{"id":11268,"date":"2021-08-02t16:38:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-02t16:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/americans-embrace-tiny-houses-as-the-future-of-sustainable-living\/"},"modified":"2021-08-02t16:38:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02t16:38:03","slug":"sustainable-living-solar-decathlon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/sustainable-living-solar-decathlon\/","title":{"rendered":"americans embrace tiny houses as the future of sustainable living"},"content":{"rendered":"
by grayson welo<\/strong><\/p>\n a northwestern university (nu) student team prioritized energy conservation with thermally-insulating walls, air-source heat pumps, slanted windows, and led lights in their winning bid for an attractive, cost-effective solar home. <\/p>\n the team of 12 nu engineering undergraduates won the 2021 solar decathlon design challenge hosted by the u.s. department of energy. the competition asked college students to design efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. the nu team, enginuity, won the competition with its plans for a sustainable, urban single-family home, with 2,326 square feet of living space. in the past, teams would construct real-size models of homes. however, due to covid-19 restrictions, this year\u2019s participants worked virtually and submitted building designs as their final product. <\/p>\n \u201cour goal with the home was to be net zero, so that meant producing the same amount of energy as we consumed,\u201d said andrea lin, a northwestern senior studying environmental engineering. \u201cour main approach was to reduce the amount of energy that our building consumed, so a lot of our design choices were based on trying to reduce the amount of envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n the size of the dwelling places it outside of the range of tiny houses \u2014 usually sized between 100 and 400 square feet. but it is still compact, meant for a narrow 25 x 125 feet plot, making the trend toward smaller, more energy efficient homes. <\/p>\n \u201cwe tried to be financially and socially sustainable by having a separate dwelling unit on the first floor that could be used in a variety of ways to help people age in place,\u201d said saahir ganti-agrawal, a northwestern sophomore studying materials science.<\/p>\n this year\u2019s solar decathlon design challenge exemplifies the growing trend toward sustainable housing and accessible dwellings in the united states. coincidentally in september, northwestern\u2019s home base town of evanston approved flexible zoning regulations, permitting accessory dwelling units (adus). the chicago city council also allowed property owners in five pilot areas to create adus on their property as of may. <\/p>\n an accessory dwelling unit is an independent housing unit on the same lot or attached to a standard single-family residence. in chicago\u2019s south, southwest, and east zones, the city council set a cap of two adu permits per block per year. the unit can be an apartment over a garage, a basement unit, or even a tiny house in the backyard. they can serve multiple purposes, such as housing for adult children, office spaces for home businesses, rentals for extra income, and age-in-place retirement options. <\/p>\n although some people may think these smaller housing alternatives represent a fad, recent data shows that many americans look favorably upon tiny houses and would even live in one. <\/p>\n