Four Green Home Design Basics

As a people, our current wasteful lifestyles wont be sustainable for long. This is something we become more aware of as we see its effects. And so green home design, formerly a small market, is spreading steadily over the world. Many predict that green home design will eventually dominate the housing market-- which would be a very good thing.
In the United States, homes create 38% of the total carbon emissions. Especially if we want to stop global warming, building our homes with green home designs will have a significant effect on the future. For those who want to give their houses a bit of green home design, there are many little steps that can be taken. But for those into truly lowering their homes impact on the environment, there are four basic green home design rules to follow.
Rule 1 in Green Home Design: Go Small
Theres something gloriously attractive about large, mansion-like homes. But large homes use up an incredible amount of energy for heating and cooling-- and this energy generally comes from nasty fossil fuels that muck up our environment. Large home also use up more building materials and so, of course, create more waste. So its important for you to build small if you want to incorporate a green home design.
Green Home Design Rule 2: Incorporate Passive Solar Design
Passive solar heating is one of the backbones of green home design. This kind of heating and cooling is relatively simple, and uses the climate to dictate the design of the home. In warm climates, design is used to reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the home. In colder areas, design is used to reduce the amount of heat lost. Green home design uses the buildings orientation to the sun, window positioning, stone flooring, and other building elements to control the temperature and save energy.
Green Home Design Rule 3: Use Recyclable or Renewable Materials
Unfortunately, almost all the materials you use in your home will harm the environment, either during manufacturing or transportation to your home. Using locally produced renewable materials can help reduce the amount of damage your building can do. Use recycled materials, such as recycled insulation and lumber composites, or quickly-renewable products, such as bamboo flooring, in your green home design.
Rule 4 in Green Home Design: Shrink your AC
Heating and cooling a home accounts for the huge majority of its energy consumption. And even though the thought of the hot summer months might make an oversized air conditioning system sound pretty tempting, this kind of cooling is as anti-green home design as you can get. Large AC systems overcool the air, and tend to cycle on and off too frequently. Because of this, they dont last nearly as long as smaller systems, creating a huge amount of waste along with energy loss.

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by: hugatree
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