Green Building Link Love

jchait — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

It's been a busy week - lots of cool new green building news and posts around the web and blogosphere. Let's see what some other green folks have been up to...

Of course the biggest news around town is that the HGTV Green Home 2008 contest finally kicked off - I'm so curious about how many entries they're going to get. It's going to be insane. If you missed this news entirely read: New HGTV Eco Home Television Special.

Mother Earth News has a great article about Wild Rose Timber Framers - at first, of course you may be thinking, "WOOD! That's not as sustainable as other material. However, Wild Rose offsets that with their methods and attitudes - go learn how.

You have to go see 10 Amazing Tree Houses from Around the World at WebUrbanist - many sustainable and unique designs.

In sort of bizarre news, the USAF has plans to go off-grid with Nuclear power. Rumors about the future of off-grid energy for all (including residential) abound. We'll see.

Terrapin Ridge, a brand new green housing community of 85 Energy Star homes in Greensboro, NC is launching. Which of course is better news if you're looking to build in NC, however, it's always good news to hear that entire communities will be built around green methods. Hopefully more to come.

Just a couple of hours a cool article about one super green building popped up - some great info is included about the newer composting toilets.

Right here at RiverWired we've got some awesome posts too. Not everyone is posting about building, but they are posting green. Check out:

Top 10 Recycling Resources

Can You Make Overconsumption Look Good?

Green Celebrity Round Up

Want to Recycle Your Running Shoes?

Green Jobs!

And so ends our weekly link love - I hope you all had a fab Easter your friends and family.

Personal Information About Green Home Building

jchait — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

I thought it might be cool today to reach out to some other folks who have built green. It's so much better when you can hear first hand about the experience of building. You get a personal view at all the pros and cons, plus you get to develop some ideas of your own.

That said, if you're interested in building a green home, the following reads will come in handy.

Jessie over at Green.mnp hasn't actually built a house yet - but is at the start of the process, The land has been bought, pictures are up, and the planning has started for Jessie's straw bale home. If you start following along now, it should be entertaining and educational, from start to finish.

Ron Gompertz and his his wife started Bozeman House after purchasing a turn of the century house in the historic district of Bozeman, Montana. Their site covers tons of great green building and renovation issues. At the site you can connect with green builders and suppliers, learn about the cost aspects and financial incentives for sustainable building, follow the renovation progress of Gompertz’s home, and learn lots more. This is a treasure hunt of a green building site.

PassiveSolarGreenhouse.com is unique in that they're talking about green, greenhouses. If you're considering building a greenhouse that's actually "green" i.e. earth friendly, you won't want to miss this site. Project details are included.

A Low Impact Woodland Home is a home you have to see to believe - built by one family, with help from family and friends, this home is a partial underground, green roof, sustainable, fairy-tale like delight. This home was built mere pennies and I promise you'll be amazed when you see it. It's one of my favorite green homes out there.

Lastly today is the house I built. I did some past posts on this house, because I have mixed feelings - like many home builders.

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Rocks

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Sucks

We'll continue to look at other personal accounts of green home builders as this blog develops, so stay tuned.