Green Living
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
"Green" homes
For those who built or converted their home into a "green" home, what did you do to make it green? We are just starting to build a new home and will be seeking LEED certification. Other than LEED, anything else that you considered doing?
Solar is out for us as Houston (where I live) does not have good rebates right now. However, we are considering geothermal.
Re: "Green" homes
I read an article recently that one of the biggest un-eco-friendly things with our homes these days are their sizes. The average American home is now 2,349 square feet (as of 2004). In 1950 is was 983 square feet. And back in 1950 the average American household had 3.38 people while today it's only 2.58 (2000 census). So as our families get smaller, our homes get larger. See the problem? Bigger homes equal more energy. Smaller homes equal less energy. And for hundreds of years large families lived in small homes with no problems. It's do-able. My family of 4 lived in a 1200 square foot home and it was more than enough. Sticking with a home under 1500 will be more eco-friendly than any eco-friendly "things" you can put in a 2,349 square foot home.
You can also build large double paned windows on the northern side of the house for natural heating and light. A tankless water heater is a good investment not just for it's eco-friendliness but also the cost offset. Make sure your toilets, showerheads, and sinks are water-savers to cut down on water usage. Buy Energy Star appliances and energy saving lightbulbs. Also make sure your house is insulated well. Then have your yard look like what they are may look like if your house wasn't there. I.E. if grass doesn't grow there naturally, don't grow it. I'm in Phoenix and if I ever have a house I plan on doing a nicely designed desert landscaping instead of planting grass.
Oh, and bamboo is eco-friendly and pretty affordable. You can use it in the flooring, kitchen cabinets, natural exposed beams, and even in your landscaping!
Ditto. I've lived in Europe, and it's like a night and day difference. We just don't need so much space in our homes! A smaller home didn't make anything less convenient in my experience--downsizing just means donating some unneeded decor or furniture and having less space to fill!
You actually want south-facing glass exposure if you want heat and light.
What level LEED are you going for? How exciting!
Geothermal is pricey up front but will save a ton in the long run. I toured a 6,000 square foot house (in Minnesota) that is heated and cooled for $300 a YEAR. Crazy!
I don't suppose you have floor plans of your house? I'm a residential architect and I totally geek out at plans :-)
DUH! That's what I meant, thanks! Late-night brain fart.
Hi, I'm a LEED AP, design HVAC systems for LEED buildings, make whole building energy models (which is required for most new construction LEED buildings), and have a geothermal system in my house! What do you want to know exactly?
What level of LEED were you looking to go? Which credits exactly? LEED is a good idea in general but some credits are much more important than others and some can cost a lot with very little impact. There really isn't any other "green" rating system I'd recommend. The EPA programs are bogus, everyone home should be built to that level so it doesn't mean much.
I'd recommend geothermal systems and solar hot water heaters as they have the quickest return on investment. Solar panels are OK but if you have little to no rebates they aren't worth it. I would not recommend wind turbines they sometimes never pay for themselves! (The only exception being that you live in the country on a huge lot of open land.)
Tankless water heaters are not recommended for large families as they can't keep up with demand at high use times and are less efficient than electric tanks at times. If you go geothermal I highly recommend getting the desuperheater added on. It basically preheats the water for your water heater and gives you free heating in the cooling season (since you're trying to reject heat into the ground).
Insulation and high quality windows are also very important. 2x6 walls and energy saving trusses are a must. Make sure you look at the window frame carefully and get the overall window R-value (or U-value) and not just the center of glass (which is what everyone gives you). The frame is where you loose all of your heat.
South facing windows are nice because they bring in daylighting but in the cooling season you should have the (insulating) window treatments closed so you can loose a lot of the benefit of them especially in Texas. I'd recommend spending the extra money and getting a reflective coating on the south facing windows so you limit how much heat enters you house.
I was reading the Lazy Environmentalist books this weekend and there were options for solar panels that aren't as expensive so using a rebate vs. not using a rebate might not be as big a deal. There were other good tips as well.
Building a new house in itself isn't really green. Can you use reclaimed materials?