#exploring alternatives

This inspiring couple quit their 9-5 jobs to live & travel in a DIY off grid school bus conversion with their two young kids in New Zealand. Andy, Amber, Jake, and Daisy now travel full-time in their converted skoolie and we have to say, it's one of the best conversions we've seen yet.  Especially considering it was a DIY project by two people who had little building and construction experience. One of the reasons they decided to hit the road as a family was because the 9-5 grind was too stressful, and the cost of living in Auckland was very high.  They were paying approximately $3000 NZD on rent each month. By reducing their expenses and living in a bus, they were able to quit both of their jobs and develop a few small revenue streams to support their lifestyle, including a YouTube channel and a Patreon page. They plan to homeschool their kids on the bus. 

 You can check out Bus Life NZ here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn1U... 

Full tour of 3 off-grid passive solar growing domes that can be used as 4-season year-round greenhouses in just about any climate and growing zone. The geodesic dome structure can withstand up to 7 feet of snow and ~180km/h wind speeds. They're built with cedar struts to withstand humidity, marine-grade aluminum hubs for strength, and polycarbonate panels that provide a 1.6 R-value and are fully recyclable.

In Canada, these growing domes are sold by Arctic Acres:

https://arcticacres.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/arcticacres/

https://www.instagram.com/arctic_acres/

In the US, these growing domes are sold by Growing Spaces:

https://growingspaces.com/

The growing domes have a specific number of intake and exhaust fans based on their square footage and the CFM (cubic foot per minute) required. These fans are powered by solar panels and they don't need an external power source to function.

There are quite a few additional passive solar features that help regulate the temperature inside the domes, including aluminum shade cloth, bicarbonate spray coating, a reflectix wall, a thermal mass pond, and geothermal ventilation.

We love how these simple technologies can help make growing food and being self-sufficient year-round a little easier and less energy-intensive in all types of climates.

Thanks for watching!

Rammed earth is an ancient building technique that has been modernized to be stronger, more durable, and energy efficient with the addition of structural components like rebar as well as insulation. SIREWALL is the acronym for this modernized green building technique and it stands for: Structural Insulated Rammed Earth.

In this video, we’re meeting Tony Johnson from Earth House Holdings to learn about rammed earth construction, and to get a peek at the rammed earth home he is building for his family in British Columbia, Canada.

To follow and find out more about Tony’s rammed earth construction:

https://earthhouseholdings.com/

http://www.instagram.com/earthhouseho...

https://www.facebook.com/Earth-House-...

The rammed earth mixture in this project contains soil aggregates (~90%), cement (~9%), and pigment (less than 1%). It is mixed and deposited into plywood forms, then it is rammed with a pneumatic tamper to squish the earth down, and finally, it is cleaned up with a manual tamper. The wall is built in lifts of 6 inches at a time which gives the wall the striations and lines that are typical of rammed earth.

Some of the benefits of rammed earth as a green building technique include the fact that it is energy efficient due to the thermal mass and thermal break created by the insulation. It is also an airtight material which means that there’s little heat loss from a poor air barrier. Some studies have also shown that it is fire resistant as well.

To find out more about rammed earth be sure to give Tony a follow!

https://earthhouseholdings.com/

http://www.instagram.com/earthhouseho...

https://www.facebook.com/Earth-House-...

Thanks for watching!

Anthony from du Chanvre has built over 45 houses using hempcrete as a natural and sustainable insulation material. Hempcrete is made with a mix of hemp hurd (fibre), hydraulic lime (binder), and water.

You can follow Anthony's building projects and get in touch with him on Instagram, or on his website here:

https://www.instagram.com/du.chanvre/

https://duchanvre.com/

Hempcrete is not load-bearing, but it does provide insulation, thermal mass, and it regulates temperature and humidity. The R-value of hempcrete is R-2.1 per inch.

Some other advantages of hempcrete is that it resists fire, mould, and vermin, and it eliminates the need for a vapour barrier and drywall (gypsum). Instead, you protect the hempcrete with natural lime plasters on the inside and on the outside of the building.

