Hi Everybody!!

I feel building a green home requires thorough research. i would like to share some essentials that are necessary for building a well planned and designed green home:

1. Site: Evaluations and analysis of access, slope, ledge, soil, bodies of water, and vegetation in order to limit the home's impact on the site environment. This includes the site location (farmland, wetland, protected species habitats) and proximity to public transportation, parks, schools, and stores.

2. Size: A green home is efficiently designed to keep the square footage to a minimum. This reduces the amount of energy to heat and cool the home, lighting, and the quantity of building materials used, and also controls costs and reduces site impact.

3. Solar: Whether or not there is a plan to install a solar energy system to heat the water or produce electricity, there are several other solar considerations in green home design. Designing the home for passive solar makes the most of solar energy by harvesting it into the homes' natural energy flows. Passive solar systems include day-lighting strategies, heating and cooling control techniques, and natural ventilation. When a whole-building approach is taken, energy savings can be great both in terms of reducing the home's carbon footprint and the costs associated with heating, cooling, and maintaining the home.

4. Energy: Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are an important consideration in green home design. Renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal systems use the earth's natural energy to heat and cool the home, as well as provide electricity to run appliances and technology..

5. Water Conservation: Building a new home presents a unique opportunity to save water. Two money and energy-saving strategies which can be easily incorporated into an energy efficient home design are 1) reducing the overall water using in the home by specifying low-flow water fixtures, low-flush or composting toilets, installing aerators on all taps, and installing low-flow showerhead nozzles; and 2) specifying a plumbing system that reuses grey water (wastewater from domestic usage such as dish washing, laundry and bathing) for flushing toilets, watering lawns, etc. (note: some grey water systems require approval by most local building jurisdictions, your architect will verify this prior to design).

I wholeheartedly agree with you. However, for the most part, the construction trade, and especially residential, will never really "be green". There is simply to much profit, to much change to make, and to little understanding of the end user to cause it to really approach "ultimate green".

I would call "ultimate green" 0 impact to non-renewable resources, from the mining or harvesting of the materials needed, through the production/distribution process, to the end result. From there, the non-renewable resources needed to utilize that product to the end of its useful lifespan. Realisticly, we are just making compromizes. And there is a ton of room for improvement, immediatly, but little motivation to do so.

I would have to admit I am not a"green"person at all. I worked as a project super for a large builder in SoCal years ago. Over 1k houses built, nothing green about them. Just greener than the generation before, to meet code, nothing more. However, PLENTY of PROFIT!! I currently try to determine how to maximize a process that uses enough power to supply a city of 10k. We are not alone, most use more. It is not green, at all. However, again, plenty of profit.

I strive to "change my ways" as we all are, and should be. I am trying to empress on my children the need, and to NOT follow the generations before them. We ARE on an "end game", and what we do determines the duration.

Profit and politics are the roadblocks. Endusers need more education/information. That will drive the demand for change.

I would change #2 to "surface area".

One of if not the most important items is insulation.  Without a well insulated tight home (SIP, ICF, Spray foam), all that solar heat or whatever will be wasted.

What about the lot? I think we should start to consider not just the essentials that go into building a house, but what we DO when we're there. I think we ought to think of ways to utilize the lot/ area of land we build on so we can be actively outside.