Energy Efficiency Series: Photovoltaic (PV) Systems

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. As you are looking to build a…

Energy Efficiency Series: How Solar Cells Work

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. Nearly all of our electricity…

Energy Efficiency Series: Green Home? Save Green on Financing!

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. When you are looking at a new…

Energy Efficiency Series: Recoup 30 Percent More When You Remodel Green

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. How much do our buildings…

Energy Efficiency Series: The Passivhaus Standard

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. A Passivhaus (or Passive…

Would You Like a Green Mortgage With That?

The trend toward green living has finally caught the attention of the banking industry. Banks have watched as consumers have made greener choices in everything from washing detergent and light bulbs…

Your Yard: Are You Ready to Loose the Lawn?

  contemporary patio design by seattle landscape architect Alan Burke Many of us spend countless hours, dollars and patience on a perfectly kept lawn. Watering needs can be high, fertilizing can get…

Energy Efficiency Series: Add Energy Savings to Your Summer Vacation

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. Energy efficiency is not only…

How to Collect Water With Rainbarrels

"The population is growing, but the water supply is not," says Bill Hoffman, a coordinator for the City of Austin Water Conservation Program, in Texas. That's why people around the country are…

Energy Efficiency Series: Energy Star Qualified Homes

In our energy efficiency series of articles featured each Thursday, we provide strategies or information on how to make your new home energy efficient and comfortable. ENERGY STAR® for New Homes,…

How to Keep Cool Without Air Conditioning

Summer heat will soon be upon us! I have never had air conditioning in any of my homes. I have lived in the eastern US, where a sheet was too hot for sleeping at night, and the air was thick, still,…

Going Green in the Laundry Room

As industries shift to accommodate a new market for eco-friendly products, your choices as a consumer are becoming more and more important to the task of creating a greener world. This permeates your…

8 Reasons Why New Homes Beat Used Homes Every Time

With great pricing and availability today in new home communities, why would you ever buy a used home? While short sales and foreclosures may sound like a great deal, there are so many more reasons…

What House Upgrades Will Increase its Value

Two types of renovations exist: the kind you do purely for your own family's comfort and satisfaction, and the kind you do because you want to increase the value of your property. Your home is a…

2011 US Housing Market Slump: When Will It End?

The state of the housing industry in the United States is dire in 2011, with debt loads mounting and home values plummeting. Some of the details of just how bad the home buying market is in America…

Energy Efficiency Series: Going Green Inside and Out

Two Builders Discuss the Future of Eco-Friendly Construction We have, in part, the energy crisis of the 1970s to thank for many of the green building practices currently in our collective toolboxes.…

How to Improve Home Cooling with Trees

While green homes often sport all manner of technical solutions to keep them optimized and efficient, the landscaping can have a significant effect on the building and its energy use. Site…

Energy Efficiency Series – What makes a “Built-Green” Home Different?

    Built Green™ promotes construction of buildings that are healthier for the occupants and healthier for the environment. Sustainable or “green” building practices can reduce the tremendous…

Garden Tip: Create your own compost for a green garden

If you’d like your garden to be just a bit “greener” than it normally is, why not try making your own organic compost? Composting is a great way to deal with yard waste, allowing you to put it to…

Understanding energy efficiency – A house is a system

A house is made up of components that work together to form an integrated system. The performance of one component depends on its relationship with other components in the same system. Your home's…