Originally appears in the Winter 2013-2014 issue
Housing is, for many, the largest financial and most environmentally significant investment they will ever make. When designing a house, thoughtful consideration of heating, electrical and water efficiency, building materials and site orientation can transform a house from an energy consumer to an energy producer. Energy efficient buildings have lower operating costs and a smaller carbon footprint over their life cycle.
For the past six years, I have been facilitating “The Sustainable House Project” with groups of 17-18 year olds as part of an Ontario curriculum course entitled “The Environment and Resource Management.” The basic concept is to have groups of students design and build a scale model of a sustainable house from recycled or recyclable materials over a period of 4 to 6 weeks. Their sustainable house must fit into the local neighbourhood and retain the original design and flavour of the area. In other words, it should not stand out too dramatically. To get them started, I usually select a house from the neighbourhood and have the students decide whether it should be renovated or rebuilt on the site. But with group consensus, students can select another house to focus on for their project.
Students must reduce the overall ecological footprint of the house by considering energy consumption (including renewable and nonrenewable sources), waste production, water consumption and the use of the sewage system. Overall, the house must be as close to a zero net energy structure and preferably a net energy producer.
While teaching this course I have found that giving young people the tools to create a model of their potential future can be transformative and empowering.
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Getting Ready
Before students are tasked with building their energy efficient house, they need some background information on both sustainability and building construction. Here are five foundation activities/lessons that I recommend/use to get the students ready for the upcoming project:
- Introduce the concepts of energy conservation, defining LEED architecture, alternative energy production, and biomimicry.
- Lead a discussion of environmentally-friendly house building materials and design choices (materials such as insulation bats made from steel slag and concepts like daylighting).
- Introduce and demonstrate two dimensional drawing techniques.
- Watch videos such as Build Green and Earth Energy (available from CBC at iTunes), the Grand Designs Australia video series and the Empowerhouse Solar Decathlon series from the USA. Introduce students to magazines and websites such as those listed in the Resources section below.
- If possible find local experts such as an urban planner and/or architect to speak to your class about what they do before starting the drawing and design phase.
- At the start of the school year I take my class to the Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto to see for themselves a Platinum LEED standard building. Track down similar structures in your area and use this as a local model of what a sustainable house can be.
Pedagogy
We are hearing more about ‘flipping the class room’ where students listen to lecture materials outside of class time and spend their in-class time being guided by the teacher and assisted by peers. In this vein, I have students do research at home, reading articles online or from magazines about green home design. This will provide the inspiration that they can use to get started in the classroom.
Because they are actually executing the project, students are often the best critics when it comes to evaluating the various aspects of an activity. They are actually the ones who suggested I require the project models be built out of recycled materials. Listening to your students’ commentary about what they like and dislike about the assignment and their comments will help guide the evolution of the activity.
Teamwork and personal responsibility are critical components of the project. Experience has shown that three to four students are an optimal group size. I leave open the option for solo work as a social safety valve. It is reflective of reality and allows students to express their own needs and take on personal responsibility.
Materials & Safety
I outline very specific rules about what may be used to build the house. The most important is that no virgin materials may be used. Collect old poster projects from your students – many are quite happy to donate their old assignments for the cause. Get friendly with the custodial staff at your school and let them know about the project so they can save used materials for your class. Let other instructors know what you are planning; many will be eager to donate unwanted projects that can be used as building materials. At the end of the project, the whole works must go back into the recycling bin with no sorting of materials.
This project can get messy so train your class to clean up properly long before the class is over. Ask for a broom and spare recycling bags from the custodial staff at your school. Never expect them to clean up after the students.
The issue of equipment safety in the classroom must be dealt with in a formal session with all the students. Since hot glue guns, scissors and box cutters will be used daily, it is important to train your class to handle them properly to prevent injury. Take the time needed to demonstrate safe and proper techniques.
Project Steps
Before the students start building, they need a solid plan. I require them to submit three design drawings detailing of the house model, and all of the energy efficient systems contained within. Each student will hand in drawings of the South elevation (an elevation is a view of the outside wall), the floor plan from above at ground level and the elevation section from the west (a view of the side of the house with the outside wall removed to show the interior). Drafting the house design before the building begins mirrors how architects work, and ensures students have a solid understanding of how energy efficient systems work before they begin to build. The drawings help keep students focused on the task at hand. They also ensure that the models will be realistic.
I also require students to select and research a device or system that will be part of the house they are building. Students can choose from:
- Active and/or passive heating systems
- Lighting and daylighting systems
- Water supply (hot and cold water and rain water collection)
- Building materials
- Onsite sewage treatment and surrounding vegetation.
Each device or system must be accompanied by a brief explanation that describes its operation and its environmental benefits. The device or system must be constructed to scale, installed in the house, and labeled for easy identification.
Now for the fun part—the construction of the model. Students always enjoy this because it allows them to be creative and apply their imagination while solving real-life problems. As I already mentioned, recyclable materials must be used for the construction. The model should be built to a scale of 1 to 20 (in reality, one meter – or one foot – of the model is 20 meters – or 20 feet). Smaller is fine but bigger is not. You will be amazed by the accuracy and professionalism of some of these models.
Changing Lives
I enjoy this project as much as my students and love watching the creative juices flow, the problem solving process evolve and the pride of workmanship that the students take in their work. The results go far beyond the classroom. I have had students come back to visit me years after graduating to let me know that they are now working as construction contractors, house designers, renovators and engineers. They point their finger at the house project and claim it was their career inspiration. As young people come to understand a home’s environmental impact, they gain the power to make informed decisions.
Every year the students sell this course to their peers because of this single activity. You will never hear them ask “Why are we learning this?”, because the rationale is self-evident. This is student directed learning at its best.
You can find Paul’s complete Sustainable House Project Assignment and evaluation rubric available at https://greenteacher.com/sustainable-house-project/.
Resources
Both you and your students can find inspiration for sustainable house design via both traditional media and online. To provide a starting point, here are a few of the resources we use.
- Fine Homebuilding magazine is an excellent resource for learning about important structural details. Available in print and online, it provides clear explanations of how everything from solar panels work to why LED light bulbs use so little electrical power.
- Dwell magazine includes inspirational design concepts from all over the world.
- Websites of sustainable design architects, like Paul Dowsett, principle of Sustainable.to or Martin Leifhebber, principle of Breathe Architects. Their websites contain real world examples of successful design and use of energy saving concepts.
- The Martin Davis Ecohousing website contains some good information about a new housing development in Fredericton, on the East coast of Canada.
Have your students Google “passive house plans-images” for great visuals. The possibilities are vast. I also ensure that a number of related magazines and books are available in class for use during my students’ planning sessions.
Additional Online Resources
http://www.life.ca/nl/56/house.html
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/27835.pdf
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/fh_feat_energyeff.asp
http://oikos.com/esb/44/advancedhome.html
http://inhabitat.com/bedzed-beddington-zero-energy-development-london/
https://www.greenhomesforsale.com
http://savehomeenergy.ca/pages/solar.php
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Paul Hackl teaches Geography at Riverdale Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Ontario.