echoMOD, one house at a time, by ecological design

I learned about a nice project by university of Virginia, ecoMOD, through a post on the worlds fair. echoMOD seems to be a project that we should hope will spread in to other areas of studies at universities and the like. The echoMOD's target, according to website is "The ecoMOD project is embedded in the curriculum of the University of Virginia, and is intended to create well-built homes that cost less to live in, minimize damage to the environment and appreciate over time."

echoMOD has already built a house under this program for a family affected by hurricane Katrina, for a family in Gautier, Mississippi.

Each completed house is to be monitored and evaluated carefully, with the results guiding the designs of subsequent houses.

Newly built low-income single-family homes tend to be trailers or some variant of manufactured or prefabricated housing. These homes may be affordable and easily installed in various locations, but they tend to be built in ways that waste resources and encourage indoor air quality problems. Most of them are sited without any consideration of solar or wind orientation, or local hydrology. The buildings themselves are aggressively 'site-less' – seemingly adaptable to any environment, yet entirely separate from their surroundings.

In contrast, the intent of the ecoMOD designs is to create site-specific homes using natural lighting and ventilation, non-hazardous materials, renewable energy, and energy-efficient systems to help reduce environmental impact and improve occupant health.
The other areas of engineering studies could also take part in this type of projects. Material design, Electrical Engineering, social sciences, could all come together to make this world a better place. If all at once is not possible, one at a time will do.

Links;
echoMOD project site
The worlds Fair

Tags: echomod, renewable energy, healthy living, solar, wind, ecological design