14 DAY TRIAL // This year's Solar Decathlon in Madrid is meant to bring forth some highly innovative ideas concerning green architecture, and present the general public with prototype households whose ecological footprint has been cut down to a minimum.
One of the households entered in this competition by a team from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, is a circular construction which supposedly generates 50% more electricity than its potential owners could ever require in order to live a comfortable life.
Therefore, whatever power gets produced in excess can be fed into the national grid and help partly meet the energy demands of other households.
As Inhabitat informs us, Casa Pi can produce this much energy with the help of numerous solar panels that are fitted on its roof.
Moreover, the people who came up with this architectural design argue that their home uses roughly 50% less water than you run-of-the-mill household, seeing how whatever greywater results from the owners' carrying on with their daily routine gets treated by an on-site constructed wetland.
In case anyone was wondering why it is that the team responsible for introducing the Casa Pi to the general public saw it fit to opt for a circular shape, it seems that this particular design translates into a reduced heat loss.
More precisely, preliminary estimates indicate that roughly 11% less heat gets lost by opting for such a circular-shaped home.
Truth be told, it seems to us that the fact this home is made from concrete reinforced with glass might also have a say in making it weather-proof.
Given the fact that Casa Pi deals with two major issues at the same time (preserving water resources and pushing for energy efficiency) whilst in the same time pleasing the eye, it is our opinion that residential neighborhoods worldwide might soon become more environmentally-friendly than they presently are.
Of course, this can only happen if people agree to look into such possibilities of greening up their lifestyle.