Exterior wood also cedar? Was wondering about porcupine damage potential. THey love pine but maybe cedar is ok for a cabin in the northwoods.

Woof, that's a good looking house - though it would seem to beg for a roof deck (and /or solar panels, if it's fore a remote second house.) Any word on those?

Why are prefab houses considered 'green'? I think I might have missed that discussion. Please fill me in.

that hot number needs a green roof on it. Too bad alot of these modern numbers perform dismally...R-value of the walls, etc. Someone needs to help these guys design a number that could really live comfortably off the grid.

wov: the plan is for a roofdeck or a green roof. the whole thing is about building a sustainable product. Don: prefabs have less impact on the landscape than normal methods of construction; waste much less materials in controlled factory conditions; use far less energy during construction (about a quarter of the fuel that is used by trades driving to remote sites) and are built to higher tolerances and therefore are more energy efficient. That's pretty green to me.

Hey folks, looks like the website is up: http://www.blueskymod.com/ I don't know if it's already been addressed, because the last post I read said the site wasn't up yet. I checked the other day and it was some Toronto web-hosting company. I can't wait for more beauty shots. Anyway, I really like the look of these units. I can picture them in all sorts of settings, especially near the beach.

lloyd, prefab has its advantages, but i think you're overstating them. hiring local carpenters who know how to build for the region, sourcing local materials, and designing your home to work with a given site (ie. passive solar) is MUCH greener and more socially responsible... not to mention character, individuality, etc.

i think a house should be inspired by it's environment and its inhabitants and less by a remote factory.

hijiki,

I tend to agree with Lloyd on this one. Your vision might be more "green/romantic", but the fact is that prefab is very energy/material efficient and that the aspects you point out can be used with prefab too (you can plan to use passive solar, local climate, etc, with prefab).

Also, there's not reason why in a post-peak oil world each region won't have prefab factories. No need to import them from far away.

i don't think it's romanticism, and i like a lot of these recent prefab designs, i just don't believe that prefab is more energy or material efficient. no doubt they can be much greener than a double-wide builders, but this sounds like greenwashing from prefab proponents to me.

he is using the worst case scenario for the site-built house when he claims "a quarter of the fuel used...". just as many workers will be driving to a factory (contractor crews usually carpool if the location is remote) and then many will still be driving to the site for hookups and installation and then you have to haul the whole structure with heavy machinery on top of that. i think the energy consumption is not reduced, just a little more out of sight.

in this case, passive solar isn't working no matter where you put it... low-r walls and wood floors (no thermal mass).

i also don't believe that it's more material efficient. most of what i see in new england are site-built with local labor, and using wood grown and milled within 20 miles if not cut, milled and left to dry on site. it's not tough to minimize waste, all you have to do is plan it correctly.

benefits of designing for specific sites aside, how is prefab inherently more energy or material efficient?

Hijiki-

You're not taking into account the physical, environmental impact on the land when construction is done on it. One of the most damaging aspects of any construction is soil impaction and what that means for stormwater drainage. If you're building everything at one site (i.e. the factory), you reduce the number of individual lots that are damaged by the act of construction work.

If this basic unit is to be sold for $120/150psf,I can assure you the prefab & modular builders would be thrilled to provide very competitive products with all the state of the art green components included.My company can presently build a cottage which is well beyond R2000 specifications and less expensive.The technology is hear and direct you to www.sips.org for review of this technology which has existed for 30 years.My company presently manufactures structural insulated panels(SIPS) for cottages,hotels,trailers,single family homes.