Using hemp is a sustainable building material because it is carbon negative (it stocks more carbon in the fibre of the plant than is used to grow, harvest, and process it).

We're very excited to learn about new and innovative ways to use natural building materials in conventional construction projects.

Anthony says the cast-in-place construction method creates the highest quality of hempcrete, but pre-formed, pre-dried hempcrete blocks are more likely to allow hempcrete to go mainstream.

In case you missed it, Anthony references a Bob Marley song at the end of the interview, comparing the conventional construction industry to the big tree, and the natural building industry to the small ax that will cut it down:

https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/smal...

Thanks for watching!

Brian and Karin Trautman have been living on a sailboat for 10 years, and their boat is set up so they can be off the grid in remote places for months at a time with solar and wind power providing electricity, a water maker that turns salt water into fresh water, multiple freezers and loads of storage space for food, and even a small washing machine on board!

They've sailed SV Delos – a 53' sloop rig ketch – 83,000 nautical miles which is the equivalent of circling the earth at the equator more than 3 times. Their latest adventures include sailing as a family with their 6-month baby, Sierra, and outfitting the boat with a heater so they can explore the Arctic this summer after several years in the Tropics.

If you want to follow SV Delos, and support their amazing vlog-style documentary project about the liveaboard lifestyle, we've included links to all their pages here:

https://www.youtube.com/svdelos

https://www.instagram.com/svdelos/

https://www.patreon.com/svdelos

https://svdelos.com/

Thanks so much for watching and please stay safe!

This stunning 700-square-foot, self-built float home is fully off-grid with solar power, a pellet stove, a composting toilet, and an evaporation grey water system that ensures nothing is dumped overboard! It has an open concept kitchen, living and dining space, a master bedroom and bathroom on the main floor, two bedrooms on the second floor, and the wraparound deck up top gives 360 degree views. Take a full tour of this sustainable tiny floating house!

You can follow Jay Blackmore and see more photos from his DIY float home build here:

https://www.instagram.com/floatinthek...

Jay built it in his spare time (between working, spending time with his kids, and sailing) over the course of 4 years as an alternative housing option to the country home he had before, which he felt was too expensive, too far from town, and too much maintenance. Now he doesn't have a lawn to mow or a driveway to shovel, and he is walking distance to all the amenities in town and just a few steps from his sailboat that is docked in the same marina.

It's not an easy lifestyle though, everything that goes in and out of the float home has to be carried there, including propane tanks, pellets for the woodstove, groceries, garbage, etc. even in the middle of winter when docks are icy and the wind is blowing. And it's quite public with boaters and paddlers going by all day. But Jay says it's all about mindset and he's okay with these smaller challenges since it allows him a lifestyle that suits him perfectly.

You can follow Jay Blackmore and see more photos from the float home build here:

https://www.instagram.com/floatinthek...

Thanks for watching!

Paula and Nairn started their zero waste journey 5 years ago after watching the 'Trashed' documentary. They immediately started reducing their waste by swapping items like plastic toothbrushes for bamboo ones. They admit that it can be challenging, especially with kids and pets, but they're determined to continue reducing their waste and making it easier for others to do the same. They started off by sharing resources online, progressed to selling zero waste items at local markets, and finally opened a brick-and-mortar zero waste store in Victoria, BC nearly 3 years ago.

Wanting to make zero waste options more accessible to people, Paula and Nairn price check their products to match the mainstream grocery store prices so that buying package-free food isn't more expensive. They also have a 'take a jar leave a jar' system that makes it easier for people to show up at the store unprepared and still get everything they need. To make it happen, they accept recycling from customers, clean and sanitize it, and then make these containers available for free to any customer who walks in the door.

We love that their work isn't only on the consumer side of things. They couple has spent a lot of time creating a circular economy with their local suppliers to reuse buckets, jugs, and other containers so that they're reducing waste all the way through the supply chain.

You can follow and find out more about the Zero Waste Emporium in Victoria BC here:

https://www.zerowasteemporium.com/

https://www.instagram.com/zerowasteem...

https://www.facebook.com/zerowasteemp...

Thanks for watching!