Tips on Sustainable Green Home Building Design Materials
Tips on Sustainable Green Home Building Design Materials
By David Leonhardt and Corey Rozon
The environment is in the media daily, from the Kyoto Protocol, Global Warming to the icecaps melting. If things don’t change soon, the future looks bleak, if you listen to the experts.
What no one seems to be discussing is the advancements in the construction and industrial sectors, namely the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.
“LEED certification will provide challenges to the industry including the need to ensure an understanding of a new generation of materials properties and developing the practices and processes needed to ensure specifications and finished products meet the standards of green building. I am especially exited to be part of this process and in making a contribution towards shaping new building technologies.” Ken Moscrip, President of Paramount Roll and Forming – one of Southern California’s most prominent metal rolling companies.
Consisting of a clear set of environmental performance criteria organized into six categories, the Canadian version of LEED, which is very similar to the USGBC version, is listed below:
DIY small home solar power system
A brief layout of a solar system that I installed in my small house
The E.D.G.E. of a Modern Green Home
This modern residence, monastic and fantastic at the same time, is called E.D.G.E., an Experimental Dwelling for a Greener Environment. It’s small, with 480 square-feet of space, yet the space appears plentiful as it transforms to suit a variety of uses. Plus it’s beautiful inside and out and has some incredible green elements.
Wind Turbines–build Your Own Home Wind Turbine
In the United States wind energy is the second biggest source of new energy outpaced only by natural gas. At the end of 2007 wind turbines were producing over 16000 megawatts of electric power and nearly one third of that capacity was installed in 2007. In 2008 about 1% of the united States electric power will be supplied by wind energy. Most of this of course is from large commercial wind turbines but an ever increasing amount is coming from small wind turbines installed by individuals.
The home wind turbine is definitely coming into its own as more and more people realise that something must be done to decrease our dependence on electric power supplied by fossil fuel burning generating stations. Gas and coal powered electric power production has increased dramatically over the years and emissions from the fuels burnt in these facilities is a major source of atmospheric pollution.
DIY – Solar Home Heating
Heat your house with solar thermal (hot water) collectors. You can buy them, I made my own. 1 square foot of collector heats 1 1/2 US gallons of water 40 degrees farenheit in Pennsylvania, USA in winter. The more collectors you put up the more water volume you can heat. Most people use one of these collectors for domestic hot water, showers, etc. I used mine to heat my house. Of course insulate well first, then see if you can use this. You’ll need to add radiant floor heat system to get heat out of tank. It all cost about 00 in materials, 3 x 4′ x 10′ collectors, tank, fittings, pipe, differential thermostat, pump, insulation, collector box, etc. tonyfixit.