Posts Tagged ‘Green Building’
One Way to Build Green: Use Reclaimed Beams
The Straight Goods on Green Building and Energy-Efficient Home Design. Green building is the catch phrase for the creation of houses that are energy efficient and environmentally in their design and construction. …… The article expands the information about what Green building means and what is needed to build and energy efficient home. These are the four things that I feel are important considerations when trying to build Green. ( the video illustrates item #2)
Design a house that uses less energy to heat, cool, light and maintain.
Use materials that consume less energy to produce and transport are non-toxic, and can be re-cycled or safely disposed of when no longer useful.
Use building products made from materials that are not limited in supply and are quickly and easily regrown, reproduced and replaced.
Use energy sources that are readily replenished and have an unlimited supply
Don’t Buy LED Lights If You Don’t Know the CRI and CCT
This alphabet soup for LED lights will let you know what kind of light your new light bulbs will give off when you bring them home. If they produce the wrong colors, you will hate them. If they give off the right colors, you will love them. LED lights are a great breakthrough in energy…
Read MoreGet a House That Works and Is Energy Efficient
Energy Efficient House Design Today, I spent the day in a class called Houses That Work, a class about how to make houses more energy efficient and healthier. It was presented by EEBA, The Energy & Environmental Building Alliance. As an architect, I have to participate in continuing education classes, seminars, and other learning activities…
Read MoreBirth of Building Green
The birth of “Building Green” arguably happened in Austin, Texas in the 1970’s. There’s a good article in Ecohome about Austin’s sustainable building program and their continuing progress. But the trigger for Austin may not have been what you might have guessed. Here is the first paragraph of the article by Jeffery Lee: Austin, Texas…
Read MoreWood Floors Are Not Just Oak Anymore
When you mention wood floors to most people, they conjure up an image of a narrow board, red oak floor. But times have changed. Now there are many, many choices of board width and species. And many of these choices come at a modest cost increase. I’ve used white oak, antique chestnut oak, antique heart pine,…
Read MoreGreen and Sustainable Building in Historic Old Town San Diego
Passive solar design, green and sustainable building are not new inventions. Who would have thought that we would be returning to the house design principles of more than a century and a half ago? I was in San Diego recently and visited the part of town they call Old Town San Diego. I don’t think the buildings…
Read MoreGreen Roofs
Green roofs are roofs that have grass of other plant materials growing right on top of them. The theory is that the roof will stay cooler and reflect less heat back into the atmosphere. There was an interesting article in the Raleigh News and Observer today. It was about how the local Universities are going…
Read MoreLEED Certification for Homes
Do you want to know that your new house design is “green,” or as I prefer to call it, energy and resources responsible? There is now a way to certify that it is so. The U.S. Green Building Council conducts a program of LEED certification, a nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high…
Read MoreGreen Mansions: Building Green – Part Six
Sustainable building materials are more and more available these days. “Sustainable” means the materials are manufactured in environmentally responsible ways. They may be made from recycled materials, such as tile or wallboard.Some are made from agricultural wastes, like wheat straw and rice hulls. Still others are made from rapidly renewable materials, such as bamboo or…
Read More“Green” Mansions: Building Green – Part Four
When it comes to “building green,” There are other energy-saving measures that can occur behind the scenes. Proper insulation, including draft blocking to prevent convective loops of cold or warm air within walls and ceilings will reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer. I’ve found that in southern climates insulation and building tightness…
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