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!

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When it’s time to replace flooring, think outside the big box stores.  Sustainable flooring is both durable and beautiful.

Cork
Cork is made from the peeled bark of Cork Oak trees, which can be sustainably harvested every nine years without harming the tree.  It is naturally resistant to fire, insects, and microbes.  Cork is available in snap-together floating floor systems or adhered tile.  Showercork is made from ¼” slices of wine cork adhered to a paper backing.  It’s designed to be grouted in place and then coated with urethane finish, so it’s especially appropriate for wet areas.   Cork flooring is foot-friendly, sound-dampening, and durable.

Earthen Floors
Earthen flooring is earth mixed with fibers, compacted by hand and trowel, and then coated with a natural sealant like hemp or linseed oil.  Very high traffic areas may require a flagstone inset.  Earthen floors are durable, easily repaired, and kind to feet.  Because they are made primarily with materials straight from the building site, their resource impact is near zero.  Earthen floors are most often installed over a bed of gravel, but they can be even be layered on top of pre-existing flooring such as concrete or wood, as long as the structure can support the weight of the earth.  Because of their high thermal mass, they are ideal for the passive solar home.

Linoleum
Natural linoleum is a sustainable alternative to vinyl flooring and requires little maintenance apart from regular sweeping and mopping.  A linoleum floor will last 30-40 years, compared to 10-20 years for vinyl flooring.  At the end of its lifespan, it is fully biodegradable.  Marmoleum, the most popular brand of linoleum, is made of linseed oil from flaxseeds, rosin from pine trees, wood and cork flours, limestone, metal-free pigments, and jute, in a waste-free process.  Natural linoleum is available in a rainbow of colors in sheet, tile, or click-style flooring.

Local, Sustainably Harvested or Reclaimed Wood
Want a wood floor?  First check with local green builders, who may know locals harvesting their wood sustainably.  A local builder may also know sources of reclaimed materials close to home.  If you’re looking for a rustic look, try aged wood from barns.  Reclaimed wood tells a story, whether it’s maple from a factory floor or flooring from an old bowling alley.  Very often, the same dealers who sell reclaimed wood also sell sustainably harvested wood.   Forest Stewardship Council certification gives you a starting point for learning about how wood is harvested, although there is the predictable controversy about whether or not their standards are stringent enough.

Bamboo

Bamboo’s advantage over

wood is its fast renewability.  It is a grass ready for harvest within three to six years that regenerates without replanting and requires little chemical input.  However, due to the recent popularity of bamboo,

corporations are clearing forests in China to plant it.   Monocrops of bamboo decrease biodiversity and increase erosion in these clearcut areas.  The more industrial bamboo farming becomes, the more chemicals are used to manage the crops.  The lesson here is that not all bamboo is created equal.  Look for companies like Teragren, who explicitly detail their commitment to sustainability.

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Cob is an ancient building technology being rediscovered for today’s green home.  A gob is a clump of dirt and fiber that can be tossed from builder to builder on a cob work site.  If throwing mud isn’t enough, try squishing it between your toes.  Cob is traditionally made by mixing sand, clay, straw, and water with bare feet in a labor-intensive yet rewarding process for the do-it-yourselfer.

Building with cob (also called earthen building or natural building) is easy to learn, requires few manufactured resources, and no power tools.  Cob walls are very forgiving, and the material is nontoxic, so kids can help with the project.

Because cob homes are hand-sculpted, they lend themselves to unusual shapes and curves.  They are a good fit for passive solar design because their one to two foot walls provide impressive thermal mass that keeps the interior temperature stable.

Pipes and wires are laid directly in the wall, and there is no need for vapor barriers, sheetrock, or painting.  Different mixtures of the same basic cob materials can produce plasters, floors, and interior structures like sleeping platforms.

Cob builders are typically aware of the benefits of building with local and natural materials.  They often incorporate recycled and locally salvaged materials into dwellings that are both beautiful and affordable.  Check out these cob homes handbuilt by  MudGirls Natural Building Collective.

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How does a $0 electric bill sound?  Read on to find out about homes that earn their keep.

