I was surfing around the net today and found a cool website that has a few blogs going about energy saving in the home.  You can save money and the environment if you build a green home but it loses all the its benefits if you stop there.  You need to keep up on your home.  The Home Renovation Guide website has both written articles and video blogs of house maintenance and upgrading.  I found a lot of helpful stuff that I hadn’t considered before.  There was one article about toilet sweating and its remedies.  I could spend hours reading the information on the site.  You can find an answer for just about any question you have about your home.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

For the most part, all the passive solar house plans that you see are contemporary in design.  They feature crisp lines and look very unique.  That is a great style but not everyone that is looking into a passive solar house wants a contemporary house plan.  There are still a few different options out there.  Floor plan LS-H-9702 shows what other things you can do with a passive solar designed house plan.

The outside of LS-H-9702 features a rustic charm, much like a cabin house plan.  The exterior will allow you to keep it simple or decorate it to your own taste.  The interior of the home follows in the path of the exterior.  The floor plan allows you to design your own dream home.  The big living room can be styled in many different ways, taking advantage of the wood stove.  Wood stoves not only add to the efficiency of a passive solar design but they give you a unique object to mix into your decor.  Every passive solar plan has a sun room and deck but this house plan has an especially great placement of the two.

The dwelling areas of this house plan are also well designed.  The only problem that could come up is that the master bedroom doesn’t have its own bathroom.  Other than that little problem, you get a big master bedroom with lots of closet space.  Both the master bedroom and the second upstairs bedroom have a built-in desk for easy studying.  If an extra bedroom is necessary there is a study/bedroom area on the ground level.  There isn’t any reason to worry about room for people here.

Just remember, you don’t have to have the usual contemporary home design when you’re looking at passive solar house plans.  There are other options out there.  Get both the house you want and the house that you need.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

Now that things have calmed down a little, I’m able to take some time to learn a little more about going green. Let me tell you, the more you learn, the less you know!

I found a great site earlier today called greenbuilding.com. Now, I hope I’ve made it abundantly clear that I am an extreme novice when it comes to this sort of thing. All the same, greenbuilding.com has a lot to offer. The homepage has a mock-houseplan that provides a lot of helpful and practical information about making each part of your home just a little greener.

I always thought that a true green homeplan would have all sorts of photovoltaic panels and other super-expensive space-age gadgetry, but greenbuilding.com explains that green building is more concerned with adapting the design to the environment than adapting the environment to the design.

Adapting your homeplan is a lot easier than it sounds! It involves a little bit of thought and a deep working knowledge of the local climate, but by putting forth just a little more effort and using some common sense, your home can save money and the environment.

I also found it very interesting how much attention is paid to your personal health. Up until now, I thought that green building was all about conserving energy and non-renewable materials. It really is, but green building also keeps a keen eye on improving health conditions by reducing indoor air-pollution, etc. I was also surprised to see that there are very traceable beginnings to the Green Movement as early as 1973.

In all, I was very impressed with what I saw. You should really check it out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to write a new post, but I hope that you’ll forgive me. For those of you who remember taking final exams at the end of the semester at college, you’ll understand when I say that I just didn’t have time.

That being said, I did find something interesting the other day. Behold Vetrazzo®, the world’s foremost manufacturer of recycled-material countertops.

Vetrazzo was invented in 1996 by a passionate glass scientist in California’s Bay area. The main premise behind Vetrazzo is that it uses recycled glass and an eco-friendly bonding agent to create a hard material that is comparable to granite or marble in use and function. Each slab of Vetrazzo is unique. Recycled glass from used bottles, windshields, and even decommissioned traffic lights makes up 85% of each slab. The bonding cement even uses fly ash (a by-product from coal-burning power plants).

Since its invention almost 13 years ago, Vetrazzo has been far more successful than anyone could have expected. Even more important than the popularity and success, however, is Vetrazzo’s committment to the environment.

You see, not only is Vetrazzo made mostly from recycled materials; it is manufactured in a recycled Ford Automotive plant, Workers are all paid a living wage (no exploitation), and all material and labor comes entirely from the USA, making Vetrazzo a truly sustainable organization. It really  seems like they’re trying to make the world a better place for you and me.

