Green Design

What is green design? It is building and architecture with the specific goal of minimizing our impact on the environment with our construction and building. There is a renewed interest in green design now that the price of oil and gas has gone so high. In reality, green design is not a new concept. It is just very hard, particularly in this country, to get people to engage in green design when their alternatives are so inexpensive.

Green building is becoming increasingly more popular with architects, builders and homeowners each year. Consumers' environmental awareness is growing and they have come to demand more naturally sustainable and recycled materials incorporated in the construction and renovation of their homes and favor homes that utilize construction and design techniques that improve energy efficiency and reduce indoor air pollution. These green building techniques not only let homeowners feel good about leaving a smaller environmental footprint, but can provide long-term savings in utility bills.

Does a greener house have to look like a yurt or geodesic dome like so many of the first-generation eco-houses of the 1970s? On the contrary, green-built homes are often indistinguishable from their traditional counterparts. Green buildings will, however, function much differently. Their heating and cooling costs will be lower if they are sited to maximize wind-sheltering trees and incorporate passive solar design principles.

Green building is a growing segment of the new home and home renovation market. Go to any Homebuilders Expo these days and you'll find plenty of vendors exhibiting green building products and services, from energy-efficient appliances to roof shingles made of recycled plastic to architecture firms that specialize in sustainable design. The hit television series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has incorporated green building in many of its episodes, in part to help out its financially struggling families with lower energy and maintenance bills for the future, but also in recognition of this progressive trend in the building industry.

The great news is that green design is not totally in. There are many customers asking for it and many firms now engaging in green design and green architecture concepts. I, for one, am extremely happy to see this movement underway. It's long overdue in my opinion. But that's neither here nor there.