Totally new Solar Cabin Design!

After a 3 year break, I have decided to start posting on the progress toward the energy neutral lifestyle I have designed - the solar cabin is now one of many projects in the spectrum of resource capture, recycling, and independence that has become a near obsession

The design of the solar cabin has changed substantially from a well insulated frame structure, to a Compressed Earth Block (CEB) with a planned 200+ year lifespan, passive heating and cooling, integral water capture + sand filters, a composting toilet and several nice aesthetic amendments.

The general layout

The structure consists of two small drum towers 1 1/2 stories high.

The taller tower is for a view and houses the solar chimney for passive heating and cooling.




This building will have a ferro-cement roof and a wrap around porch (not Shown) the plans are well beyond the preliminary stage, I'll post more details!

this is not a large building! it has a 350 sqft footprint and is under 1000 sq ft overall using my small brick press I expect to be able to rough it out for around $4000 and most of that cost is in the concrete.

here is a rough and incomplete sketch of the layout:
















The roofs slope doubles as a rainwater collector which I have a system diagram for but no sketches yet.

Like multitudes before me, I have decided to try my hand at a small off-grid living space - I have access to utilities, this is just to refine my understanding of the technologies and get some space that has no utility bills associated with it - composting toilet, rainwater harvest, proper orientation, solar PV and so on...