Green Options » houses

Americans Save One Quarter Billion Dollars with Energy Efficient Homes

Ruedigar Matthes — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:34:40 +0000

One quarter billion dollars is a lot. An awful lot. Most people will never even come near that amount of money, but that’s what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Americans saved this past year by switching over to energy efficient homes.

In the EPA’s announcement on July 3, it was reported that 17 percent of all single family homes built across the nation in the year 2008 received the EPA’s Energy Star approval rating, which means that a homes are at least 15 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30 percent more efficient than standard homes. The percentage of Energy Star homes was up from 12 percent in 2007.

The increase in Energy Star rated homes shows that home builders and home buyers are investing in homes that save money and the environment. “Every year more Americans decide to cut their energy bills and help keep the air clean in their communities by buying a new home that has earned EPA’s Energy Star,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

Green Crafter Profile: Snugville

Becky Striepe — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:23:38 +0000

I can’t stop drooling over these cozy, upcycled houses from Snugville!

Artist Amy Larson creates each little snug from scratch out of vintage materials. She says that she is drawn to materials that give her the opportunity to reduce, reuse, and recycle! All of that scavenging for just the right vintage bits and pieces gives each snug a unique personality and charm.

Are Extruded Houses Green?

Philip Proefrock — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:50:32 +0000

For several years, Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis at the University of Southern California has been working on systems for rapidly creating buildings with system that is essentially a very large 3-dimensional printer. Called Contour Crafting, the equipment is able to rapidly build up walls. Already, test runs have been able to produce six-foot high concrete walls.

One goal of the team developing this technology is to be able to build a house in a day, a goal that they hope to reach within the next few years. There is some merit to this goal, and the benefits of being able to rapidly and inexpensively produce houses are obvious, though not without some attendant problems.