With "monster" houses - 4,000 square feet and bigger - sprouting up across the country like massive, shingled mushrooms, the American homeowner's motto seems to be: "Live large." Since 1970, the size of the average American home has increased 55 percent, even as family size has declined by 13 percent. But the cost of large living is high—not only for the homeowner, but also for the planet and its dwindling resources. "Affordable housing," is now more soundbite than objective reality as many Americans are forced to take out interest-only loans (to the tune of $500,000 or more) to purchase even modest-sized homes. (more...)

UltraLight House Combines Design, Technology, and Efficiency

Building bigger and bigger houses is out. The new trend is in the opposite direction. In fact, the greatest single action you can take to reduce waste and conserve resources is to choose to live in a small house. Some dedicated believers in UltraLight Living have down-sized to 100 square feet. Also known as the Micro-Compact Home, the most extreme versions are designed for one or two people and are less than 500 square feet. One version that is becoming popular in Europe is called M-CH (for Micro-Compact Home). It was designed by a team of researchers and designers based in London and the Technical University in (more...)