GreenGeezer

PATH Home in North Omaha, Nebraska

Fine Homebuilding magazine features a multi-page spread on the PATH Home. PATH,  or the Partnership for the Advancement of Technology in Homebuilding, is a voluntary partnership between leaders of the homebuilding, product manufacturing, insurance, and financial industries and representatives of federal agencies.  "The PATH Concept Home features a number of innovations: a flexible floor plan that evolves with the homeowners' family, panelized framing, an insulating-concrete-form foundation, soy-based foam insulation, an on-demand water heater, and a state-of-the-art gray-water system, among many other features." --Fine Homebuilding.  And, it's beautiful.

Energy Modeling in Home Design

Today we met with Marko Spiegel and Ron Dean, from Conservation Technology International and we looked over the energy modeling they have done for our proposed house design. It was exciting to see that the projected heating cost will be only $211 per year for heating!  Now that's a beautiful house.....Ron promised to send me the cool graphics that he prepared to show how the house will beat HERS  and Energy Star ratings by a huge margin. We'll earn extra LEED points (if we choose to submit the house for LEED for homes certification) because there was a house existing on the lot before; there is only rubble now.

"Green Homes for Sale" Pick of the Week -- Fredericksburg, TX

This beautiful straw bale home in Texas hill country is designed to foster natural air flow and, even though it has a conventional forced-air furnace, its utility bills are modest.

"All interior exposed lumber is reclaimed longleaf/heart pine. Clerestory design allows for natural air flow when heating/cooling system is not used. All faucets/shower heads/toilets feature low-flow design."  Find full information at Green Homes for Sale.