Arctic Tundra: Sustainable House

Hello, my name is Caitlyn! I am 12 years old, and am part of an amazing science class! In my science class, we were assigned a spacific biome and had to build a house model based on what biome we were assigned. I was assigned the Arctic Tundra biome. A biome is made up of ecosystems. The Arctic Tundra biome is the northernmost biome. It covers the lands north of the Arctic Circle up to the polar ice cap. It reaches as far south as the Hudson Bay area of Canada and the northern part of Iceland. The arctic tundra is a vast, dry, rocky place that is known for its lack of trees. A few times a year, snows falls through the area, then a sheet of icey rain tops it off, making the area icy and extremly cold. In the Arctic Tundra, the ground has a layer of permafrost. Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0°C for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Permafrost does not have to be the first layer that is on the ground. It can be from an inch to several miles deep under the Earth's surface. This is why plants have a hard time growing here. Many large mammals, such as caribou, polar bears, arctic foxes, and musk ox, are found in this biome. There are also several smaller mammals, such as lemmings and arctic hare which are prey to the larger mammals.

The purpose of this project is to show how sustainable, and eco-friendly, a house can be made for the biome it is built in. A house can be sustainable for any type of biome, you just need to decide what asspects of the house you would need to upgrade, in order to make things eco-friendly. Building with sustainablity ruduces enerygy, and is healthy for the earth.

- A hand saw

- Wood glue

- 3 different paint colors (completely your choice)

- Felt/cotton (optional)

- Tinfoil

- Two thin 12" by 12" slates of plywood

- Two 12" by 6" thin slates of plywood

- Fourteen 24" long wooden sticks/plywood sticks

- Ten (thinner if possible) 24" long plywood sticks

- Cardboard

I designed my house to look like a log-cabin. In the tundra, log cabin houses kept the interior of the house warm. Not only that, but having a log cabin structure is using natural materials, making the house eco-friendly. I constructed/designed the house using materials readily available, thereby minimizing the life cycle energy required and reducing the carbon footprint.

If you would like to see where I got some of my ideas for the model design, then search/google this website:

www.pronneke's cabin.com

To start, you will need to take your 24" wooden sticks and cut them into four (6") sections. Next, you stack them on top of each other in a square pattern to form the walls of the house. Use the wood glue to bond the wall pieces together. After you get the walls to the desired height, cut one of the two 12" by 6" wood slates in half. You will be using these pieces to form the rooftop. The two roof panels should be glued together at a sharp angle to allow the snow and water to drain off the roof. Before anything else is added to your structure, paint the exterior of the house any desired color. I would let the model sit for a few hours before adding the windows and door, to ensure everything is dry and sturdy.

Now it is time to add the door and windows. Take some cardboard and cut six 2" by 2" windows. (make sure you use a ruler or something straight) After cutting the windows out, place two on three sides of the house, leaving one side clear for the door. (use the wood glue to place the windows on) Once the windows are dry, you can draw blue crossing lines to make the windows more realistic. Again, you are using cardboard to cut out a 3" by 1 1/2" door. After cutting the door out, glue the door using wood glue. Add anything you'd like to the front of your door. I painted mine.

After you have completed designing the basic door and windows, you are going to use the thin wooden sticks. Cut the wooden stick by measuring all the sides of the door. Measure each side of the door, then cut accordingly. Measure each of the sides of a window, then cut the thin wooden sticks accordingly. Don't forget, you have to cut those same window measurements six times because of the six windows. After all the frames are cut, from the six windows and the door, you could paint the frames if you'd like to, or you could leave them in their natural color.

Now the house model is just about complete. You will now be using the tinfoil. Cut a piece of tinfoil, measuring on side of the roof. Do that again for the other side of the roof. Take your thicker wooden sticks and cut them by measuring the roof from the top to the bottom. You are going to cut the wooden stick into three smaller sections, but they are the same length as the roof. Do this one more time so that you have six total pieces. Glue three on each side of the roof, and make sure they are 1 1/2" apart. (Let those dry) After they have dried, glue one tinfoil piece on each side of the roof. Use your fingers to make the tinfoil bend over the wood sticks on the roof. Now you have your tin/metal roof finished.

