The way we humans are currently living isn’t going to be sustainable for long. This is a fact that we’re becoming more and more aware of every day. Because of this, green home design is becoming a more and more mainstream part of the housing market. Some experts predict that green home design will soon make up a huge slice of the real estate industry.
In the U.S., housing accounts for 38% of the country’s carbon emissions. So in the fight on global warming, how we choose to build our homes (with green home design or without it) is going to have a huge effect on our future. For those who want to give their houses a bit of green home design, there are many little steps that can be taken. But for those into truly lowering their home’s impact on the environment, there are four basic green home design rules to follow.
Green Home Design Rule 1: Smaller is Better
Large homes are a symbol of wealth, status, and success. But large homes use up an incredible amount of energy for heating and cooling– and this energy generally comes from nasty fossil fuels that muck up our environment. These homes also require more resources for building and create more waste as a result. So if you’re looking to incorporate green home design in your building plans, build small.
Rule 2 in Green Home Design: Use Passive Solar Planning
Passive solar heating is one of the backbones of green home design. The relatively simple concept behind passive solar design is to design a home according to the climate. In warm climates, design is used to reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the home. In cold climates, the amount of heat lost is reduced. Green home design uses the building’s orientation to the sun, window positioning, stone flooring, and other building elements to control the temperature and save energy.
Rule 3 in Green Home Design: Recycle and Reuse Materials
Unfortunately, almost all the materials you use in your home will harm the environment, either during manufacturing or transportation to your home. The use of renewable or recycled materials which are manufactured locally helps to reduce the damage building can have on the environment. Use recycled materials, such as recycled insulation and lumber composites, or quickly-renewable products, such as bamboo flooring, in your green home design.
Green Home Design Rule 4: Optimize your Heating and Cooling
Heating and cooling a home accounts for the huge majority of its energy consumption. And even though the thought of the hot summer months might make an oversized air conditioning system sound pretty tempting, this kind of cooling is as anti-green home design as you can get. Big air conditioning systems cool the air too much and too quickly, causing them to turn on an off constantly. Because of this, they don’t last nearly as long as smaller systems, creating a huge amount of waste along with energy loss.