Green Home Building
| Common Sense Considerations | My interest in green home building began in the 1970's with the early signs of an energy crisis. I was just learning home building and was developing a growing interest in energy efficiency, passive solar design, and other forms of alternative energy. I also attended one of the first owner builder schools in the country to explore alternative home building methods and the beginnings of green building. Starting with a focus on energy efficient home design, green home design has developed to include two other primary areas of consideration. The incorporation of healthy materials and design features to increase air quality along with the inclusion of sustainable practices for resource conservation are now part of the big picture of green home building. A good starting place in consideration of green home design is the size of your home. The "not-so-big" house building principles of incorporating better quality in smaller spaces is a shift from the prevailing American home design, of the past decade or two, that seems to suggest that bigger is better. Small home design, or at least no-so-big, is foundational to understanding green home building principles. The next step is to consider an integrated systems approach to green home design in order to optimize energy efficiency, air quality, and resource conservation. Incorporating green building material is continually becoming easier and cost effective as the demand is increasing at a significant rate - as we grow in our desire to work together to preserve the inheritance of future generations. Please contact us for more information and resources for green building supply. | 