A net zero energy home produces its own electric power and is efficient enough that it actually produces more than it consumes, resulting in no overall electric cost.  These models of efficiency are not just limited to new construction.  Older buildings can often be upgraded to peak efficiency.  With the addition of renewables, they become net zero energy buildings.

In the middle of winter, even the most efficient home will consume more energy than it can produce from a rooftop solar system.  This is where the grid intertie comes into play. The net zero energy home pulls from the grid at times of low energy production and pours energy back into the grid during times of high production.

Many of the net zero energy homes touted in the media top $1 million dollars, leading the rest of us to believe that we’ll just need to slog along with our polluting energy sources.  Not so.  Ideal Homes of Norman, Oklahoma, constructed a zero energy home featuring geothermal energy and photovoltaics for under $200,000.  Net zero energy is far more about smart efficiency and balance than it is about the price tag.

A net zero energy home doesn’t have to have all the sexiest, trendiest green products available.  In fact, it can be quite simple.    The first step in turning an ordinary home into a Net Zero Energy home is tightening up–mainly through insulation and high quality windows and doors.  Then the focus is turned on energy efficiency within the home, namely appliances and lighting.  The third step is the addition of renewables, like solar electric and hot water systems.

You can take your first step toward net zero efficiency today by doing something as simple as insulating your hot water tank and making sure all your lightbulbs are compact fluorescent.  A new energy-efficient refrigerator is far cheaper than a photovoltaic system but will have a significant and immediate impact on your electric consumption.  Incremental steps over time will yield an impressive cumulative effect.

What if you’re designing a new home?  Keep in mind the benefits of passive solar orientation and thermal mass.  Thermal mass like a concrete slab or masonry stove will keep your interior temperature stable, while southern exposure allows you to make the most of the sun’s heat and light. Design your own or find plans at http://www.zero-energyplans.com.

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Up a winding dirt drive, emerging out of blooming meadows…three normal-looking houses–passive solar homes that are the start of a community where both individuality and sustainability can flower.

At White Hawk Ecovillage, living sustainably isn’t just the latest hype; it’s an everyday experience.  Green communities are not some bastion of exclusivity to which only the patchouli-scented and sanctimonious are admitted.  Now sustainable living is fully accessible to Joe Schmoe…er, rather…Joe Italiano.

Joe Italiano, father of two, perfectly normal American male, and ecovillage resident:  “Sustainable living shouldn’t be hard, and it isn’t.  It’s about simplicity, and at a place like White Hawk, learning from your neighbors.”  He notes how his neighbors are experimenting with green roofs and rainwater harvesting.  “It’s a living laboratory, so it’s easy to pick up information about what you might want to try next.”

Joe shares his 1000-square-foot home at White Hawk with his two young children and wife Julie Boerst.  “Our home and our hot water are heated with one on-demand water heater connected to a radiant heating system,” she says.  “Water for washing hands is used a second time to flush the toilet.  Both of these solutions are simple and low-cost.  Green living can and should be attainable for everyone.”

Everyone including the cable guy.  Steven Woinoski climbs ladders by day for the local cable company, and he’s the first to admit that he’s not wealthy in terms of dollars.  “We are technically low-income by government standards, so we are proof that a low-income family can live well in an ecovillage.”  Woinoski’s home is constructed from energy-efficient structural insulated panels (or SIPs) and sided with locally harvested hemlock.

From the beginning, the founding members of White Hawk Ecovillage wanted to make their community affordable and accessible.  Looking at the other available opportunities for green living in community, they saw that most people are easily edged out of pricey eco-developments.  At White Hawk, residents can design their own homes and put in sweat equity to lower the cost.  “We loved taking the lead in designing our home because it saved us money, and that’s important because we’re a one-income family.  We have also completed much of the finish work ourselves,” notes Joe Italiano.

The neighborhood at White Hawk includes thirty homesites clustered around a pedestrian walkway that encircles a common recreation area.  The developed area is about ten acres, with the remaining 110 acres of the property available to residents for hiking, farming, and any common projects they dream up, like solar showers.  Laura Woinoski appreciates the benefits of raising children in a green community.  “It’s a wonderful place for children to really prosper…like the old days when we’d just explore for hours!”

