Thank you for visiting the Eco Hab website.

Our houses are now responsible for approximately 30% of all energy consumed and are also producing a similar percentage of CO2 emissions. With the continuing increase in the cost of fossil fuels and the effects of emissions on climate change, we are now making efforts to address this problem. However, not enough is being done and there is no doubt we will soon be forced to take drastic action if we are to avoid becoming complete slaves to the increasing cost and uncertain availability of fossil fuels in the future. I would like to think that the Eco Pod project is taking a step in this direction and that others will continue pushing the boundaries of design and construction.

With a background in innovation, industrial design and manufacturing, I have set out to build a range of the most advanced and energy efficient off-site structures possible and, at the same time, keeping the design and construction methods as simple as possible by reducing the material content and number of components required in a build. I have achieved this by building a domed structure using modern methods of construction. Open plan living in a dome or round structure is nothing new and dates back in time in many civilisations providing a more spacious feel for a given floor area. There are many forward thinking architects and designers such as Buckminster Fuller professor Sue Roaf, Brenda and Robert Vale to mention a few ,whose innovative ground breaking projects and publications have been a great inspiration for me to continue exploring with new building methods, designs and particularly improving the energy saving performance of buildings. I have taken enormous pleasure in the development of the Eco Pod project which is the realisation of an ambition of building a range of alternative super energy efficient homes for the future.

Living in a 4 meter Eco Pod

Having lived in a 4m diameter pod for some time, I must say it offers a very pleasant, living and work space which requires the minimum of fuel (logs) to maintain a comfortable temperature during the depths of winter, it also has a light filled, natural and organic feel to the building. My first prototype pod is almost self sufficient and is heated using a wood burning stove. The stove heats the water in the copper cylinder which provides the under floor heating. A solar panel also feeds into the copper cylinder. The 1kw wind turbine is connected to four 12 volt batteries and this provides all of the electrical requirements (excluding washing machine and dryer). Rain water is harvested and the 4m Pod gathers 5 litres of water for every millimetre of rainfall. We are now building our first two bedroom 6m dia. Pod which will be the next for evaluation and performance testing.

Aidan Quinn

ECO HAB™ Homes