Jun 6 2008 9:16AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |
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I am getting tired of “light green” projects. I see too many homes, many way oversized, that are "greened up" after the design is finished. They are often architectural masterpieces – gracious, elegant homes, but nowhere in the design process has efficiency, durability, or sustainability been seriously considered, until it is almost too late. Yes, we can make these building better by applying green building principles, and, yes, it is important to make every building as high performance as possible, but, why not do it right from the very beginning? I am not talking about forcing everyone to live in tiny, passive solar houses. That is unlikely to happen. What we can do, and very easily, is to design our homes to use the sun’s energy appropriately by letting it in when we need heat and keeping it out when we don’t, using natural ventilation principles, laying out plumbing to deliver hot water to fixtures quickly and efficiently, using daylighting to cut down on power usage, and create comfortable, but not oversized, spaces. I know that there are some progressive professionals that are creating very efficient homes that are carefully considered from the start, but they are still few and far between. We need to start thinking smart from the start – it will let us build and renovate our homes to the highest standards of efficiency with little or no extra effort and plenty of benefits. Time to get started everyone!