Students Create a Zero Energy Housing Insulation Solution

A Recipe to Live is a project born in the coastal town of Taiki-cho in Hokkaido. Local students were tasked with creating a housing solution for natural heating and cooling that required zero energy.

During summer, the natural shelter dries straw inside transparent window shelves which act like heated shield panels. As the straw dries it releases cool moisture helping bring down the temperature within the house. In winter, the straw composts, a process from which heat is produced via microbial fermentation.

Remarkably, the straw only needs to be changed a few times in a year, so in terms of cost efficiency for an insulation solution, the students’ 'recipe' is definitely hitting the mark.

[via Inhabitat]