Nurturing our environment, achieving a sustainable future and reducing global warming have been growing topics of concern for all of us. The need to protect the environment is in all of our hands and this responsibility needs to be exercised in almost everything we do and in the choices we make every hour of our lives. Actions we take now can lead to benefits later. When we all choose well and change our behavior to nurture, conserve and sustain, the effect can be enormous. The home in which we live is one such area where we have the ability to make a range of nurturing choices. In this article we will look at some of the more desirable elements that need to be included in green home plans.

Durability is a key tenet of a good green home plan. A green home plan will strive to use eco-friendly building materials and furnishings and will incorporate leftovers wherever possible. A green home design will make use of materials that are renewable and long lasting. The less often you have to replace materials, then the less material and effort that needs to go into maintaining them, resulting in a diminished cost of upkeep and less frequent replacement. Cork, bamboo and eucalyptus are examples of earth friendly and renewable materials that feature prominently in environmental building designs. Recycled materials should also be used wherever possible. This is relatively easily achieved when it comes to flooring as you can sand and refinish or even paint and stencil what is already there. Recycled glass (vertrazzo) looks attractive and comes in a range of colors. It can be used for both kitchen countertops and as a backsplash.

Efficient energy use is another key component of a green home plan. Using energy efficient appliances is a must and most manufactures these days will label their products with an energy star rating. But the biggest difference we can make is by leveraging that great bundle of natural energy called the sun. A solar power system can deliver most of an average household’s daytime energy needs and any excess energy that is created can be fed back into the electricity grid. Rebates for the installation of solar panels and also their improved efficiency are seeing the cost of installing residential solar power systems come rapidly down. The energy savings we can achieve by installing a solar panel array will be complemented by installing energy saving windows and ensuring that our homes are properly insulated. Both measures are designed to trap heat inside the house during cold weather and reflect heat when it is hot, leading to a reduction in heating and cooling costs respectively.

The third pillar of a good greenhouse plan should be the efficient use of water – something that is particularly pertinent for those living in drier climates. An enormous amount of perfectly good drinking water is wasted each day on activities like clothes washing and flushing toilets. These activities could just as soon be done using grey water (recycled water). Home water treatment systems such as a wet compost system or a sand filtration system will achieve the aim of using water efficiently.

A well-designed green home construction requires consideration of several factors, which must be incorporated in the initial structuring stages. Using eco-friendly raw materials is an important management measure in the construction of green homes. This could include using high fly ash content cement instead of normal cement. Wood salvaged from old buildings and reengineered wood can be used in constructing a green home. It is best to incorporate the green features during the construction phase. Installation of a drip irrigation system instead of a sprinkler system is one such measure. Investing in a rainwater harvesting system is yet another step toward going Green. Pathways, drive ways should be made of permeable paving so that rainwater can seep through the soil.

Using Forest Stewardship Council (SFC) certified wood for all wooden fittings in the house is favorable to a green house construction. Even employing no/low formaldehyde based paints for the interiors of the house helps in creating healthier living conditions. Harnessing the power of the sun by fitting solar heaters and photovoltaic cells helps reduce electricity consumption and lower bills. Greater reflectivity of light colored roofs as against dark colored helps in reducing heat buildup in the house. Also, they last longer because since the heat absorbed is less, they do not expand thermally as much as dark colored roofs.

Green Home Construction holistically handles both fixed as well as movable items in a house. It is best to use recycled wood furniture for the house interiors. Various companies advertise recycled plastic furniture for the garden. A green initiative gaining popularity is using cork or bamboo flooring instead of the usual hardwood flooring. Avoid using vinyl linoleum, natural linoleum is a better choice. Make sure that the ducting in the house is leak proof. Ducting leaks cause over 10% of energy losses in a house. Fitting flow reducers to faucets and shower heads and low volume flushes helps reduce 40% consumption of water without anybody noticing the difference. Use on insulation which does not contain formaldehyde helps prevent sickness. Cellulose insulation made out of recycled paper is one such good material for wall insulation.

In a green home construction, effective use is made of low emissive double paned windows. Double paned windows not only provide more insulation but also help make the house quieter. The frames of windows should be made of wood as these provide more insulation. The piping of the house should have a jacket to reduce loss of heat. Use these tips to make your home truly green.

Methods used to heat a green home are cleaner, more efficient, less expensive and more comfortable than conventional methods. The heating systems are simple for the home owner to operate and maintain. However, since the system is basically custom-designed for each home, it is very complicated for the contractor to calculate the exact heating needs of every home and is based on an enormous amount of variables. A green home takes a lot of things into consideration when it comes to heating your home.

For example, variables such as the direction the house faces, how many windows are in the home, what is the solar heat gain of the window, the amount of shade, the insulation value of the home, and the ceiling height of the house need to be taken into consideration. Then owner preferences about the type of system desired are factored in. Choices include forced air heat, radiant heat (hydronic systems), gas, propane, or electric.

Third, another consideration in designing your heating system should be how clean the system is. For instance, radiant floor heating has a couple of major advantages over forced air, since it more efficient than forced air and does not circulate air back and forth spreading germs and bacteria throughout your home.

The efficiency in radiant floor heating comes from three sources. First, a thermostat on a forced air system might be set at 72 F while a radiant floor heat system thermostat may only need to be set at 65F or less and still maintain the level of warm comfort. Imagine your entire floor of your green home warm all the time! Second, heat rises. By heating the floor, the heat rises over the entire length of your body keeping you warm no matter where you are in the home. No more cold corners or freezing cold bathroom floors.

The last source of efficiency for radiant floor heating comes from the source of the heat. What does the heating of the water for this type of system? There are lots of options, some more efficient than others. One option is using a boiler or hot water heater, however efficiency is sacrificed. The best option is a secondary heat exchanger plumbed off a very high efficiency water heater. Another option is using a geo-thermal ground loop with a heat pump. Currently this option is too expensive for affordable green homes.

When considering your heating system for your green home, it is important to look at the pay-off time for your system. Some systems can be extremely efficient, but costly, costing tens of thousands of dollars to install. Why pay a dollar to save a penny? By carefully designing and building an affordable, practical green home, you can save utility costs immediately since it will not cost more than a conventionally built home.