Michael McDONOUGH is flicking his fingernail on a piece of tubing, in lieu of the carpenter's nail, driven at full force, that he says the flexible pipe will resist. "This stuff is going to last for eternity, so we might as well put it to good use," he muses. The Wirsbo PEX (polyethylene) tubing, along with a host of other construction materials-such as autoclaved aerated concrete, which weighs a fraction of the standard mix and is equally strong— and satellite-connected, Internet-based, home-management computers are among the array of components with which McDonough is building e-House, a showcase of what can be done with residential design, construction, and technology using materials and systems already available.
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