How Tiny Houses Can Support Sustainable Development

There are many reasons why people choose the tiny house lifestyle. Traveling with your home is a common one, or it could be because you want to live more minimally. In the end, it’s usually a combination of factors that truly makes up someone’s mind on purchasing a tiny house.

One common denominator many people share, though, is a passion for the environment and sustainability. We see on the news and all around us what climate change and wasteful practices are doing to us and our planet. It’s up to us to make the changes we’re in control of to make the world a better place to live in.

The implementation of sustainable development and a circular economy are the steps our countries need to take to become more environmentally and economically friendly. Although there’s a lot of work ahead of us, tiny house living brings us closer to our sustainable development goals. Here’s how.

Tiny Houses Conserve Natural Resources

Smaller houses mean smaller amounts of resources used. Even though the average household family size is decreasing, houses are continuing to grow larger. This increase in space will consume materials and energy at an unsustainable rate during and after these houses are built.

That being said, it takes less energy to heat, cool, and power tiny houses due to their lack of square footage. Even if a tiny house has zero insulation, its energy usage is still lower than the average single-family home. Building materials are also used more sustainably in tiny construction even if a standard-sized house employs efficient building practices.

Tiny houses disturb less land as well, protecting a resource many of us take for granted. You just can’t beat the smaller size when it comes to the conservation of the environment. The bigger the house is, the bigger its carbon footprint will be too — regardless of how green it is. If your tiny house is off-grid, that’s even more resources that you’ll conserve.

Tiny House Usage of Repurposed Building Materials

All of us have been guilty at one time or another of buying something brand new when we didn’t really have to. With islands of trash polluting our planet, our waste problem needs to be addressed as quickly as possible.

Although there are brand new tiny homes that slightly contribute to this issue, there are plenty of models and kits that contain reused materials to build your home. Many people have an affinity for newness, finding comfort in the fact that nobody but them has owned the purchased item before.

However, you can never quite get the same aesthetic of a home built from reclaimed materials. There are plenty of homes and buildings that contain boundless treasures we can use for ourselves but are destined to be torn down and end up in a landfill.

Buildings are abandoned for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use what’s still there — and it’s not just wood and fixtures from old barns that are being salvaged. Steel is a popular material to use for tiny houses as well, to the point where tiny houses have become a steel industry trend.

Of course, you can’t just go up to any vacant home and take whatever you want. You need to secure rights first before you can start salvaging. Then your tiny house will benefit the environment in more ways than one.

Tiny Houses Enable Sustainable Economic Growth

Tiny houses not only contribute to sustainable development but to a sustainable economy as well. With 80 percent of Americans in debt, having a monthly house payment on top of student loans, credit card debt, car payments, and a plethora of other expenses don’t sound like the American dream.

You can always try reducing your monthly mortgage payment when things get tight, but why not start life as a homeowner with no mortgage to pay whatsoever? Many people are finding this financial peace with tiny houses.

Instead of debating whether to rent or buy due to exorbitant home prices, people are purchasing much more economically feasible tiny houses to become homeowners but without the debt. This leaves room in people’s budgets to pay their other debts faster and achieve financial freedom.

It also gives individuals the ability to spend their money on things they actually want, like having a nice dinner out or going on vacation. So not only will tiny house owners actually enjoy the money they make, the local businesses they can now frequent more often will as well.

People may like to say, “bigger is better”, but tiny house owners have found the phrase, “less is more” to be more accurate. Smaller living is better for the environment and better for our finances. Although we may be attached to our possessions and sprawling spaces, we can find that we can live bigger, more sustainable lives by going tiny.