Green Homes
So . . . perhaps this is the right time to talk about “greenwashing.”
Look on the store shelves, pick up a library book, or start searching online. Chances are, you will find a lot of conflicting information (misinformation), unrealistic claims, and deceptive marketing practices. Companies promote their services and products as green, or environmentally friendly, when in fact, it’s just a marketing ploy. Sometimes this is the result of good people using unreliable information; other times, it is explicit and intentional. You can read all about it here, on the GreenwashingIndex.
If you are interested in green, we suggest you go for a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, eat grass-fed beef, or raise an organic garden. You will find lot of green in those places.
We think “green home” is likely a misnomer, at least in the modern American context. However, we are interested in conservation, minimizing our environmental footprint, and building well.
Construction has a fairly large environmental footprint, that stretches from the piney woods of North Carolina, to the copper mines in Nevada, to the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta, Canada. If you are interested in building a house, or renovating a house, there are multiple environmental concerns.
When it comes to priority, you need to understand that for most houses, operational energy is significantly larger than embodied energy. That is, the energy consumed by the occupants during the building’s useful service life is greater than the energy consumed during the construction process (all of that concrete and wood and aluminum). That doesn’t mean we should be wasteful during the design and building process, but that information does help focus our efforts.
You can achieve two objectives with a single effort---build small.
This reduces the embodied energy AND the operational energy of the house.
Or get it all. Build small (resource efficiency). Build an efficient structure (energy efficiency). Build close to where you live and play (location efficiency). Use local, natural materials whenever possible (bioregional). Operate wisely.
Look on the store shelves, pick up a library book, or start searching online. Chances are, you will find a lot of conflicting information (misinformation), unrealistic claims, and deceptive marketing practices. Companies promote their services and products as green, or environmentally friendly, when in fact, it’s just a marketing ploy. Sometimes this is the result of good people using unreliable information; other times, it is explicit and intentional. You can read all about it here, on the GreenwashingIndex.
If you are interested in green, we suggest you go for a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, eat grass-fed beef, or raise an organic garden. You will find lot of green in those places.
We think “green home” is likely a misnomer, at least in the modern American context. However, we are interested in conservation, minimizing our environmental footprint, and building well.
Construction has a fairly large environmental footprint, that stretches from the piney woods of North Carolina, to the copper mines in Nevada, to the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta, Canada. If you are interested in building a house, or renovating a house, there are multiple environmental concerns.
When it comes to priority, you need to understand that for most houses, operational energy is significantly larger than embodied energy. That is, the energy consumed by the occupants during the building’s useful service life is greater than the energy consumed during the construction process (all of that concrete and wood and aluminum). That doesn’t mean we should be wasteful during the design and building process, but that information does help focus our efforts.
You can achieve two objectives with a single effort---build small.
This reduces the embodied energy AND the operational energy of the house.
Or get it all. Build small (resource efficiency). Build an efficient structure (energy efficiency). Build close to where you live and play (location efficiency). Use local, natural materials whenever possible (bioregional). Operate wisely.
