You might not agree with it, but our planet is a ticking time bomb. According to estimates, the year 2025 will see various countries experiencing absolute water scarcity, and the world’s precious oil supply will dry up by 2057. Fortunately, more people are becoming environmentally aware and are taking steps to slow the depletion of natural resources. For one Maryland construction company, their way of helping Mother Earth is by simply building smaller houses. The Miami Herald reports:
In an age when homes include four-car garages, media rooms and man caves, one Maryland company is bucking the trend.
Hobbitat, a construction company not affiliated with The Lord of the Rings, specializes in tiny houses made of reclaimed and reused materials. Each of their houses— called hobs—– are around 250 square feet and can sleep up to four people. Each hob takes between six and eight weeks to build and can be moved to its new site in a single day.
The only design rule: the structure must be able to fit out the door of their shop.
“It takes a special kind of person to live in a tiny house,” said Sue Thomas, co-founder of Hobbitat.
Of course, living green doesn’t always mean downsizing your abode, though you can use more sustainable construction materials as Hobbitat does. For example, siding contractors in Maryland can clad your walls with fiber cement siding, one of the most eco-friendly materials on the market. Remarkable durability is fiber cement siding’s green trump card—it can outlast most other siding materials by decades, so it won’t have to be thrown out and replaced every few years. When fiber cement siding does reach the end of its usable life, it can be safely disposed of in a landfill since it is made of inert materials that will not pollute the environment.
Another green feature that fiber cement offers is increased energy efficiency. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), heating and cooling costs account for more than half of a typical household’s utility bill. Since siding clad your walls, heat and cold will have a harder time penetrating your walls, meaning your HVAC system won’t have to consume as much energy to maintain comfortable indoor temperature.
Humans only have one planet to call home so everyone has a stake in protecting it. Fortunately, fiber cement cladding from trusted Maryland siding contractors like Drytech Roofing can help preserve the Earth for future generations, even in the simplest of ways.
(Article Excerpt and Image from Maryland ‘Hobbitat’ builders think small and sustainable The Miami Herald, October 20, 2013)