The wooded character of Deer Mountain and its many south facing lots encourages building green, energy efficient and passive solar homes that are in harmony with nature and the Chatham County countryside. To spur your thinking on ways to build green, energy efficient homes, we offer the following green tips. If you would like to contribute to this discussion, just send your comments to .
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Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Energy efficient building resources
The Energy Source Directory, Iris Communications. Lists over 500 products that help improve a home’s energy efficiency from insulation and air barriers to heating and cooling equipment. (541) 484-9353
The Passive Solar House – Using Solar Design to Heat & Cool Your Home, James Kachadorian, Chelsea Green Publishing Co., White River Junction, Vermont, 1997. This book provides a comprehensive overview of passive solar design principles. Building siting and orientation, design strategies, heat loss, and solar gain are clearly explained. Methods and worksheets for calculating a building’s energy load are provided in addition to insolation and degree data for major cities in the U. S.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Building Greener Neighborhoods: Trees as Part of the Plan
American Forests and Home Builder Press of NAHB, 1995, $12. This is a powerful, concise text that clearly outlines what to do, how to do it, and what good lot development saves or adds to the property. Although the focus is on tree preservation, there is a natural extension to other related site development topics: storm water management, placement of infrastructure, passive solar design. 1-800-368-5242
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Heating, Cooling, and Energy Efficient Options
Choosing the heating and cooling options for your green home is important in the overall energy efficiency that you’ll get. Let’s look at both systems. Cooling: You want to cool your house, but you don’t want to ruin the ozone layer while doing it. HCFC (hydro-chlorofluorocarbon) is a refrigerant that is in many air conditioning systems. But there are now air conditioning systems without HCFC that you can buy. While the two are not interchangeable, thus requiring you to buy a whole new system if you’re switching over, they are comparable in their cooling capacities and the lack of HCFC is much better for the environment.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Heating, Cooling, and Energy Efficient Options
Choosing the heating and cooling options for your green home is important in the overall energy efficiency that you’ll get. Let’s look at both systems. Heating: By harnessing the environment’s natural resources, you can help heat your house. Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) use the earth’s natural heat storage capabilities in order to provide energy efficient heating options. It taps into the constant temperature of the ground water or ground itself to provide the energy needed. The systems is more efficient than standard electric heating and even typical air-source heating since the heat draw and release is to the earth rather than the air around it, thus keeping a constant temperature. This same system can also be used to cool your home and can also be put into existing homes as well as new home constructions.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Green Appliances contribute energy savings to a Green Home
Cook tops: Induction cook tops, which cook with magnetic induction, produces a more concentrated cooking experience, which in turn requires less energy to use. Instead of the cook top being the heating element, in indication cooking the pot itself becomes the heating element. A 90% cooking efficiency exists in this type of cook top as opposed to the 65% efficiency in traditional cook tops.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Green Appliances contribute energy savings to a Green Home
Washers: Top loading energy efficient washers are available and are beneficial to the household. With less water usage and a temperature regulated wash cycle, energy consumption is greatly reduced. If you are lacking space, you can get a combination washer/dryer which runs the cycle automatically from wash to dry in one machine. The unit reduces the hot water used and extracts the water better, thus requiring less energy.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Green Appliances contribute energy savings to a Green Home
Refrigerators: This appliance consumes the most energy in the home. Regulations have been set to cut down on this consumption and high-efficiency refrigerators well exceed these federal standards. Better compressors, door seals, insulation, and temperature control help to cut the household energy needs.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Green Cleaning Products
Use of less toxic/green cleaning products has reduced the risk among those who switched from the toxic household cleaners. These green products contain basic ingredients (baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice), which have been used for many generations and actually have multiple uses. Baking soda can remove odors and clean carpets, among other uses. Vinegar can be added to laundry washing cycles, clean glass, and act as an antibacterial. Lemon juice can be used to polish brass and cut grease.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Green Cleaning Products
