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.

This is where greenhouse kits come in handy. If you aren’t looking for elaborate design but you need a basic and simple greenhouse for home use, this is a great way to get started without a large investment of time or money.

Greenhouse kits vary widely in cost and design. A very simple and economical variety can be found for under $40.00 or $50.00. This small greenhouse might consist of nothing more than a 2 foot square fabric tent where you can house a few plants and extend their growing season.

In this price-range, you can also find a basic enclosure system for a greenhouse, which will provide the framework and support that can then be covered in the material of your choice.

Moving up the line, you can find a more serious set-up for anywhere between $400 and $900, which includes either fabric or glass walls, and provides enough space to grow a full set of vegetables or other plants. Larger greenhouses, from 10 to 20 square feet in size, cost a few thousand dollars. But this might still be far simpler than building the entire structure on your own.

Once you’ve found and purchased the greenhouse kit that’s right for you, you will need to assemble it yourself, just as you would with any other kit. But you will have step-by-step instructions and all the parts you need, cut and sized to fit, and tested by the manufacturers.

While setting up a greenhouse requires an investment of time and money, you should be able to recoup your investment over time, providing that you actually use your greenhouse. The amount of money that can be saved by growing one’s own food is easy to underestimate – particularly where large families are concerned.

Growing food inside a greenhouse is extroverting, fun, and educational. It can make it possible for you to grow foods at all times of year, instead of being limited to certain seasons.  It can be very frustrating to go out and buy gardening equipment and seeds, only to get so busy with work that by the time you are ready to work on your garden, it is too late in the year.

A greenhouse can give you the extra leeway you need, and make it possible to have fresh home-grown vegetables year-round. It might also make it possible for you to grow the plants which normally wouldn’t grow in your region at all. Such as – who knows, habaneros in Montana?

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Greenhouse Kits.

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Maximizing energy efficiency starts with large south-facing windows, which help to naturally heat your home in the winter and keep it cool in the summer.    Also known as passive solar design, this is a key element in new homes that are working towards zero carbon emissions. Natural sunlight controls temperatures and also reduces your building’s lighting requirements and can therefore cut back on your electricity bill.

But what if you have an existing non-south-facing home and you want similar effects?

While retrofitting existing buildings to utilize passive solar design tends to be difficult, there are some easy ways to capitalize on small changes.

• When possible, retrofit your home with skylights to allow natural light to penetrate.
• Replace your existing windows with double-paned glass.  This prevents heat loss during the winter and keeps out the heat during the summer.
• To keep your home cool during summer months, install awnings or low-emissivity blinds over windows.
• Plant deciduous trees on the southern and western sides of your home.   They’ll shield the sun in the summer, and with the loss of leaves in the fall and winter will still allow light to access your windows.
• Really take advantage of the sun:  install a solar hot water system to heat your hydraulic radiant floor!

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at South-Facing is Best—But What If My Home Is Already Built?.

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Saves you and the environment some green

Rainwater harvestingis “the process of intercepting storm-water runoff and putting it to beneficial use.”  Pretty simple concept.  Oddly enough, it is illegal in some states.   The Colorado legislature, in its 2009 session, legalized rainwater harvesting for residents with private wells.  Other states and municipalities are in the process of changing their laws.  You’ll need to do a little research to determine what is lawful in your state.  Whatever the case, I don’t think the police are going to show up at your door if you choose to harvest rainwater.

Why would I want to harvest rainwater anyway?

According to the EPA, a homeowner can save 1,300 gallons of water a month.  That will help with your water bills or reduce stress on your well.  You can use the water in your evaporative coolers, to water plants, your lawn, your pets or livestock.  It reduces your carbon footprint by saving on electricity to pump water and then deliver it to your home.   Besides, it simply makes good sense to have water stored to guard against times of drought or emergency.

So I’m building or rebuilding a home and want to incorporate this.  How?

You can begin by designing your home, buildings, and surrounding landscape to maximize the amount of rainwater catchment.   You can do it like Jerry Brock of Monte Sereno, California and use four gravity-fed 5,000 gallon tanks.  Or, there are companies like Rain Harvesting Systems (RHS) that specialize in elaborate and wonderful systems for your home or commercial building.

You can do it like people have been doing it for thousands of years—with some type of cistern.   Cisterns, now, aren’t some Biblical clay container thing , but are usually some type of composite plastic.  Here are some links to places you can buy one and also some “do it yourself” harvesting systems.

http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?cat=187

http://www.rain-barrel.net/category/rainwater-harvesting

http://www.ehow.com/how_5126202_harvest-rain-water.html

http://www.off-grid.net/2009/06/20/how-to-harvest-rainwater/

Bottom line:  it can be as simple as putting a big bucket out under your rain gutter and using the water for dry spots on your lawn.   Get an elaborate rainwater harvesting system or get a container with a cover (keeps mosquitoes from breeding and slows evaporation) and do your part to help your budget and your planet.

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Rainwater Harvesting.

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Protecting the environment and saving money is as easy as pulling the plug.  There are appliances and electronic devices scattered around your home that are sucking electricity even when they aren’t in use.  Who’d have thought that your cell phone charger could pull down an average of 1.73 Kilowatts per month; or that a printer absorbs 4.32 Kilowatts per month–just sitting there.  May not seem like much, but if you add up all the items in your home that are secretly eating energy–it is a fairly large number.

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has made the task of searching out and destroying the energy phantoms easy.   Check out their energy phantom calculator.  Just enter the quantity of each electronic device in your home and the calculator can quickly help you add up how much electricity each month is being wasted at your house.  Now think about all the households in the U.S.   The Census Bureau estimates that in 2007 there were 127,902,000 housing units in the country.  I calculated a sampling of a few of these household items and the savings if they were unplugged.

Collective Usage of 127,902,000 Houses

I’m not suggesting that you have to unplug your microwave, doorbell or your dishwasher when they’re not in use (way too painful), but there are items that pulling the plug takes no more effort than flipping off a light switch.  Figure out where you can unplug at your home.  Collectively we can conserve millions of dollars worth of electricity and that little bit of effort can make a huge difference for the planet.

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Get rid of those “Energy Phantoms”.