Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Homes in Hostile Environments
I received an email from one of the owners of this company:We specialize in three main environments, with each one allowing us to build for different people.The three owners are all passionate about green building and sees a real use for it in hostile and disaster-recovery environments. They are also seeking contracts in Santiago, Chile and Pakistan and Iran.
In the high-threat areas, we build for soldiers. I am super excited about working in HT areas because I've lived in them and seen what it's like to sleep in a tin can trailer; not comforting!
In hostile environments, we build for scientists stationed in remote areas or citizens in harm's way. Our first project is in a hostile environment (although it may not sound like it), was the wildfire-prone backcountry of San Diego. We helped to orient and build 10 homes as part of a Habitat for Humanity project on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation after the October 2003 fires.
In post-disaster environments, our goal is to sell to governments to rebuild destroyed homes, focusing on low-income areas because we believe that's where we can help the most.
We are a young company (just over a year) and are still working on winning contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq. We've spun up to build in New Orleans and Indonesia, but both deals are on the sidelines (for
now.) We are always on the lookout for new project potential and ways we can help build green, and because we are still a small company, we give a lot of individual attention to everyone we work with. Thanks
for your comments and interest, and let me know if there's anything I can do for you to help build green.
Regards,
Nik
Their main product is House in a Container (HAIC) and was designed with the following principles in mind: health, independancy, durability, efficiency and security (HIDES). Because of the pre-fab nature of the homes, they also have advantages in shipping and construction.
- All the materials arrive at the same time and can't get separated en route, making logistics from the Exup warehouse a straightforward task. This translates into time-savings for clients, as they don't have to wait for a project to be finished because of third party shipping problems.
- Construction site security is much easier, and requires less personnel, keeping costs as low as possible.
- Billing is simplified; either all the building arrives, or it doesn't. Clients never have to worry about missing a shipment of solar panels, or a critical part of the HVAC system.
- Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) have a fast construction time, have a short learning curve, incur mininal construction waste, are stable in extreme conditions, are excellent insulators (R50), and are easily cleaned after a flood.
- The buildings themselves have solar panels with battery backup; catches, stores and purifies rainwater; have their own drop-septic system; and do not have materials that off-gas.
- The buildings have a reduced operating cost of up to 80% and a lifetime up to five times as long as compared to standard construction.
They also have Green Fact Sheet Downloads available for sale.