Building any house is a study in compromises. Green building is even more so.
First there are your dreams, which intersect harshly with your budget.
The good news is that there are so many opportunities to make choices that at least contribute in some way to the tenants of green design. Be sure to view the question: "Where are resources for more information?"
Understanding the economic argument for energy efficiency is not too difficult. Sorting out the true green balance of a product may be complex. We will be adressing that point soon in this web site.
Most all of the systems we imployed to save energy have a payback period of just a few years. Part of our mission is to publish that information. Please check back frequently for updates.
Building any house is a study in compromises.
First there are your dreams, which intersect harshly with your budget. You may envision a zero energy use house built from rammed earth taken from the sight.But, you may live in the trees with insufficient light to power PV and your spouse may recoil from the idea of something as exotic as a dirt house.Welcome to the real world!
The good news is that there are so many opportunities to make choices that at least contribute in some way to the tenants of green design( see xxx).
Our compromises: size and shape:
One of our big conundrums was what size house to build. Our lot is located in a
area where new houses average well over 8,000 sq ft. of primary living
space. Energy wasters like 24 foot ceilings with catwalks, large swimming pools
and big screen TV's in most every room are commonplace. So, keeping a pragmatic
eye towards resale, we opted not to build a 2,500 sq foot home that could have
probably met our living needs. At 6,650 sq feet of primary living space our
house is still big. And, we are going to have to listen to plenty of criticism
about its size from some folks. But, our house will use far less energy and be
more comfortable than our current 1955 3,500 sq foot ranch house and be a
healthier place to live in than its bigger, conventionally built peers.
We also choose to build a very conventional style of house. Even tough the house has most every energy savings feature currently on the market, and one we designed our self, you would never know it from the street. Again, this was done in large measure with an eye toward resale.Using a more modern architectural style would afford more flexibility to design in things like larger overhangs and perhaps simpler external materials.
The shape of the house was another compromise; this time between aesthetics and energy efficiency. We wanted the house to have extensive southern exposure which is ideal for energy efficiency. But, we also wanted it wrap around the flat oval of our hilltop back yard in order to have winter sun in the house. That produced a longish house with is not ideal for energy conservation or materials, although in the winter we get plenty of solar gain.
A conventional flat panel photovoltaic collector installation with an insert of an inverter.
Source: US Green Building Council
Information on LEED for homes.
Information from USGBC on "Why build green?"