Seven children from three families play in the Woinoskis’, living room in front of a sunny expanse of south-facing windows.  “It’s such a relaxed and nice feeling here,” says Julie Boerst.  “At-home parents don’t have to guzzle gas or cram kids in the car in order to socialize.  Beyond the obvious ecological benefits, I cannot overstate the social benefits of living in a green community.”

Outside, chickens range freely, far beyond their community-built coop.  Organic gardens have popped up at White Hawk, along with compost piles and a playground.  The residents of White Hawk Ecovillage are looking forward to learning and playing with their new neighbors.  Will you be one of them?  For more information, visit http://www.whitehawk.org.

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Imagine a self-sustaining dwelling that seems to have a life of its own—sheltering its inhabitants, providing food, supplying energy needs, and transforming waste. Are you in love yet? An Earthship is much more than a home; it’s an integration of harmonious systems akin to those in the human body.

Made largely of natural and recycled materials, Earthships have been more than forty years in the making. According to their creator Michael Reynolds, they can be built in any climate.

The need for heating and cooling in an Earthship is drastically reduced (or even eliminated) by the earth-bermed, passive solar design. The north side of a traditional earthship is constructed of stacked earth-filled tires, which are then earth-bermed. This significant amount of thermal mass keeps the interior temperature relatively stable. The tires are stacked in U shapes, each forming a room. Interior walls can also be constructed out of recycled material—cans in cement. The front of an Earthship is comprised of greenhouse windows with planters immediately inside. Planters serve a triple purpose—their vegetation cleanses the air; they provide growing space for food; and they serve as a greywater treatment system.

An Earthship’s roof is designed to collect water which is then channeled to a cistern. Once filtered, it is used four times:

1. For regular household use, excluding the toilet.
2. Passes through the interior botanical cells (planters).
3. Flushes the toilet.
4. Passes through to exterior botanical cells (outside plantings).

The exterior botanical cells are contained and work in concert with a conventional septic tank to satisfy many code requirements.

Part of the appeal of Earthships is that they can be owner-built. Although the process of filling and stacking tires is undeniably labor-intensive, it is relatively straightforward and does not require years of experience.

As with any basic housing design, an Earthship can be as sustainable as ingenuity and budget allow. Some homeowners are connected to the grid and have traditional drywall instead of can walls, while others stay more faithful to the original design.

This enthusiastic overview barely scratches the surface of all things Earthship. Ready to get your hands dirty? To learn more, visit http://www.earthship.net.

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More and more people are certainly finding a way.  Consider the experience of the Porters of Massachusetts. Through creativity and good old fashion hard work the Porters were able to fulfill a dream and a commitment to the environment by building their green home.  They acknowledge that they spent a fair amount of time scouring second hand shops, viewing websites and “how to” manuals, not to mention dealing with multiples of contractors (trying to get the best “green” systems and products) and of course, navigating through all the bureaucratic language to assure they build within government parameters and LEED certification standards.

They regularly used a calculator to determine how much each system would cost and how much they could ultimately save.   “They tell you you have to be rich to go green,” states Erin Porter.   “You hear it everywhere.  You have to fight the perception.”   The Porters succeeded in proving that perception wrong.  See how they did it: http://hollistonleedhouse.blogspot.com/

Frank Schiavo’s remodel of his home in San Jose, California, shows how a budget-minded person can capitalize on passive solar heating and cooling.  Frank’s home features conservation techniques and in the process he has reduced his electric and gas bills to just a few dollars a month.  Frank does have a background in environmental studies and he has put it to good use.   Are you successful at reducing your garbage output to zero?  Frank is.   Frank is a regular guy doing some pretty amazing things with a very small building budget.

Have you been successful and building or rebuilding green?  Are you one of the ones that can show the rest of us the way?  Write me and let me know.  I’d love to showcase your efforts and your expertise.  Let’s share the wealth of green.

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