Unfortunately, because Vetrazzo is located in the California Bay area, I haven’t been able to see any of it personally. I understand they have distributors located all over the country; I just haven’t had the chance to look into it yet. At any rate, if you are building a new home or remodeling an old one, you should really look into Vetrazzo®. Each slab is a luxurious work of art that can help make everyone a little better off. You should Check it Out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

Freegreen.com is your one-stop green website. This company has everything from products to lessen your carbon footprint to it’s own green social network similar to Facebook and Myspace. You can look at house plans with green features built into them. Once you have a home picked out you can browse over green builders in your area. This website has so many great things to explore you will need to spend a couple hours to truly find all this website has to offer.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

After I posted the article yesterday I searched out what exactly goes into making a green roof. Roofhelper.com has a whole section dedicated to green roofs. This site has a basic overview on what materials go into green roofs and what benefits these roofs can provide. This had some cool info that I though I should let you know about.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

With a recent decline in the housing business, builders and real estate agents are looking for ways to keep the industry abuzz. The option of a “green” has become more and more appealing to consumers. This is helping the industry because, with increased interest, the cost of supplies are dropping. People are loving this green lifestyle. Not only do they get a home with cheaper utilities, they also help save the environment.

When house hunting, it may seem as a drawback to buy a home that can be 10-15% more expensive. It is possible to find a home of relative size for much cheaper. This initial cost is a stumbling block for many budget-consumers.

If you can get past the cost of the home, then you will see how much these truly profit you. The components of these homes are stationary and require very little maintenance. When you install green items to a home they can be expected to last 30 to 40 years. When you are selling a home, having these additions can greatly boost the value of the home.

Residing in a green house is finally starting to have the misconceptions and myths blown away and people are realizing what these designs really give. Now you just need to find a green house that is right for you.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

While on The Daily Texan‘s website I came across an article about at-risk and disadvantaged youth that are finding a way to contribute to their society and can useful on-the-job training. I was intrigued by the head and decided to read on.

The youth are representatives of a organization called American YouthWorks. Through this program, youth receive both a high school education and the opportunity to learn about construction, and more specifically, green construction. The ability for these youth that have a had a rough time before now to learn valuable working skills is amazing. Not only do they now have the knowledge to perform these jobs but they also receive pay to use towards future schooling or to make a decent living.

This was a great story to see how green home design is not only good for the natural environment but it has its benefits in the social aspect. The article is definitely worth your time and will show you what going green can do for the world.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I’ve been reading a delightful blog called 100khouse.com. This is the first hand experience of author Chad Ludeman, president of Postgreen, who is developing the 100khouse. The neatest thing of all is indeed the reality of green building. Some things go smoothly for Chad, others don’t, and some don’t go at all. I’m still not sure if he can build this green home for the 100k budget. It’s like a reality show of my dreams only in blog form. I would definitely stay up late for this one…

Recent posts detail this rollercoaster of triumphs and downfalls. A week ago, in his post titled “PV Solar Panel Quote for 100K House”, he laments the $53.9K price tag on the solar system he wished would make the house a zero-energy home (a solar/grid system that would produce enough power to cancel his electricity bill). My favorite line is a heart-wrencher “We wouldn’t even have enough room on the roof to fit enough solar panels…”

Check out Chad’s blog 100khouse.com and see what it takes to build a green home with a tight budget.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I wrote about using old shipping containers to build houses with a few weeks ago. Well here is a great example of a proposed project in Detroit. Designed by architect Steven Flum, in partnership with developer Leslie Horn, the project is waiting city approval. Once received, the condos will end up near Wayne State University.

Other highlights of the story include a 25% cost-to-build savings over condos of similar size and quality, complete re-use of old shipping containers (no new ones), and that cool NASA developed paint insulator.

I was looking for a good example to show how something like this can actually look nice. The condos show an aesthetic that has obviously moved beyond container while remaining refreshingly industrial. For more photos of this kind of construction, visit Container City.

Via Jetson Green and Freep

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.