The Paul Isaacson Family Lives In The House Of The Future
(Page 3 of 6)
March/April 1978
By the Mother Earth News editors
The Isaacson home, for instance, is round. And there's a very definite reason for that, as Paul explains: "There are 23 less running feet of wall in this house than there is in a rectangular one with the same floor space. Less wall means less area for heat to radiate through. Also, recent studies have shown that more heat leaks out of a corner than seeps through any other part of a wall ... and this home's main structure has no corners at all. That adds up to a 'volumetric efficiency' that few dwellings can match and it's a much bigger factor in this building's energy savings than most people realize."
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Isaacson used the same kind of logical reasoning when actually fabricating the walls, floor, and roof of his home. The whole structure is one thick slab of concrete after another ... and that mass of concrete is insulated on the outside with three inches of polyurethane foam sheeting. Which, as you know if you've been reading this magazine (see the Andy Davis interview in MOTHER NO. 46 and the David Wright interview in MOTHER NO. 47), turns the house into one big, massive "thermal flywheel".
Or, to put it another way: By constructing his residence in this manner?underground, with massive concrete walls that are well insulated on their outside surfaces?the house "wants" to maintain its interior at a constant comfortable temperature ... no matter how hot the atmosphere above it gets in the summer or how cold that air becomes during the winter. This tendency is most noticeable on freak days when the thermometer suddenly climbs or plunges 40, 50, or 60* in the course of a few hours: The more violent the change, the more you become aware that a house built like the Isaacsons' couldn't care less. Just like the gigantic thermal flywheel that it is, it serenely coasts right through those temperature peaks and valleys ... while thermometers placed in its interior hardly register any difference at all.
THERE AIN'T NO FREE LUNCH ... OR IS THERE?
Everything in this world, as we all know, has its price. You don't get something for nothing. And, usually, the more of anything good you get ... the more of something else good you have to give up to get it. Which means that the Isaacson house -which is about as energy efficient as a home can be-must have been very difficult to construct ... or is awfully hard to ventilate ... or was incredibly expensive to build.
Not at all. While Paul is quick to tell anyone who asks that his new residence came complete with its own minor problems and idiosyncracies?and, yes, a price tag just like any other house-his family is still way ahead on the deal.
Take the home's original construction, for example. When you build underground, you have to give a certain amount of thought to picking out materials that won't deteriorate under constant contact with the soil. You also must choose materials that can carry the weight of all the dirt and rocks you intend to pile up on a subterranean building's roof. And, of course, you've gotta make sure your structure is well drained and waterproofed.
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