TRES Project: The Greenest Tiny Home in Alabama

Changing your perspective on what building green really means

(Reposted by INDIEGOGO – www.indiegogo.com)

OVERVIEW

The TRES (Tiny, Renewable and Environmentally Sustainable) Project is a modern, yet tiny home to showcase practical energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy strategies and technologies for homes. We aim to inspire people to rethink the choices they make in their homes by showing just how easy it is to build a high-performance home. Nexus Energy Center is working in cooperation with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) of Alabama, Calhoun Community College, Huntsville Open Tech Coffee and the Home Depot to raise funds, gather materials and mobilize volunteer labor to help build the TRES Project concept.

The TRES Project Concept Courtesy of Tumbleweed Tiny Homes

What We Want to Do:

1. Blow minds on just how easy and affordable green building can be with workshops and seminars
2. Exhibit a variety of sustainable building materials and their performance relative to conventional materials
3. Demonstrate how a typical home or office can achieve net-zero energy usage
4. Demonstrate how normal water consumption can be reduced without sacrifice
5. Demonstrate how to lower the carbon footprint of an existing building
6. Show how great design can make a small space appear much larger and maintain functionality
7. Give actual cost for solar power systems by square footage
8. Provide hands-on experience and familiarity with high performance buildings

Why Should You Give to TRES?

• It is FINALLY time to put the myths of green building to rest. It’s not hard, it’s not expensive and we’ll prove it! If you help us… Won’t you please help us over the mountain? Pretty please?
• We’re pretty cool. Did you see our team members below?

Our Outreach Plan:

K-College

• Field trips for elementary, middle and high school from all over the region
• For science clubs, engineering teams and architecture students
• Internships

Businesses and Entrepreneurs

• Businesses who can apply these technologies to their own facilities
• Businesses who would pursue this type of work
• Entrepreneurs who see new business opportunities in this field
• Entrepreneurs and businesses who want to field test new technologies

General Public

• People wanting to learn
• DIY’ers
• Demystification of high performance building techniques and principles

Why Should You Give to Us?

• Building high performance shouldn’t thought of as hard or expensive. You can help us change that perception.
• We can teach lots of people about the easy and affordable ways to conserve natural resources.
• Small is still functional too! 
• We’re pretty cool. Check out our shades.
  

Who Is Involved:

Nexus Energy Center

Our Mission: To create a clean energy future for Alabama through education, conservation, efficiency and renewable energy.

Nexus Energy Center is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, organization transforming Alabama’s economy through the use of clean and efficient energy. Our programs have upgraded over 1,600 Alabama homes and saved more than $1 million in energy costs. We are actively running projects ranging from building the electric vehicle charging infrastructure to upgrading local homes to save energy. We do this not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because clean energy represents the greatest wealth creation opportunity of our time.

US Green Building Council of Alabama

Our Mission: To transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling a socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life in Alabama.

USGBC-Alabama Chapter is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, volunteer organization formed in 2004, with four branches throughout the state. Licensed by USGBC National to use the USGBC Chapter brand, the Alabama Chapter has more than 300 individual members. Chapter membership is open to anyone with annual dues starting at only $26 per year. All of our Chapter programs, lectures, building tours and other events are open to the public and available in all 4 branch areas.

Huntsville Open Tech Coffee

Huntsville Open Tech Coffee (HOTCoffee) is a regular space where anyone interested in technology startups can come together to share needs, news, and ideas with like-minded folks. HOTCoffee aims to build the entrepreneurial eco-system in Huntsville.

The Home Depot

A big thank you to The Home Depot for helping us out with the materials for this project who is basically matching a lot of funds you help us raise! You can’t build a tiny house without a little help from your local Home Depot stores!

Super special thanks to Tumbleweed Tiny Homes for donating the plans to build this awesome home for education! Also, thanks to Huntsville Open Tech Coffee for providing the breeding ground for great ideas, including us!