Cody Lundin’s Sustainable Home

There is an increasing need for change when it comes to living conditions. A real-estate bubble always lurking by and fossil fuels prices as volatile as they are, can get you thinking about living off-the-grid. Meet the most fascinating passive solar earth home there is. The owner, Cody Lundin, is living a unique lifestyle for over 20 years, in which he embraced the natural world and wildness around him. He is an author of books on survival and even founded the Aboriginal Living Skills School in Arizona in 91. The home you see in the pictures is a truly off-the-grid structure. Heat insulated, the 700 square feet house is built half into the ground; in doing so the advantage of a cool earth during the summer and (not below 50 degrees) decent temperature earth in the winter are all for the benefit of the person living inside. The survival philosophy of Cody involves – besides farming with no waste (plants are growing on top of the house) – also heating and electricity independence from external resources.

That is why the house faces solar south to maximize the winter sun, as well as the shape is that of an arch to make the summer’s high sun unable to shine directly into the house. The energy is cleverly harvested via the large rock floor which uses the angle of the sun, as the winter slowly installs, to let more and more direct light inside, heating and lighting it. Solar tubes made with broken mirrors were also added in order to increase light by reflecting it down into the back rooms. Check out what he has accomplished if you truly want to live off-the-grid!