Dreaming About Building a New Home? Read This First—It Could Save You a Ton of Dough and Help Save the Planet at the Same Time

The 2007 Modern Marvels Invent–Now Challenge which celebrates ingenuity, imagination, and inventions that could change history, awarded its 2007 Grand Prize to homebuilder Michael Sykes and his Enertia Building System.

Sykes’ Enertia homes save money in building costs, dramatically decrease heating and cooling costs, are built from a 100% renewable resource, and last far longer and are far stronger than conventional homes. They even look like a regular earthling home (your neighbors won’t curse you and your alien home).

Enertia—which means Energy from a shift-in-time—is a new energy technology, invented by Sykes, using the thermodynamic properties of—surprise—wood. There’s nothing new about building with wood, of course; it’s the type of wood and method of construction that make the difference.

Enertia homes are built with "Green Building Blocks" which are glue-laminated wooden blocks precut and numbered to form a prefab Geo-solar house. The wooden structure of the home doubles as a "thermal battery," shifting daytime solar gain to nighttime heating needs.

The blocks, made from tree-farmed, certified-sustainable Southern Pine timber, are 100% natural and 100% renewable. The US Southern Pine Forests are so vast, and the trees grow so fast, that the material used for the house will rejuvenate in less than 30 seconds. (that’s not a typo, 30-seconds.) The whole structure is Green and carbon negative when solar thermal panels and solar electricity are installed.

The blocks also speed up the construction time and can lower the cost of construction. During most of the building process the only tool needed is a high-torque electric drill. According to Sykes, building and living in an Enertia home is the environmental equivalent of taking 50 cars off the road.

Curious? Visit Enertia.com.

Sykes and his invention were recently featured on the new Discovery Science Channel series ECO-TECH. If you missed it, check channel listings as it will be re-broadcast.

The Invent–Now Challenge is sponsored by the History Channel, the US Patent office, Lexus, and Time magazine. Find details at The History Channel.