Green Channel - November 10, 2011

Housing is Flat, but it’s Getting Greener  

Beyond Net Zero: “The negative energy home,” which carries the name The Power Haus, is profiled on BuilderOnline.com. According to a consultant, “We looked at everything that consumes power in the house and tried to reduce its load so that we could reduce the number of solar panels we needed to use.”

Lavish home need not be wasteful: Is “high-end green” an oxymoron? Professional Builder looks into the proposition of the “extraordinarily enriched green home.”

LEED-certified communities: An EcoHome magazine article provided 6 Secrets to Building a LEED-Certified Community. No. 4 says, “Rely on internal knowledge instead of hiring green consultants to perform specific tasks.”

More efficient, less costly: Improving energy efficiency usually adds cost to a new house. Can a house be greener and, in today’s environment, still be produced at an affordable price? Big Builder magazine has an answer.

Green appraisal form: According to Nation’s Building News, the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Appraisal Addendum is the first of its kind. It is intended to be used by appraisers and is designed to be attached as an optional addendum to Fannie Mae Form 1004, the appraisal industry’s most widely used form for lending purposes.

Prefabricated & green: Blue Homes is building a 250,000 square-foot factory, to make houses, in Vallejo, Calif. According to the Contra Costa Times report, the company “uses computer technology to help buyers design their homes, which are then manufactured in a factory using structural steel to frame the house, instead of wood, along with green and energy-efficient building techniques, before they are shipped out to the buyer's land in a flatbed truck and assembled.”

Public housing green guide: “Green Building Operations and Maintenance Manual: A Guide for Public Housing Authorities,” is new from Siemens Industry and Green Seal, according to HomeChannelNews.com.

What customers want: As a panelist at Greenbuild, Kathy Spence, LEED AP, who is marketing and sustainability director for a home builder, offered advice on four green features that customers want in a new home. EcoHome wrote an article that included Spence’s advice.