Green Resources for Residential Buildings
Carl Brahe, CHI, CCI
Contents
Green is marketed everywhere these days. People are looking for ways to lessen their carbon footprints. Advertisers are using the “Green” label for everything they can. Manufacturers and energy companies are spending huge amounts of money to convince us that they are Green. Marketers are trying to get us to spend money in their particular brand of Green. It can be very confusing.
Green Living is defined as: A lifestyle intended to ensure that one's impact on the environment is as minimal (or as positive) as possible. In some ways living Green is living in an efficient way, using the least time, energy, resources and supplies while leaving behind the least amount of waste. Cooking is a good analogy.
Cooking a meal efficiently involves bringing all ingredients to the prep area using the fewest steps possible to do so. If you make an individual trip to the refrigerator or pantry for each ingredient, it will consume more of your time and energy.
If you use more ingredients than needed you will increase your garbage output wasting the energy and exhaust gases from burning that energy, used to produce and deliver the wasted ingredients.
If you overheat pots and pans, boiling water for extended periods and leave burners and water running when not needed, you will use more fuel and may increase the amount of waste you put into the air. This doesn’t apply if you use fuel you produce with clean technology.
The same is true for using ingredients that have been imported. The fuel cost to transport liquids from across the globe is high. Fuel and resources to manufacture the packaging must be considered, as well as disposal. Products grown near you and sold without packaging use the least fuel and other resources.
If cleaning is done in the process of cooking, there is little or no mess left to clean up after the meal. As soon as a surface has been used it is cleaned. As utensils are used they are washed or put into the dishwasher. When the meal is finished cooking, all ingredients have been put away and all surfaces and utensils have been cleaned and/or put away.
The more efficiently a meal is cooked the less of your energy and gas and electricity is used through movement and heating/cooking. The more efficiently the meal is prepared, the less mess is left requiring the expenditure of more energy to return the kitchen to a clean, usable and desirable place.
It may be tempting to say that the Greener you are, the less energy you use and the less waste you leave behind, but it’s a little more complicated. One household might use only a fraction of the amount of energy a neighboring household but not be Green. The high energy user may produce all their own energy using solar, natural water flow and wind to produce all their own energy for cooking, heating and transportation, while the low energy users get all their energy from the dirtiest source.
It would be more accurate to say that being Green is a pursuit of sustainability in all aspects of life. Sustainability means that an activity can go forever leaving the earth the same in better condition. Burning gas, oil and coal are not sustainable because they will run out. The earth is often left damaged from extracting these fuels and using them puts pollutants in the air. A household, burning methane produced by chemically cooking the wastes coming from toilets, garbage disposal and yard wastes, to provide all fuel needed to run the household is sustainable, and theoretically possible. It not only creates onsite fuel, it extracts it from a waste source.
Mortgages are available that reward Green building and remodeling practices. If you live in a more energy efficient home your monthly bills will be lower so you will have more money to pay a mortgage. Lenders will often increase the amount that they will loan on a property and sometimes even offer a lower interest rate.
Energy Improvement Mortgage - Finances the energy upgrades of an existing home in the mortgage loan using monthly energy savings.
Energy Efficient Mortgage - Uses the energy savings from a new energy efficient home to increase the home buying power of consumers and capitalizes the energy savings in the appraisal.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA have adopted special underwriting guidelines to make financing energy efficiency less burdensome.
A simpler way to look at Green Living is to think of it as finding ways to reduce your carbon footprint. When we use carbon based fuels like coal, gas and oil to generate electricity, heat and transportation carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse effect related gas, amongst others. CO2 doesn’t tell the whole story, but does provide an easy to understand gauge of our own contribution to global warming. The more coal generated electricity and internal combustion engines we use in transportation, the more we pollute.
