Message from reader: I want to add a discovery I made in the state laws of VT. This is for the Residential Building Energy Standards – “The following residential construction shall not be subject to the requirements of this subchapter: … (D) The owner discloses in writing to a prospective buyer, before entering into a binding purchase and sales agreement, with respect to the nature and extent of any noncompliance with RBES. …” This exemption also requires the owner to be the builder plus occupier of the residence. This can be read here: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/30/002/00051
areas with few or no codes
Worst Places to Live with Minimal Building Codes: Fracking, Oil, Mining Regions
We have a whole series of articles about the best places to live with few or no building codes in the US. The other day I came across a video about oil shale fracking called Shale Cowboys. Then I remembered that the current Administration is pushing for US energy independence using oil shale and coal deposits. These areas would be among some of the worst places to establish a sustainable homestead in my opinion. Once the water table is polluted then the area is basically uninhabitable for the foreseeable future.
Best Places to Live with Minimal Building Codes: Iowa
Email from a reader: “Within city limits there’s some zoning but in the country there’s nothing except getting well and septic approved. Plus, we’re 35 minutes to downtown Iowa City (birthplace of the Tiny Home movement) and 30 minutes to Grinnell, Iowa, home of Grinnell college. We feel like we hit the jackpot as far as building sites.
Things Are Coming to a Crossroads
We live in a crazy world, that’s for sure. Many serious problems are now simultaneously coming to a head: groundwater depletion, pollution of groundwater with fracking, mining, industrial and agro chemicals, risk of nuclear war, concerns over Fukushima radioactive fallout. Experts say the oceans are expected to be depleted of sea life in just 30 years. (Most people now live near the oceans and rely on seafood for sustenance and income.)