Roof gardens are built for both their aesthetic and their functional values. A roof garden can provide temperature control, architectural enhancement, hydrological benefits, and of course food. It can also serve as a habitat for wildlife.

You may have heard something about “white roofs” in the news, but you may not know how they can help our planet, or a maintenance budget. Most all of the commercial buildings in the world use black roofs. Because they are black, they soak up the sun’s energy like a sponge.

“Green Building” can mean more than just building environmentally-friendly or energy-efficient structures – clean energy and green techniques can also be used during the construction process itself. This videos show how 150 construction workers in Binghamton, New York are on the job without a single conventional generator in use.

Vegetation blankets can be used to create green roofs, but they aren’t limited to just that. A vegetation blanket consists of a layer of fiber covered in a substrate on which plant life can live; with various plant species growing on it.

Detroit – also referred to as “the city in ruins,” is shrinking. Vast areas of land have remained unused and unwanted, and no one seems to be too interested in taking over – besides nature, that is.

This is a great video from a single mom who built her own straw bale home for $50,000 while working still full time and livin on the land. She gives some great advice here for anyone who is considering building their own straw bale home, from labor, to coding, to construction.

Establishing and utilizing a home greenhouse is an excellent way to save money on groceries, follow a healthier and more nutritious diet, conserve on energy, and help the environment at the same time. But greenhouses don’t grow on trees – they have to be built. Not all of us have a professional builder in the family, or the budget to hire a specialist.

Wooden decks and railings are hard to maintain, not to mention being splinter territory. What’s more, they’re not usually environmentally sustainable due to their use of premium forest products. For this reason alone Recycled composite decking is by far the best and coolest alternative to wood. This stuff looks like wood but feels like heaven. Manufactured from old plastic bottles makes it durable and resilient.

Hemp is the all-purpose material long-championed by Thomas Jefferson and 1960s American counterculture alike. Food, textiles, paper, and fuel—there is a growing trend to cultivate this miracle crop and turn it into more eco-friendly versions of common products. Why is it so sustainable? Hemp can be grown rapidly and easily, like bamboo, without any herbicides or intensive labor. It regenerates, it regrows.

Pearly white molding neatly lining the ceiling and floors — a classic interior decorating touch that we all know and love. Most homeowners choose different types of wood, painted white, for their molding in their new homes—and why wouldn’t they? That has been the only option . . . until now, that is. We now have a new product that looks identical to wood, but has recycles wasted materials—Introducing recycled styrofoam molding.