Green home designs

The Green home building initiative has its genesis in the Green Movement, which was in its heyday in the 1960s, especially among the Hippies. The movement caught on in Europe and the United States with some variations along the way. In the 1970s, the Green Movement gained political credibility with the establishment of the Green Party in Germany. Many more Green political parties came into being notably in Europe and thus an institutional approach to the green movement was in place in Europe. Many of these Green parties formed part of coalition governments in Europe thus giving governmental support to green initiatives quite early on. A prime example is the green legislation tax passed in the late 1990s by the German government.

Now, nothing of that sort has happened in America. In this country, the Green movement has continued its march without any federal support. Initially, building green homes was much more costly to build than regular houses. The American building industry following the pragmatic capitalist line, sought to maximize profits unlike the European builders who had the pressure of the governments and influential NGOs to persevere building green.

Building Biology is a well recognized 30 year old movement in Europe, and the main argument forwarded by its proponents is that indigenously available materials are healthier than concrete, steel and plastic foam construction material. Consequently, over the years, Europeans have been building walls with the help of loam. Contributing to the conservation efforts is also possible by using recycled paper as insulation. Till very recently, Americans considered used bathing water as waste water; instead this is an invaluable resource to be used for landscaping. The US LEED initiative which aims at bringing green building into the mainstream is still not a federal law. One may look at the French initiative, to implement its local building green norms in the European Union, as a positive influence on the State.

Houses in the US are usually constructed of wood which is both abundant and economical.\ The swift expansion of the US construction industry raised import of wood and consequently the loss of substantial tropical rainforest areas. The real estate developers did not see it fit to consider the incalculable harm that was being done to the global environment. The Europeans on the other had very early on understood the likely adverse impact on the environment and commenced forest plantation in their own countries as also using bamboo and other quick growing woods instead of tropical rainforest woods. Little surprise as to the reason Europeans seem far ahead in structuring green homes as against Americans.

‘Building Green Homes … The Way Forward’ read one ad for a construction company. Is it for real? Do you really need to waste your time over some foggy, expensive idea? Well think again. spicyrss.com Even if Al Gore in his movie An Inconvenient Truth was only marginally correct, there is no doubt that our reckless exploitation of natural resources is putting the planet in danger. Oh yes! You too can contribute towards providing some respite - try living in a green home.

Building green homes is not a passing fancy anymore. Just look around and see the world wide initiatives such as the LEED standard of USA, Code for Sustainable Homes … UK, Green Star in Australia, R2000 in Canada - the list goes on. Obviously, people are serious. Is it pricey? Well I understand from the literature available on the net, that Green homes do cost up to 6-7% more than normal homes initially. Syndiate rss Perhaps others have a better estimate. Those initial costs are more than recovered as green buildings consume almost 30% less energy. Boy, wouldn’t I like to see those fat water and electricity bills go South!!! As far as I am concerned, Green is the way to go.

So in the news this week is some interesting stuff on climate change policy. For the first time, there was affirmation from the White House that climate change was real. This is a major step for the environmental cause. However, policy change is not very clear as a result of this announcement. The reaction from the climate activists was negative because they want to see more action.
This is understandable. But, this is a step forward. Prior to this week’s statements, the republicans were saying that there is no real consensus on the climate change debate. Nothing could have been further from the truth. From my point of view, they are now finally acknowledging what has been accepted by the scientific community for many years now.

Main Points: Green built home, Syndicate feeds, Green home kitchen

Green home construction is the new age style of construction using concepts that are as old as the hills. The focus of green home construction is to live in harmony with the surroundings. More and more people prefer to use natural solar and wind energy to energize the home in preference to artificial heating and cooling devices.

Recycling is the cornerstone of green home construction and recycled material from salvage yards, recycled steel from demolished buildings, windows made of recycled glass bottles are used instead of newly manufactured material. Particle board made from recycled material is used for partition screens and furniture. Eco flooring made of linoleum that is made of recycled material with a jute backing or rubber flooring made with car tires are the underlying material used in green construction.

Stucco and straw bale walls are an excellent warm and eco friendly option to the conventional concrete walls. Green home construction involves using non toxic paint making the interiors of the home healthy. Green home bathroom Green home construction does not use mass produced chemically treated material and can be expensive to build but those who live in the building will find that they spend less on artificial temperature alteration devices, maintenance of the building and medical bills long term.

Costliness is usually the first word associated with green home building. I would actually have to agree, sort of. Frequently, people neglect perfectly good structures to build better ones in an attempt to go green. Their heart is in the right place, but it doesn’t make much sense to me.

In my mind, green home building shouldn’t be limited to new construction. You should try to promote greenness in your present home. An example of this includes better insulation to reduce energy consumption. I agree with the idea of being green, but not with the idea of being wasteful in the name of greenness. Building a green home. In my town, a large store went out of business and a difference large store was built. The building that the first one was in was perfectly fine, relatively new, etc., but the new supermarket had to demolish acres and acres of trees to build a new plaza next to the old one. Now they are constantly advertising their greenness. Hmm…

Anyway, my point is that sometimes, it’s better to revamp existing structures and make them as green as possible than to construct new buildings and let the others sit and rot. Green home building doesn’t mean building a new home. Green home building means building greenness in your existing one.