Household cleaning products contain many different chemicals and toxins. Testing on the safety of such products, when used in a real world environment, is inadequate, so the threat that these chemicals may cause to your health is unknown. Over the years, household cleaning products have been noted as causes of various health problems including cancer, birth defects, asthma, and neurological damage. This damage is seen at greater rates among those who clean houses for a living. And the environment itself is suffering from this exposure as the chemicals are being found in birds, insects, and even newborn babies through indirect exposure.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Green Renovations
Painting can change the look of an area, but be sure that you choose a paint which contains little or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Buy green materials when replacing inside the house. Kitchen cabinets and floors are both available with recycled materials. Reuse what you demolish, either in the existing project or through donation to another project. 2 By considering all the options available to you, the renovation of your existing home into a green home can go smoothly. Do your research and think about what you hope to achieve with this project. By doing so, you can guarantee a success. 2
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Green Renovations
Looking closer at what you can change and improve, make a list. Adding natural light is any easy way to increase energy efficiency and make a house more green-friendly. Note where the dark areas are in the existing structure and then note possible ways to open it up to natural lighting. Also, utilize the sun’s energy through solar panels and replace windows with energy efficient brands. And take another look at your ventilation system and how it could be improved with fans.2
[Deer Mountain Tips for green community land for sale and lots for sale in Chapel Hill NC and green communities in Chatham County NC. Bring your own Builder for Land and lots for sale in Chatham County NC]
1 Galadza, Sofia. “Green: Responsible Renovation.” http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002986674 Contract Magazine. 2006.
2 Kaufmann, Michelle. “Green Renovations.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15174233/site/newsweek/ Newsweek. 2006.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Green Renovations
When considering the renovation of a current home in order to make it a green home, it’s not a simple matter of updating some of the components. You must first look at the infrastructure of the house and make changes in that. The home should be looked at to extend its life and overall efficiency, since those are top goals of the project. Operating costs should be cut down through energy efficiency, both through appliances and construction. When remodeling, reduce the amount of waste you produce by reusing as much as possible. Also, work around what you can’t change. You can work with existing structures in most cases, rather than demolishing the entire house.1
[Deer Mountain Tips for building Green Homes and selecting Green Builders in Chapel Hill NC and green communities in Chatham County NC. Bring your own Builder for Land and lots for sale in Chatham County NC]
1 Galadza, Sofia. “Green: Responsible Renovation.” http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002986674 Contract Magazine. 2006.
2 Kaufmann, Michelle. “Green Renovations.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15174233/site/newsweek/ Newsweek. 2006.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Water Conservation is the Green Way to Save Money and Save the Environment
Indoors, the installation of low flow plumbing can also reduce the amount of water used in the household. Old fixtures did not compensate for pressure change and the amount of water increased when the water pressure did. That meant a use of about 3.5 gallons of water for a standard toilet. New fixtures compensate for variable pressures and provide an even flow no matter what. This reduced the water usage to only 1.6 gallons. Showerheads use the same technology to provide a steady water flow no matter the pressure. Old showerheads used 4-5 gallons per minute, whereas new showerheads only use about 2.5 gallons.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Water Conservation is the Green Way to Save Money and Save the Environment
Another consideration for outdoor water conservation is water harvesting and reuse. You can collect and use the rainwater for irrigation, but you need to set up a system to do so. The roof becomes the catchment area, which conveys the water through a gutter system towards a holding vessel. This water is then put through purifiers with pumps and can be used to irrigate your area. Grey water, which is the waste water from dishwashers, washing machines, sinks, and baths can also be treated for reuse. By diverting this water through a system of purification, it will cut down on overall water consumption needed for the home.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Water Conservation is the Green Way to Save Money and Save the Environment
Water conservation should be considered when building and maintaining a green home. Both indoor and outdoor conservation can help cut costs of your home. Take a look at some ways you can achieve this. Having a porous pavement can allow water to seep through, thereby allowing the soil beneath to filter rainwater as it becomes groundwater. This step is often skipped when the water goes directly through drainage. When considering how to build your pavement system, you should think about the different materials available. Porous asphalt, bituminous permeable paving, porous concrete, plastic grids, and block pavers are all examples of materials to be considered.
