Sustainable technologies are being developed everyday; everything from water generation systems to floors that store energy from movement. But the average house is over 2,000 square feet, which means that so much power is needed to heat, cool, and light this space that it is not feasible to purchase solar panels and use renewable energy. And according to the EPA's website, the average household of 4 people consumes 400 gallons of water per day, in part due to inefficient appliances and water leaks. Who would have guessed that a toilet would consume the most water, even more than showers?
It's not the house owners to blame for this over-consumption; traditional houses were not built with efficiency in mind. Tiny houses, however, were built with only efficiency in mind. Jay Shafer himself said, "I never set out to design tiny houses. I set out to build an efficient house. When I took out all of the unnecessary parts of the house, it turned out to be a very small house."
With a footprint no bigger than 400 square feet with no permanent foundation most of the time, a tiny house leaves almost no trace of human life after it's gone. They can be nestled in between existing structures or amid the wilderness, making use of space that would have previously been unusable to provide more houses for more people without having to destroy crucial habitats and ecosystems to make way for large and lengthy construction developments.
Using renewable energy makes the most sense when you have less space to cover and things to power. Almost every tiny house is specifically designed with compact, low-energy appliances. Tiny houses on wheels are meant to be used virtually anywhere, supporting a nomadic lifestyle where "hooking up" to the grid is not always an option. Some tiny houses may only be partially self-sustaining, and require a power/ water connection, but they are still made to be much more efficient with resources than traditional houses, utilizing composting toilets and only needing a few light bulbs throughout the entire house for example.
As for waste, almost all of the byproducts of living in a tiny house can be recycled. Grey water diversion systems can filter into a nearby planter box, while composting toilet waste can be used to fertilize plants (as long as you're not going to eat them). Living on such a small scale, waste in general tends to reduce as mindfulness and efficiency become habits.
Living sustainably does not have to mean sacrificing all of the luxuries of the first world. It comes down to considering what is most important to us, and determining the best ways to meet those needs. When we think in terms of "small and smart", we can simplify our lives in some ways, while still using technology to advance our overall standard of living. All of the technology to be a sustainable society is already available, but for the average home of today, it's just not feasible. The recent and growing innovations of the tiny house movement have paved the way for next generation housing, and now it's up to us to create the "home of the future".
http://www.planetforward.org/webisode/tiny-house-big-impact-getting-green-by-building-less
https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/pubs/indoor.html
http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-houses/jay-shafer-makes-the-universal-house.html
