Steel and glass that form the façade of many modern constructions have gone green because recycled steel from salvage yards and building demolition sites and glass from old glass bottles are used. Particle board made from recycled material is used for partition screens and furniture. Eco flooring made of linoleum that is made of recycled material with a jute backing or rubber flooring made with car tires are the underlying material used in green construction.

Stucco and straw bale walls are an excellent warm and eco friendly option to the conventional concrete walls. Green home construction involves using non toxic paint making the interiors of the home healthy. Please also see Green home construction is not a cheap method of construction but it gives residents long term benefits of good health, energy bill savings and low maintenance costs.

European Energy Consciousness

European countries lead the pack when it comes to green home design and green living… which makes a certain amount of sense. Because on the continent, gasoline, natural gases, and energy costs significantly more than it does in America, and it has been that way for many years. And of course this makes Europe more aware of energy and power usage than the U.S.. This instinct for energy conservation is seen in Europe in several key ways.

One of the main ways that Europeans save energy is through a tightly knit and efficient public transport system. Almost every major city in Europe has an efficient public transport system (with underground trains, overground trains, buses, trams, etc.) that is well patronized by residents. While cars are common in Europe, many more Europeans use public transport (or even ride bicycles) than would be found in the U.S..

European energy consciousness is also visible in the way Europeans build their homes. In Europe (especially in larger cities), they use green home building in a very practical, widespread, and simplistic way. Most city dwellers live in apartments with far less square footage than American homes. In addition, most European houses, apartments, and businesses use simple green home building ideas to keep their spaces cool in summer instead of the air conditioning so common in the U.S. They use simple ideas, such as rolling black out screens, roll out terrace shades, double paned windows, etc., to cool or heat their homes.

Green Home Building in America

Essentially, Europeans have been remembering to turn the lights out when they leave a room for years. Americans, who are used to thinking of energy as a cheap and limitless commodity, are just starting to adjust to a “more European” mindset… including remembering to turn out the lights. This is easy to see when you consider how popular green home building and design has become in America during recent years.

Green home building and design uses concepts, such as smaller home size, basic insulation, and position to the sun to conserve energy, as well as alternative energy technology (such as solar power) to provide power to homes. Green home building also incorporates more complex concepts, such as the use of sustainable materials and less harmful products, to protect the environment and conserve energy in the long run. The United States may be behind Europe when it comes to energy conservation, but green home building looks like a much needed step in the right direction.

Green home plans are plans for homes for energy efficient and high performance houses The only energy use in green home plans is solar or wind energy with energy spinning equipment placed in strategic points to maximize the use and conservation of energy The skins of the homes that are based on green home plans are properly insulated to prevent unwanted air and water seepage and leakage Submit feeds

Green home plans are built in such a manner that they do not trespass into the resources of the earth For those who are not adventurous in design green home plans come with a conventional design but use sustainable material to make the home environmentally friendly and the interiors healthy Green home plans have revived the native American culture of building houses without ninety degree straight walls and these homes have rounded walls and domed roofs Rss feeds

Earth sheltered green home plans are another style of home plan geared towards healthy living These green home plans use design to build the home 6 feet below the earth where temperature variation is minimum High costs of energy and building material has made green home plans popular even more than the need to conserve natural resources

The new in thing is building green I just want to share my thought on this topic a little bit. This is not a new concept. But there is serious new interest in the topic today that there wasn’t before. What’s changed is the financial equation on the idea of building green. The real big change is the cost of heating your house. This, along with the price of auto fuel has people in a different mind set.

I believe this to be a great step forward in the environmental movement. Without a business case, it’s much harder to get people to adopt environmentally friendly policies. I’m very much interested to watch how the financial changes impact this entire discussion. In some ways, I’m predicting that we return to the 70’s where building green and saving energy was in the mainstream discussion and media. Feeds

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For example, in Europe, a substance called Autoclave Aerated Concentrate, or AAC for short, has been used in constructing buildings for over two decades. GreenHomeBuilding.com says that this substance is popular in Europe because it is completely fire proof, highly insulating, and very lightweight. This means that it can be easily transported in larger quantities, which will consume less fuel. Also, the AAC is made of very simple ingredients: water, sand, cement, lime, and aluminum powder. The main ingredient in AAC is air, which makes up over eighty percent of it composition. The most important benefit is the fact that its production does not produce any byproducts. This material has been used by builders in Germany for almost one hundred years, but was only introduced in the United States in 1996, and it is not yet widely accepted.

Another example of a green home building technology that is widely used in Europe, but is not very well known in the United States is the Wood Fiber Board. These boards are made from wood chip waste produced by sawmills. According to GreenHomeBuilding.com, these boards are free of allergens and they do not emit any toxins during their manufacture. They are very inexpensive to produce, and they are totally compostable. They are not used much in the United States. We like to cut down new trees to make new boards. We do not like using what we already have to make something new.

