Researchers Build Eco-Treehouse For Adults
If you miss the treehouses of your childhood, you may just have a new excuse to own one relatively soon. Researchers from have Tel Aviv University and MIT have built a prototype treehouse that can process waste and reduce carbon emissions— so you can feel even more justified in reliving your youth.
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The researchers built the model treehouse from malleable tree roots that are hardened into steel girder-like structures. Apparently, the houses can be outfitted with solar panels and wind turbines, and they can even convert waste into nutrients for trees.
Prototype homes will be ready in ten years—but don’t get excited yet. They’ll be too expensive for all but a few. I also wonder about how realistic this model is for areas that experience natural disasters (and in this age of global warming, what area doesn’t?). Do you really want to be mired in the middle of a tree during a hurricane, tornado, or flood? But all practicalities aside, the nouveau treehouse looks like a lot of fun.
Photo Credit: The UK Telegraph
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Tree’s native to a given area have adapted over the eons to the weather and other natural forces of the region. It is likely such a home, given that the root system in the ground isn’t compromised, will be more resilient to severe circumstances not less. If in the process of growing the house the root system is enhanced, for example spread over a wider space than normal or it goes deeper than normal, this home will be even stronger.
When these houses were first anounced they were actually proposed as low-income housing for the developing world. I hope they keep trying to bring the prices down according to the original plan.