a need to invent it? Infrastructurist

Top 20 urban planning successes of all time: Public Servant Blog

Some vertical farms could actually get built says the SSC. George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian, thinks it's an absurd idea.

RIAI course on designing low energy retrofit in association with Joseph Little Architects: RIAI

Profile of a pay-as-you-save scheme in the UK: Guardian

Comment (0) Read More...

Comment (0)

The best green buildings of the last 30 years: Architect Magazine

Stunning eco apartments in Switzerland: Treehugger

Is it acceptable to allow some air infiltration through a building structure as a means of ventilation? Green Building Advisor

Renowned green architect Michelle Kaufmann blogs about a discussion with architect and passive house expert Walter Unterrainer: Michell Kaufmann Studio

China's incredible "car straddling" bus: Infrastructurist 

Architecture's ten biggest failures of the past 25 years: Infrastructurist

Can heat be stored in the sand beneath a house? Green Building Advisor

Interesting post on the challenges of selling a new passive house in a tough US property market: Green Building Advisor

Comment (0)

Frank Gehry's Novartis building in Switzerland (at centre). Photo by Brad P .

Renowned architect Frank Gehry appears to know more about green building and architecture than he originally let on. Back in May, Gehry criticised the cost of green building as well as Leed, the US's environmental rating system for buildings. I covered his comments at the time and was quite critical writing: "Gehry has designed some of the most iconic buildings of our times, but I think his comments are reflective of a wider lack of understating among many architects when it comes to green building and architecture."

Thankfully, Gehry has now given an interview with US broadcaster PBS in which it becomes quite clear that he knows a lot more than his initial comments let on. He's actually quite insightful. Some highlights are below, but I'd highly recommend reading the full interview - Gehry goes on to speak about green materials, minimising construction waste and using stationary bicycles to provide energy in one of his projects, among various other topics.

Some choice quotes from Gehry: 

A lot of our clients don’t apply for the LEED certification because it’s complicated and in their view, they simply don’t need it.

There are other ways to encourage green building. For example, we did the Novartis building in Switzerland.

They don’t use the LEED program over there, the government just says this is what you can and can’t do, and things have to be built in a sustainable way. So really it’s a political thing: People taking responsibility on an individual level combined with government programs that give mandates that say “this is how we’re going to require people to build.” Our federal government is trying to take steps in that direction. I just met with someone from the Obama administration, they are trying to enact tougher standards, but they’re having some trouble.

...The Swiss government said the Novartis building couldn’t be air-conditioned. So we had to come up with another way to regulate the temperature. We built it entirely out of glass and cooled it with a geothermal system. The roof panels were made with photovoltaic glass that generates energy. And there is an opening at the top that lets hot air out — like a teepee. In the end, there’s no one way to do it, you have to be creative.

...Maybe you need the point system to energize this type of building, but I’m not sure it’s necessary.  The best way would be a political initiative that requires people to address these issues in order to get a building permit. Then the government can incentivize sustainable building through subsidies and various other things. But this is a global issue, so you need programs that not only we agree on but also that the Russians and the Chinese agree on.

...On certain projects, on big public projects, people definitely are interested in making them greener, but on smaller projects with tight budgets it can be harder. People don’t feel like they’re making enough of a dent for it to be worth it.

Comment (0) Read More...