Thinking of Building a Green Built Home?

by Jerry Karlovich, CGP

The whole idea of this Building Green movement is to reduce our "Carbon Footprint" on the Earth. To reduce our dependency, not just from foreign oil, but oil from anywhere. I am from Texas so I catch a lot of grief for saying that! The use of oil and fossil fuels are thought to be the major cause of Global Warming. That and cow farts. (Another Texas Taboo). If you want your future generations to enjoy a livable environment, we need to make changes immediately on how things are done.



When you think of a "Green Built Home", what do you think of? Do you think of some futuristic space age domicile with solar panels all over the roof? How about a geodesic dome full of belated tree hugging hippies? If you do then you're not a lot different from what many people might think. Actually, a Green Built Home can't be distinguished from the other homes in your neighborhood. Green Building is just doing things a little different from what we have been doing, only giving serious thought to the effect on our environment, before, during and after your home is built. A Green Built Home doesn't cost much more to build than a conventional home but the return on investment is much higher in energy savings and tax incentives thus reducing the ongoing cost of living in your Green Built Home. So you're really saving money while saving the Earth! It's just too many Home Builders focus on that price tag as they'll list the home for sell.

The EPA estimates that buildings in the United States account for 39 percent of total energy use, 12 percent of the total water consumption, 68 percent of total electricity consumption, and 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Green Building incorporates environmental considerations and resource efficiency into every step of building a new home to minimize the environmental impact on our Earth.

How warm is your attic in the middle of July? Here in Texas at my home, I hate to think! 150F or more degrees! There is something many builders are now doing. That is moving the insulation from your attic floor to the underside of the roof decking. When I first heard of this my response was, Yeah Right! Well, it turns out to be an excellent idea. So much that a local TV news report was done on this idea. Watch it here.

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