It's snow time! Take your white felt, or cotton, and glue it all over the baseboard of the house. Cover the entire base so that no wood can be seen. If you would like to add any other little designs to the exterior of the model, then go ahead!

I had many sustainable aspects to my house. The sustainable aspects not only help the house, but also saves energy, money, and helps the ecosystem. Sustainability means using, developing, and protecting resources at a rate and in a manner that enables people to meet their current needs and also provides healthy actions for the earth, and its ecosystems. I wanted to include ten sustainable asspects to my house because it is important to protect resources, use less energy, and so much more.

Aspect #1: Tin/Metal Roof

This aspect makes my house more sustainable because, in the Arctic Tundra, tin roofs help the snow slide off of the roof easily. Metal, or tin, roofs are made up of 95% recycled materials, and they are 100% recyclable when they are no longer serving their purpose on a house. Metal roofs are eco-friendly and are great for saving energy.

Aspect #2: Wood Frame

Wood, or timber, is a sustainable building material since it can be regenerated. Using natural materials, like wood, for building a house reduces its carbon footprint. Wood/timber has long-lasting qualities. We have learned over time that wooden structures that are properly designed and maintained can give years and years of reliable service for a living.

Aspect #3: Local Building Materials

I constructed the house using materials readily available, thereby minimizing the life cycle energy required and reducing the carbon footprint. Using natural wood materials also helps the ecosystem by recycling wood, and using it in an efficient way.

Aspect #4: Tripple Pane Windows

Triple pane windows help keep heat inside the home during the winter, thereby conserving energy. In the summer they keep the house cooler, minimizing energy consumption as well. They also make comfortable year-round temperatures perfect for the house and the environment.

Aspect #5: Insulated Walls

Extra insulation keeps heat in, thereby reducing costs of fuel and fuel consumption. Reducing fuel consumption lowers the amount of energy consumed from burning fossil fuels, and reduces the impacts on the environment.

Aspect #6: Waterless Toilets

The waste from the toilets can be burned and used for heat. You’d burn the waste outside, and as gross as this may seem, it provides many different benefits, including lower cost heat using less energy, and also reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of in the environment (or at waste facilities).

Aspect #7: Built Facing South

I built my house facing south because it allows the most sunlight and heat to enter the windows. It also reduces the heating costs and energy used to make that heat. This is similar to Aspect #5, where less heating needs can benefit the environment through less energy usage and fossil fuel consumption.

Aspect #8: Heat Pump In Foundation

Heat pumps are being put in my foundation so that heat can be drawn out of the land, reducing heat consumption from other, more costly sources such as coal-burning energy plants. Heat can cost a lot and uses more energy, but with a heat pump...the cost leans lower. You are using the heat from the ground instead of oil-heat.

Aspect #9: Interior Walls are Made of Recycled Wood

This reduces the energy and costs of harvesting new wood. Harvesting new wood has negative impacts on the environment, through the amount of energy required. This includes materials and fuel for the vehicles that are used to harvest the trees, and the energy it takes to process the wood at a sawmill, and the energy it takes to bring the wood by vehicles from location to location.

Aspect #10: Size of The House

This house is small and efficient and therefore requires very little energy to heat. It also is made of fewer quantities of building materials. Having a small house is very cost-efficient, easing the cost of heat, and helping to reduce energy.

While building this house, I learned that a sustainable building is an outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use -- energy, water, and materials -- while reducing building impacts on the environment during the building's lifecycle. Sustainable buildings are designed to help reduce the overall impact on the environment during and after construction. Building this way, helps preserve and protect animals and natural resources around the site.

If I had to make any imporvments, they would be to put more of my asspects featured into my house. I would also like to design the interior of my model, if I were ever to do this project again. You could add any aspects that you would like, such as solar pannels or a water pump. I did the Arctic Tundra biome, but if you were design a sustainable house, which biome would you choose?