Green Homes Option

Check out our Green Angel 1 plan

You can start the process of building a green home by seriously considering how big your home really needs to be. Try reading Robbin Obomsawin's book Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice, and Inside the Not so Big House : Discovering the Details that Bring a Home to Life by Sarah Susanka for ideas on how to make your home more space-efficient. After all, where do you really LIVE in your home? The bigger your house, the more resources are required to build & maintain it.

Then consider the following, as you commence designing your house: a building that heats and cools itself by:

• its orientation to the sun (how your house will sit on your lot)(this is where building to suit your land comes in, along with special views or geographical challenges);
• use of overhangs, to reduce sunlight in summer but allow it in winter
• use of nearby plant material to cool in summer, and cut winds in winter - what can you do to protect the trees on your lot?
• use of radiant heating and cooling from the building itself - for example, flooring materials that store heat during the day and release it at night;
• And windows that provide cross-ventilation for cooling.

It is a good idea to consider how all of the systems in your home (water, power, heat, and ventilation) will impact each other - a reduction of need in one area can have a domino effect. There is a lot of great information at www.energyalternatives.ca

Building solar: www.builditsolar.com is loaded with helpful ideas, plans, resources, and links for every stage of solar home construction

Incorporating any of the following products into your home could help you to make a difference to the environment, the quality of your home, and your health - not to mention reducing your long-range bills!

• Upgraded insulation
• High-performance, low-e windows
• Geothermal heating
• Passive solar heating (part of the design process)
• Solar-thermal water heating
• Solar-thermal radiant heating
• A Masonry (wood-burning)heater
• Fibre-cement siding (in timber frame applications)
• Photovoltaic electric system (for all needs or as supplement)
• Wind energy (where reliable wind source is available)
• Mini-turbine (where reliable water source is available)
• Tank-less (Hot water on-demand) water heater
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) rated wood products
• Recycled, reclaimed, or re-used wood flooring or other products
• Low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) or (better) No VOC paints and finishes
• Urea-formaldehyde-free building products
• Energy-Star labelled appliances
• Carpet made from recycled plastic or wool
• Linoleum flooring, bamboo flooring, FSC-certified hardwood flooring
• Compact fluorescent and/or LED lighting;
• Solatubes for passive light entry into dark areas (see www.solatube.com)
• Water-conserving taps and shower heads
• Two-button flush toilet
• Composting toilet

And outdoors, consider installing

• water storage tanks or cisterns at downspouts (for outdoor water use, and possibly potable water),
• Clothesline (dryers use a lot of energy)
• native, drought-tolerant plants mulched to reduce evaporation
• trees and shrubs to reduce building heat loss during winter, and to shade during summer,
• contours to hold water in soil.

In Earth-friendly Landscape Design, the relationships between plants, animals, people, and buildings are taken into account - creating a healthy, sustainable whole. If you would like to make your yard wildlife-friendly, Karin Dorish can advise you on plants, trees, and shrubs that will feed and shelter them. Focusing on native trees, shrubs and plants not only reduces water dependency: it helps us to fulfill our role of Earth Stewards. Karin also likes to help you increase your own food selfsufficiency (by planting shrubs that bear edible fruit, for example) and to incorporate water conservation techniques & education in her designs. Karin can also provide maintenance training, and instruction or information sheets on a wide range of topics.