Green Building and Energy Efficient Home Design

The term Green Building along with Sustainable Design, are catch phrases for energy efficiency, environmentally responsible design and construction. Solar Home Designs, either passive solar or active solar, the use of Green Building Materials, Energy Efficient Building Materials, Reclaimed Building Materials, Recycled Building Materials, and any use of Renewable Energy  sources would all qualify as building green.

In the 1970’s we called it ecology. Today, the principles remain the same. Some of the technology has improved, and the motivation and popularity has strengthened, but the goal of designing and building houses that consume less energy to heat and cool, and demand fewer natural resources to build, particularly natural resources that cannot be replenished, is still what green building is all about.

Building green can be categorized four ways; Energy Efficient Home Design, Energy Efficient Building Materials, Sustainable Design, and Renewable Energy resources. Some aspects of green building will fall in more than one of these categories.

Some green house designs will incorporate materials and methods from one or two categories and none from others. But all green building will include features or strategies from at least one of these categories.

Most of what you hear and read about concerning green building and sustainable design involves construction materials and energy sources. But in my opinion, all green home building should begin with a good Energy Efficient Home Design.

There are many important considerations in designing a house that affect its energy efficiency. What is its solar orientation? Does it shelter itself from the winter wind? Does it promote cooling summer breezes?

Simply placing a box on an open piece of land with no regard for the sun and wind is a foolish way to design and build. No amount of insulation or the most sophisticated heating and air conditioning system can compensate for an improperly positioned house.

Yet, much of what you read about green building energy-efficient design says little about the intrinsic energy-efficient characteristics of the architectural design of the building.

An Energy Efficient Home Design can be enhanced with natural and low energy consuming mechanical systems. Metal roofs with a non-mechanical ventilating space, properly sized roof overhangs that shade exterior walls from the hot sun, and even fan induced Attic Ventilation, can greatly reduce air-conditioning needs by keeping your roof, walls, and attic cool with out using much electricity.

Of course, Solar Home Designs have the primary objective of being energy-efficient while also reducing your dependence on the power grid and fossil fuels. Solar is the ultimate Renewable Energy source. Both new and existing houses can benefit from the addition of a sun room.

Good Sunroom Design, with an air distribution system and heat storage strategy is a great way to get the benefits of passive solar design plus some pleasant year-round additional living space.

The second step in building green is the use of Energy Efficient Building Materials. High performance insulation, radiant heat-reflective films, moisture barriers, and Energy-Efficient Windows  and Doors not only improve the energy performance of your home, they can improve your home’s Indoor Air Quality and day-to-day comfort.

One way to know if you’re buying energy-efficient appliances and equipment is to look for the Energy Star logo. Energy Star is a home evaluation system used to gauge the efficiency of a home. Following the Energy Star guidelines is a great way to make your home more energy efficient.

The other term used often is “sustainable.” In fact, it is overused and casually thrown about as a marketing catch word to sell all sorts of products. But be aware of “greenwashing.” The word greenwashing is derived from the word whitewashing and refers to unfounded or untrue claims about a product’s energy efficiency or the environmental responsibility of the source materials for manufacturing methods.

To avoid falling victim to greenwashing, simply check the facts and ask for legitimate testing data to back up the company’s claims. You might be surprised how often there is not solid evidence to support the company’s claims.

What is Sustainable Design as it Relates to Green Building

Sustainable Design is the design of a house with materials and components made from resources that can be replenished at a rate that matches or exceeds the rate of consumption. Bamboo is considered sustainable because it re-grows very fast and at present, it grows faster than it is being cut and used. But what about more traditional building products?

Here’s where you have to look deeper to understand the whole story. For instance, wood that comes from managed forests and plantations and is only cut at a renewable rate is in fact sustainable. But the knee-jerk reaction to the use of wood is often that wood is being depleted. But this is not the case when it is grown and managed properly.

Building materials made from resources that are so vast and plentiful they can never be exhausted, even though they do not replenish, can be considered to be sustainable. Even though clay does not replenish, we can never use up all that there is. So bricks and other clay products can be considered to be sustainable.

You might be thinking that bricks require a lot of energy to produce. They do, but because they last so long, they are energy-efficient over their life. The useful life of a product is an important factor in determining if a product is sustainable and green. Products that must be replaced frequently consume energy and labor to manufacture and install.

That would be a mark against them when considering their sustainability. Another factor is disposal. When a product is discarded, does it go to the landfill or can it be recycled efficiently?

Materials like brick and concrete not only have long useful lives, they can be recycled into new products. And even if they do end up in the landfill, they are inert and do not pollute the soil and waterways. That makes brick an environmentally friendly product, in my opinion.

Using Recycled Building Materials, is a major factor in any Sustainable Design strategy. There are more and more products available that are made from reprocessed building materials that would have been headed for the landfill. This means that fewer, new resources need to be used and it also means less waste needs to be disposed of.

However, one other sustainable strategy that can make your green building project more energy-efficient is the use of Reclaimed Building Materials. These would be materials that are reused intact and require little or no processing for reuse. Reclaimed wood floors, used bricks, and reclaimed roof slate are good examples of building materials that are given an extended life by being used in a new building. Of course, every piece of Reclaimed Building Material you use will eliminate the need to produce a piece of new material, thus saving resources. But beyond the environmental benefits, Reclaimed Building Materials and salvaged building parts can be wonderful treasures in your new home. They add warmth, character, and an important link with the past.

The fourth step in green building the use of Renewable Energy. Photovoltaics, or electricity-producing solar panels, can provide all or part of your electrical needs, depending on your geographical location. Solar water heating and geothermal equipment may still use electricity to run, but at a lower rate than conventional systems. They make use of the Renewable Energy of the sun to reduce power consumption.

Controlling when you use electricity can be an environmental benefit to you and your community.

Controlling when you use electricity can be an environmental benefit to you and your community.Residential Energy Management Systems can monitor and control the peak demand your home makes for electricity.

Many electric companies will reward you for not using as much electricity during peak hours by giving you a lower rate. The reason they do this is by encouraging the reduction of peak demand across the power grid they can reduce the need to build more power generating facilities. With fewer power generating facilities, less fossil fuel is consumed.

A Residential Energy Management System is a computerized control device that tells what equipment in your home can run and what equipment must wait a couple of minutes to start. Using one of these systems you can save up to 30% on your electric bill without doing any other alterations to your home or changing the way you live. Helping reduce the demand across the power grid qualifies as green building, of course.

We’ve mentioned Energy Star has an energy efficiency evaluation system. One other program that is gaining in public awareness is LEED certification. Based on its green building aspects, a building can be certified as bronze, silver, or gold LEED certified.

This program was originally aimed at commercial buildings, but now there is also a certification for residential buildings. The certification serves no purpose other than validating the quality of the house in terms of environmental responsibility.

There are no discounts on electricity or tax credits. But the satisfaction of knowing that your new home has achieved a level of energy efficiency and environmental responsibility can be gratifying. And it can be beneficial when it comes time to sell your house.

Green Building involves many considerations and some may seem to contradict others. And, of course, there is the cost versus benefit analysis you must perform. Choose wisely and prioritize things so you not only design and build an energy efficient home, you also spend you budget wisely and see a real return on your investment.