A portable capsule that gets you off the grid

Love the great outdoors, but not quite ready to go into that inaccessible Himalayan valley yet for fear of giving up on life’s little luxuries? Slovakian architects have just revealed a super-compact capsule that promises to deliver a nomadic lifestyle, with all the renewable-powered comforts of home, reports sciencealert.com. The whole thing is pretty cramped, measuring just 2.55 m x 4.45 m x 2.25 m, but it’s designed to be entirely self-sufficient for two adults, and is kitted out with a retractable 750 W wind turbine and 2.6 square-metres of solar panels.

The egg-shaped abode, which has been named the Ecocapsule, also has a 9,744 Watt hours battery to store all that power for a rainy (or cloudy) day. The pod is specially shaped to help collect rainwater and dew and funnel it down into a tank below the pod’s floor, filtering it with a clever surface membrane along the way to remove any bacteria. Inside, there’s a toilet and shower, mini-kitchen, bed, table and storage. The walls are super-insulated to help keep the pod at a comfortable temperature and the home is even capable of charging up your electric car while you tow it.

The design is on display at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, and will reportedly be available to the public later this year (although no word as yet on the price). One would love to see some more research and data on how the Ecocapsule fares in a range of different environments, but it’s a pretty promising design that will hopefully get people thinking about the future of sustainable living.