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Home > News > Eco-friendly tiny house
Diagram of tiny house systems

Eco-friendly tiny house

Fall 2016 Berkeley Engineer magazine cover
November 1, 2016
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Fall 2016
  • In this issue

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    • Raising rad awareness
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    • “Who is the Michael Jordan of computer science?”
    • Eco-friendly tiny house
    • Materials database speeds innovation
    • Q+A on homebrewed drugs with John Dueber
    • New home for Fung Institute

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    Alumni notes

    • Following the New Sun Road
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    • 7 Berkeley engineers among 35 top innovators under 35
    • Farewell

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Could you live in a house smaller than the average American kitchen? An interdisciplinary team of Berkeley students thinks so. The group took two years to design and build a 171-square-foot, off-grid, eco-friendly house for a statewide competition sponsored by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The students spent the first year puzzling over how to allocate space for a solar energy system, lithium-ion battery, greywater recycling and a heating system — while retaining enough space for two people to eat, sleep, bathe, cook and live comfortably throughout the year.

“We’re balancing affordability with new technologies and making the house as energy-efficient as possible,” says applied science and technology doctoral candidate Kenny Gotlieb. Other team members represent the Energy and Resources Group, business, architecture, urban studies, public policy and public health. Judges will evaluate the house on architecture, energy systems, sustainable materials use and how the house manages water and waste.

Read the full story.

Topics: Design, Competitions, Energy, Students, Sustainability & environment
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