Europe is way ahead of us when it comes to green home building practices. People in Europe have been using such construction methods for about a century, so it is nothing new for them…it is a way of life. We have a long way to go, but we are finally in the right frame of mind here in the United States to begin conserving resources… I just hope it is not too late.

Unlike the conventional light bulb that turns light into heat compact fluorescent lamps convert the gas inside their glass casing into light and no unnecessary heat is generated to artificially alter the temperature in a green home. . When building a green home it is preferable that pastel shades or whitewash is used to color the walls to make greater use of natural sunlight. The cost involved in building a green home may be off putting for some but it is a small price to pay compared to the long term energy and maintenance savings benefits it provides.

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Environment, ecology and living with the nature were very much a concept then, but was the domain of few people. What has changed from the 70s to the present day is that building Green homes has very much become an enterprise being seriously attempted by reputed builders and encouraged by various governments. So what started out as a popular cultural idea in the 70s, has now gained the stamp of international approval.

In the 70s there was no real professional effort at building Green homes. Designs mimicked natural designs of indigenous people without really trying to incorporate the wishes and aspirations of modern day living. There was no concerted effort at scientifically arriving at Green home designs. Modern day avatars of Green home designs follow a rigid certification code in many counties in the world. In the US, The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) is an initiative that sets standards for Green Home designs. Countries the world over, from the West to the East have incorporated the LEED standard and in some cases their own standards. In the 70s, Green home designs tended to concentrate on ’stand alone’ projects. Today, designers approach Green home designs as full-fledged eco systems. All aspects of the environment, architecture and every avenue for using indigenous methods and recycled materials is explored in a holistic manner.

An important role in the evolution of Green home design has been brought by Science. In the 70s powerful computers were not available. Computer Aided Designs (CAD) with wind flow computations and solar capture calculations make designing Green homes far more efficient than the 70s. Even ‘greening’ of construction materials has received an impetus thanks to advances in science. Construction companies now regularly use recycled products, which are closer to nature thanks to advances of science. For example, cement an important ingredient in any construction today can be mixed with Fly ash, a waste product, which is just as efficient as original cement. As our environmental challenges increase and more and more countries recognize that it is our responsibility to conserve our resources, building Green homes has become an internationally recognized initiative. Thus Green home designs have traveled from a ‘niche’ specialization in the 70s to the mainstream of the construction business today.

So, in what way can you go about building a green home? There are really some very simple steps you can take to improve the home that you have now or to take into consideration when building a green home. One of the biggest things that you can do to promote greenness in your home is to update fixtures and appliances, especially those that use water.

An essential step to take is to update your toilet. Old toilets use much more water than updated ones and can be replaced relatively easily. It is also important to check your faucets in your home. Dripping faucets can waste gallons of water per day and you may not even notice it! Additionally, and I do know that this is expensive, but top-loading washers use a lot more water than front loaders. I am not saying that you should run out and buy a brand new washing machine, however, you should keep that in mind if you find that you are going to be purchasing a new washing machine.

Other features to keep in mind when building a green home or updating an existing home are windows and insulation. If you are building a green home, paying a little more for energy efficient windows can help cut heating costs, which is especially important with today’s fuel costs. Also, having your home properly insulated can cut heating and cooling costs.

While I understand that it is not always possible to go out and spend a lot of money on updates for your home, there are many things that you can do to that are very inexpensive. I think the most inexpensive thing that I have done to make my home more green is to purchase a water-saving showerhead. It cost me about seven dollars, and uses half the water that a conventional showerhead does. Building a green home or updating and existing home is actually pretty simple and does not need to be expensive.

The green house building phenomena is gaining credibility including a premium in the real estate market. As oil inches to $150 per barrel and is slated to go up to $200 per barrel, operating costs worldwide will go up exponentially. Companies operating Naptha fired electricity plants will hike up their rates to unbearable limits. The air conditioning bills which till now seemed within limits would cross far over to the danger mark. The knock on effect on every segment of the construction business will only increase the costs. Under these circumstances, an early investment in building a green house would stand in good stead. The reasons are very clear for all to witness. According to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study, building a green house right from the design stage can save as much as 40 percent of a building’s utility bills for heating, cooling, and ventilation. Such a prediction will make building green houses an attractive proposition in the future. A simple extrapolation would conclude that such green features would enhance the salability and price of the real estate. Future scarcity of land for housing is making the builders include green features in their ongoing projects. Thus common swimming pools, common rainwater harvesting plants, and common gardens, all green features are becoming a norm.

A day will dawn when customers and homebuyers will insist on buying a house with all green features incorporated. They may do so as government environmental laws may in near future start penalizing those who do not have Green houses. We already see the effect of Euro IV standard on the automobile industry. The same analogy may well become a reality 20 years from now for building houses. Therefore, building a Green House is a safe and a wise proposition.