eco home

Green Homes for Less Money

jchait — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

CNET is one of my favorite websites - mostly because they always offer the best tech advice in town. If you buy a camera or pda they reviewed, you know what you're getting. Because I adore them so, I was happily surprised to see a cool green home article and photo gallery at their site the other day.

The article, Green homes on the cheap, walks through writer Martin LaMonica's home, pointing out the green (and cheap) ideas he's put into action.

Some of the highlights:

Heat: Martin discusses the pellet stove he installed last year. This was a really cool deal to read about for me. When I lived in Humboldt we had no electricity related to heat. The only heat we had in our on-the-beach home was a wood stove. It saved us lots of money, because at the time wood was cheaper than California electricity, but wood is also a hassle. Being on the beach means wet, cold mornings, every morning, and fighting with also damp wood is no picnic when you're freezing. We considered a pellet stove at one time, but moved before we decided. Martin's tips on pros and cons of a pellet stove are great to read.

Energy efficiency: More and more people are realizing that using power correctly is just as big a deal as what sort of power you use. Martin discusses this important topic.

Other topics include, solar chargers, toys, window shades, water barrels, and composting. I loved this article and all the photos were a great touch. This is a must read if you're dreaming of greening your own home, or even if you're dreaming of building from scratch.

[old school wood stove photo via stock.xchng]

Green Building Link Love - RiverWired Style

jchait — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:35:23 -0400

This week I decided to shine some link love on some of the other cool beans bloggers around RiverWired. However, I wondered, would anyone be discussing green house topics? Yes, as it turns out. Check out these nice finds.

Videos I like:

Grassroots: Collecting Rainwater: Collecting rainwater is something easy you can do at your own home to conserve water and reduce your water costs. This is a nice video explaining all the basics.

Eco-Bunnies: Way too fun. Also, although, don't quote me on it, I'm pretty sure that this video is by the same guys who made this tofu video that I'm obsessed with. (It sounds like them).

Posts I adore:

Hot News About Water Heaters: To learn what could save us millions in water costs check out this post.

Sustainability with a Sense of Style: Not exactly home building related, but I am a green interior junkie, and these bamboo pieces are great.

Checklist for a Green Home: Love checklists, love green homes, so, what's not to love?

Green Design Gets Groovy: A great resource if you'd like to design green & hip.

Which Solar Energy System Saves the Most Money?: You know you want to know.

Green is the New Gold – in the Real Estate Market: All the more reason to build or renovate green.

News you need:

Find The Eco-Career of Your Dreams: Home related jobs included, but more this is just a really cool top ten list.

Hey, by the way, did you hear that Earth Day is coming? I bet you did. Hit this link to find out what the RiverWired team is doing to celebrate and let us know what you'll be doing as well.

What cool links are you reading this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

Basics of Green Roofs for Residential - Green Roof Home Companies

jchait — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Yesterday we looked at green roofs for residential homes. Or I should say we started looking. We covered a DIY options and some green roof benefits. If you missed it, you can catch up by reading, The Basics of Green Roofs for Residential - Green Roof Homes.

Today let's look at some companies who cater to green residential roofing applications. If you aren't a professional builder, yet would love a green roof, it might be a better option to go with a professional design team. There are some important reasons for this:

Layout and design. Creating a green roof, is like placing a professional garden, or other landscaping, there are design aspects to consider - which plants go with which, how plants will hold up in your climate, and the general completed look. If you're not knowledgeable about landscape design it can be tricky to create a green roof.

Safety and liability. Do you know what will happen if you fall off your roof? Besides being hurt, you'll be paying for the whole accident. I've placed roofing and it's not easy. If you don't have a perfectly flat roof you could be in for some issues.

Costs can be higher if you do it yourself. You'll need to pay for scaffolding, the plants, materials, you'll lose time doing whatever it is you do normally, and it all can add up. It might be more cost efficient to go with a team who is quick and efficient for a set fee.

Upkeep: A professional team will help you to get the most out of your roof by informing you about proper upkeep. They can offer tips that you may not be able to learn on your own.

Where to find a company:

Often contractors with a background in green building can help you find a good local green roof company, or even set it up themselves. If you're already rebuilding or building new, working with your original design team may be an option.

Other green roof companies around the US include:

LiveRoof
Living Roofs
Hydrotech, Inc. - Hydrotech is a cool company, I've talked with them for another blog I write and they are nothing if not nice and helpful.
You can always check with Greenroofs.com
The mother load of green roof links - seriously, a great list.

You might also like reading, Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide.

Super Slick Solar Home Lighting Design

jchait — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Green Home the Environmental Store has these great solar sun tunnel light fixtures available for your home.

I've actually been obsessed with these lights for a while. I'd seen some in action at a friend's home, and sun tunnels in general were featured on the always entertaining, HGTV show, Living With Ed. This show, by the way, has been canceled I believe, which is a bummer, because it rocked. Still, the lights are cool.

The Sun Tunnel is a roof-to-ceiling skylight system. How it works is by channeling sunlight through the tunnel and into a room of your home. It seems like it wouldn't work, but the light is diverted around obstructions and really does work - providing amazingly bright light to a room. It looks like you have really good traditional lighting installed; i.e. you can't even tell it's a tunnel light. The end of the tunnel is covered with a traditional light fixture cover.

This specific Sun Tunnel is very large in diameter (available
in 14 inch and 22 inch diameters), so your home receives more sunlight, and the sun tunnel is perfect for all spaces, like bathrooms, closets, pantries, living rooms, and more. There is a built in double-sealed roof
flashing to prevent water buildup and to supply the watertight
installation you need for a residential structure. The system works on all roofs.

Not only is this an energy saving approach, but natural sunlight is by fr the healthiest type of lighting. Research shows that sunlight can ward off, and even treat health issues like Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Best of all, this is not a high cost or time intensive set-up. This is one of those green building techniques that can be quickly installed and planned for. Total installation time is commonly under two hours. I hadn't heard of these when we were building our home, but you can bet that the next home I build will incorporate this lighting system.

Visit Green Home to learn more.

[Photo: Sun Tunnel via Green Home]

Build A Green Home for Less Money

jchait — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:59:46 -0500

Green building doesn't have to be overly expensive. Using smart green home design, and other tactics, you can build a great eco home that won't completely break the bank.

Overall, most people overestimate the cost of building green. Still, in some areas you will spend more in the beginning, but remember that part of green building is reaping those money saving rewards related to water and energy use later on.

You can use the following tips to lower the costs.

Plan ahead: When building my own house, the single most expensive thing was that I was building with a poor planner. You need to plan everything. I was working with a great designer and we had good ideas, but because we didn’t plan tasks to correlate properly we lost many weeks worth of work time. For example, make sure you schedule inspections, material deliveries, and extra help at the appropriate times. Our house went over schedule by months - and that's a large loss of money when you consider land payments, current rent, and building supplies. If you're hiring a home builder make sure they have a great track record.

Get your whole team together early on: Research surrounding green building shows that when you involve your contractor early on in the design process, the whole project goes smoother.

Don't separate "green" from not green construction: Assume from the start that smart green home design is the norm and research shows that your costs will stay lower.

Use green design suitable for your situation: You may have your heart set on straw bale, but if that's not typical where you live, or it's unreasonable to do, try other eco design strategies - some more suitable to your community, land, and materials available.

More green building money saving tips tomorrow.