5 Small, Cool and Green Living Environments

When it comes to living environments everyone seems to be looking for something different. Some need room for a large family. Others want to be close to work. Some want yards or swimming pools. Others are more concerned with living in a greener home and cutting down their environmental impact on the world around them.

Image by destination arctic circle

Regardless of what you are looking for in a home, here are 5 small, cool and green living environments you might enjoy checking out:

1) First there is the Earthbag home. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s the “Crazy Green Earthbag Home”. Designed by Lisa Majors and being built by Lisa and her husband Paul, the Earthbag home is green upon green. They are building it using tires, cans, bottles and other recycled materials. It does not have a wood frame, there is no central air, there is a water collection system built in to the design, the home will essentially heat itself…I could go on and on.

But take a look at this little video the Majors put together to give you an idea about how green their Earthbag home will be:

2) Next there is this cute little “shotgun shack” for a family of three. It’s 320 square feet, cost under $20,000 to build and it’s fully paid off. Yes, mortgage free! They had the home built to their needs, so it has what they wanted and needed to function as a family. If there is one thing anyone can take away from this particular home it’s that a key to green living is not having to have a lot of “stuff”.

3) Then there is this passive solar straw bale home built by a single mom about 10 years ago for around $50,000. It’s a green home and is extremely energy-efficient. Needless to say, a lot of work went into this home. Take a look at the process she went through and the terrific end results:

4) Next we have another example of a straw home. Anyone else getting a “Three Little Pigs” flashback here? But don’t worry, this particular home is as sturdy as they come and it’s an eco-friendly home to boot. It’s been painted with non-toxic paint, has solar panels on the roof to collect natural energy and much of the structure itself was put together using recycled or reclaimed materials.

5) Last, but not least by any stretch of the imagination is this Lego-style apartment. Talk about making the most of a small space. This apartment may seem scarce at first, but just wait until you see how this home transforms:

Of course there are many more examples of these types of homes out there, but the ones I mentioned above are just a few I thought were worth reviewing. Which is your favorite? Do you think you could live in one of these small, cool and green homes? Who says you have to live big to live happy?