39. Neutral Home Design

Directions: Utilize Google Sketch-Up to design a neutral home where the home itself provides all the resources needed by those living in the building.

  1. Create a folder called Engineering.
  2. Save the project as neutral_home.skp,
  3. Learn the basics of Google Sketch-Up.
  4. Design a neutral home that can fit on a typical city lot.
  5. Include items such as a way to catch and store water, a garden, and a way to produce electricity.
  6. Export a 3D image of your design to the engineering folder.
  7. Create an index.html in your engineering folder.
  8. Add the 3D image to the engineering homepage.
  9. Add a paragraph describing why your home is neutral to the engineering homepage.
  10. Advanced users may want to use the animation feature in Sketch-Up to create a video of the home to add to the homepage.
Example

This neutral home produces all the power, water, and food from the property. The power is created by the fifteen or so windmills in the utilities area of the property. The water comes from two wells and a rain-water catching cistern also located in the utilities area of the property. The food comes from plants in the garden and greenhouse and...