How You Might Have a Sustainable Home in the Arctic

Hi my name is Mia and this year for science our 7th grade class had to learn about sustainable homes. By taking a biome, in my case the Arctic, we had to design a home that would not take away more from nature than it needed and would last a long time. In order to demonstrate a way a home in the Arctic would be made I used an old model of a sugar shack as my base. From there I added on some sustainable features that would best suit the Arctic.

• Glue
• Pipe cleaners
• Wood
• Poster board
• an old replica (in my case a sugar shack) or you could make your own base
• led string lights
• clay

Before you continue reading you might want to have a better understanding of what a biome is. By definition, a biome is a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra. So in simpler terms, a biome is where the temperature, plants, and animals are similar. My biome for my project is the Arctic more specifically Perryville, Alaska. This means the design for the sustainable home has to be able to withstand wind, ice, and snow. The purpose of the sustainable home is for them to last and not have a negative effect on the environment. Keeping this in mind, I truly believe that if people were to build in the Arctic sustainability would be a key factor in keeping all of the animals safe. With recent events in the Arctic (Drilling holes for oil which intern make many animals lose their homes), I think if there were more sustainable homes there wouldn't be such a need for the oil in the Arctic.

My plan for my sustainable house was to make two separate parts to demonstrate the suitable features. The first sketch I drew demonstrated what rooms would be in the house. I sketched out the plan from a ¨birds eye¨ view so you could see what it would look like looking straight down on it. The other design I drew was from the sides. This would help later with labeling the sustainable features, and to show the existing house that was already built.

After my sketches were finalized I started to add on to the existing house that I had previously built. I first started by taking off both of the doors. Then I built the garden with pieces of wood at the top of the house. I started this process by cutting a piece of wood that was equivalent to three fingers. I placed those pieces on the bottom of the roof. The pieces stayed there due to the ledge that was already put in. From there I added a piece of clay on top of the wood so that the ¨plants¨ could later be placed in the garden. I added in the plants while the clay was still wet to ensure that they would stay I then glued in the drip irrigation system. After the plants were dried and in place, I made a box from a poster board and attached a straw that ran from the top of the roof to the floor. I then added tin foil to one side of the roof and tape to the other side to represent solar panels and triple-pane windows. I then added the wind turbine. I built this using leftover wood from fixing one of the walls. I took one long piece and glued other pieces around it to represent the wind turbine. The last thing that I had to add to the house was the lights I used leftover string lights and taped them around the roof inside of the house.

I took the sketches from my floorplan and drew them out bigger on to a poster board. I had to carve out the lines where the poster board would be so that the walls would stand up and not fall over. After a lot of failed attempts, I finally figured out a technic that ensured the pieces would stay. I applied glue into the carved out area and onto the piece of poster board. When I finished building the walls and making doorways I added a counter and a pellet stove (these pieces were also made out of posterboard). I finished by adding a toilet and a shower which included some of my sustainable features.

Now that the house was complete I want to elaborate more on the sustainable features that are within my house. The first feature is the wind turbine. Since my project's biome is somewhere where there is a lot of wind the wind turbine would collect the energy which would then be turned into electricity for the house. The tinfoil on the roof represents solar panels. This is another sustainable feature that goes along with the LED lights. Using the energy collected from the sun people who live in this house would be able to turn on their lights. Another sustainable feature is the motion sensors placed in the hallway of the house. This will ensure that none of the collected energy is going to waste. Obviously, since the house is in the Arctic you have to stay warm. The sustainable way of doing this is with a pellet stove because it ensures all of the trees are being used and none is going to waste. Along with the pellet stove is triple-pane windows. This helps keep the heat in and not let any out and as a result, you won't have to use as much energy to heat your home. The last 3 sustainable features all have something to do with water and the bathroom. The water that the people who live in this house would use is heated by a solar water heater. The shower and toilet will both be low-flow meaning not as much water will be used so there will be more water saved in the process of using these sustainable features. Finally, the last feature that was included with my house was a garden with a drip irrigation system. This will help feed you and not overwater your plants!

So not only is this a fun science project it taught me a lot about the environment. I think this is a fun way to learn about how sustainability is different in different biomes and to learn about what sustainability is. In today's world, I honestly think there should be more sustainable aspects added to houses such as solar panels of low-flow toilets. Even though it may not seem like much it will help the environment and help you live a sustainable life!