Estimations of CO2 emissions related to your daily life vary according to whose calculations you use. Here are some sites that provide calculators to estimate your carbon footprint:
Green is being used more in marketing and advertising. People are looking for ways to be more responsible citizens of the Earth. Marketers are promoting “Green” products and services. Some are legitimate. Other aren’t. Some organizations that set Residential Green Building Standards are: Built Green, National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC: LEED for Homes).
For example, a “Built Green®” home requires adherence to the standards presented at: http://www.builtgreen.org. Houses that meet the requirements presented in the Built Green® Checklist can use this designation. Builders are allowed to pick and choose from various features in different categories. Each feature has a point value. To be designated, “Built Green®”, a house must have a minimum point score of 75 and be registered with the organization. The categories follow:
The Residential Energy Services Network's (RESNET ® ) provides a widely accepted rating system for home energy efficiency.” RESNET Ratings provides a relative energy use index called the HERS ® Index – a HERS Index of 100 represents the energy use of the “American Standard Building” and an Index of 0 (zero) indicates that the Proposed Building uses no net purchased energy (a Zero Energy Building). A set of rater recommendations for cost-effective improvements that can be achieved by the Rated Building is also produced.” – www.resnet.us
Synertech Systems Corp also provides a system of energy rating. You can download a complete sample Energy Audit information and Checklist that shows the extent of this professional energy study.
Professional energy testing can be fairly expensive. There are do-it-yourself alternatives. ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself home energy audits & U.S. Dept. of Energy do-it-yourself home energy audits
Actual code requirements can be found at:
Additional information can be found at:
- Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) - members are energy-efficiency organizations, including electric, gas and water utilities; research and development organizations; state energy offices; and regional energy programs. Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) provide major support through grants and participation. CEE utility members develop energy-efficiency programs, using the residential initiatives as templates, and pass the savings on to their customer.
Trees, shrubs and ground contour can provide natural protection from the elements and decrease energy use. Careful planning before excavation and building can help minimize future damage from uncontrolled water.
- State-by-state reports on drinking water quality
- Water Quality Association (WQA) is a resource and information source, a voice for the industry, an educator for professionals, a laboratory for product testing and a communicator to the public. Use their water information Library.
- National Sanitary Foundation (NSF) has been answering consumer questions about drinking water for more than a quarter century. To learn more about common contaminants, Water Quality/Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR), or any of the other drinking water subjects shown below, simply click on that topic.
- Contaminant Guide
- Home Water Treatment
- Rainwater Collection
- Water Fact Kit
- Water Quality / Consumer Confidence Reports
- Watershed Protection
- Well Water
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Search for NSF-Certified Products
- Learn about other water filter types .
- Water Use Calculator - How much water are you using at your home? This calculator will give you a water budget for the inside and outside of your home. A water budget tells you the right amount of water you should be using. Compare the water budget to your actual water bill and see how much water you could be saving.
- Water Wiser Drip Calculator - Offers 2 easy ways to convert water drips into Gallons Per Day (GPD) with no special equipment.
- New Resources Group - offers incentive kits which include aerator and showerhead water-flow measuring devices, leak gauges and water-saving devices such as aerators, low-flow showerheads, and more all at very low prices. Good kits as give-aways for clients.
- EPA WaterSense Program - is a voluntary partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Its mission is to protect the future of our nation's water supply by promoting and enhancing the market for water-efficient products and services.
- National Sanitary Foundation - Excellent, broad source of information of about water used inside homes. Covers conservation, quality, training and product certification.
- Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) - members are energy-efficiency organizations, including electric, gas and water utilities; research and development organizations; state energy offices; and regional energy programs. Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) provide major support through grants and participation. CEE utility members develop energy-efficiency programs, using the residential initiatives as templates, and pass the savings on to their customers.
- Learn more about gray water systems.
- Irrigation Association - provides a wide variety of information and resources related to landscape irrigation (and other types of irrigation).
- National Resources Conservation Service Water supply forecasts for the U.S., including stream flow, reservoir, surface water, snowpack, precipitation, temperature and information on how to interpret the information
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