greenHo.ws

The National Association of Home Builders has a great publication available to the public for free. It is the Model Green Home Building Guidelines. While the primary audience is home builders it is also a valuable read for the average consumer. There is also a checklist available that is kind of the “Cliff Notes” version of the guidelines.

The Guidelines are a good way to get a quick overview of the key areas involved in green building practices. There are 6 main areas that the guidelines cover; Lot Preparation and Design, Resource Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency / Conservation, Occupancy Comfort and Indoor Environmental Quality, Operation, Maintenance and Education.

In summary, the Guidelines can give you a jump start on understanding the key parts of green design and the associated construction processes. Best of all – it’s free.

NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines

I was reading back through some “old” green articles and came across one in the Wall Street Journal.  It was “Going ‘Green’ at Home Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune”.  The article by Lauren Baier Kim talks (minimally) about low cost ways to go green at home and cut your energy costs.  If the Wall Street Journal reading crowd is looking to save a few dollars by improving their energy efficiency, you know it must be impacting people across the board.  It’s a real quick read at Going ‘Green’ at Home Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune.

A recent survey conducted for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) confirms that a desire for greater energy efficiency drives consumers to buy green.

The survey sample population was asked how important certain items would be in their green building decisions.

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We too often read stories about the elderly person or recluse with so many animals that authorities step in to rescue them. What the rescuers often find is a house or yard or barn so filled with waste it’s unusable, animals that are undernourished, and an overall unhealthy situation. We usually react with a little pity, a little sadness, a lot of disgust, but especially a feeling of “how in the world could someone let that happen?”

Here’s another question to ask: are we we doing the same thing to our home?

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