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One of the hottest trends in home buying and home building right now is the “green home” - a green home is green because of the design features which make it more energy efficient, including high insulation values, how it’s meant to integrate into its local landscaping and how it’s constructed.
If you’re considering constructing a new home, consider going green. A lot of green construction initiatives are out there, which advocate building everything from pre measured, pre-fabricated parts. The savings for this are two fold - the first savings is in ease of construction. By building everything from pre-measured parts, you save on labor and assembly. You also save on garbage hauling fees.
The second place where you save is avoiding building waste in your local landfill. Most homes are constructed by bringing raw lumber on site and cutting it to fit over the course of construction. The same (to a lesser extent) is done with flooring, drywall and siding. Good green construction techniques use the mantra of “measure twice, cut once” to its logical extreme, and can eliminate construction waste (and the attendant fees) by as much as 80%.
Green construction also ties into how the house is designed as a home and living space, and how it uses energy. A house can be precisely placed to maximize thermal warming in the winter, and shade placement in the summer. Similarly, green construction helps with energy bills.
By building the houses out of precisely measured prefabricated components, the insulation effects can be greatly improved - most homes, when it comes to insulation, have the equivalent of two full sized doors open in terms of air flow.
Green construction, done right, solves this problem, and a well insulated home is less expensive to heat in the winter, and cool in the summer. Proper heating and cooling design/installation methods are a major contributor to good green construction practices.
A more recent trend in green construction is photovoltaic cells as an integral component of construction, rather than as an unsightly add on to the home. These can reduce utility bills (through net-metering) or provide cash flow to the home owner through an offset-tariff, and will, over the course of 20 years or more, pay off the cost of their investment.
Ultimately, doing a green home means doing a completely green home - you can’t do it part way. it doesn’t mean you have to “give up” the life style - but it does mean an initial investment in planning and a commitment to hold on to the home for a while to recoup your investment.
- Green homes retain resale value very well.
- Green construction is more than energy efficiency.
- It also leads to a long-lasting, healthier home and lifestyle.
Author: Ed Bishop
About the author:
Ed Bishop brings over thirty years of experience to the art of designing and installing engineered living environments for homeowners and offers the widest array of solutions to improve the safety, comfort, quality and efficiency of new and existing homes. Please visit heating-and-air-conditioning-guide.com
About the Image: The native grass, Microlaena stipoides, makes a good drought-resistant lawn.
Photographed for the Powerhouse Museum exhibition, Eco-Logic: creating a sustainable future. Source: http://flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum_photography/2023116775/
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Tags: Eco Building, eco construction, eco home, energy efficiency, energy savings, going green, green building, green construction, Green Home, green home design, photovoltaic cells
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The information we present is not intended to replace a relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems,disease, or illness without consulting with your own physician or qualified medical professional.
Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. Buildings account for a large amount of land use, energy and water consumption, and air and atmosphere alteration. In the United States, more than 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) of open space, wildlife habitat, and wetlands are developed each year.[1]
As of 2006, buildings used 40 percent of the total energy consumed in both the US and European Union.[4][5] In the US, 54 percent of that percentage was consumed by residential buildings and 46 percent by commercial buildings.[6] In 2002, buildings used approximately 68 percent of the total electricity consumed in the United States with 51 percent for residential use and 49 percent for commercial use. 38 percent of the total amount of carbon dioxide in the United States can be attributed to buildings, 21 percent from homes and 17.5 percent from commercial uses. Buildings account for 12.2 percent of the total amount of water consumed per day in the United States.[citation needed]