As summer comes to a close, so does our weekly series on green building. Hopefully we have expanded your knowledge of applying sustainable concepts in your own home, whether it’s a studio rental in the city or a straw-bale abode in the country. Loosely based on USGBC’s pilot program LEED for Homes, the series has covered subjects ranging from community planning and transportation, to light bulbs and leaky faucets. If you’re arriving for the first time, or you want to review the series, here are the installments in order of appearance…
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The Green Building 101 series has taken us inside the house and out, looking at site selection, water efficiency, day lighting, eco-power, and environmentally friendly materials. The final segment in our series will cover the last section of LEED for Homes, which is called “Innovative Design.” This somewhat mysterious section seems to be the catch-all area: created to allow new technologies that aren’t currently covered by the rest of LEED-H to earn points. With this in mind, we’d like to showcase some of the most promising innovations in sustainable design – the stuff that might qualify for LEED’s Innovative Design points. We proudly present, in no particular order, Inhabitat’s Top Ten Eco-Innovations…
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Here at Green Building 101, we’ve looked at many ways that you can design, build, and renovate your home with more attention to your health and the environment. This is the tenth installment in the series, and now that you’ve been thoroughly educated, we’re going to dig into the nitty gritty details. Get ready for glamour; we’re talking today about plug loads.

Ah, plug loads! Very exciting, you say…but what are they?! Let’s simplify. We’re talking about everything and anything that you plug in—major appliances, task lights, consumer electronics, home office products and a variety of miscellaneous tools and devices. Minus the lights, which Jill featured two weeks ago, we’re left with nearly 50 percent of an average home’s electricity bill. Lighting commonly adds another 15-20 percent. Space heating and cooling, cooking, and water heating make up the rest, and also comprise your natural gas bill. So let’s investigate the primary energy suckers.
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Most of us underestimate or ignore our incredible dependence on electricity. But after the heat waves that swept the U.S. and most of Europe last month, it was impossible to look the other way. Temperatures skyrocketed, we jacked up the A/C, and - poof! – out went the power. Nothing like a blackout to remind us that we’re all connected by our need for electricity. But just as we can cause a major outage through the accumulation of our personal actions, we can as easily facilitate the reverse effect through simple, smart choices about what kind of energy we use and how we use it.

Today’s Green Building 101 talks about how to retrofit your home to be more energy-efficient, as well as how to convert to more clean, green and efficient sources of energy. There are lots of things you can do to cut back on those energy bills, from simply turning off lights, all the way to installing photovoltaics and going off the grid. However ambitious you feel, we’ve got you covered.

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Lighting is one of the most critical – and most visceral - qualities of an indoor space. The difference between good and bad lighting can make or break comfort, mood and overall happiness in your home. Exposure to natural light affects your vitamin D and immune system, as well as your circadian rhythms, sleep cycle and hormones. Studies have linked lack of sunlight to depression (S.A.D), immune problems, diabetes and cancer. According to researcher and director of SUNAC (Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center) William B. Grant, “over 20,000 Americans die prematurely annually from insufficient UVB/vitamin D, and half of those with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. would not have MS if they had had more UVB exposure.”
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The very root of what makes a home green is how effectively it responds to its surrounding environment. You could say that this has defined the primary material pursuit of mankind for all time – building better shelters to keep us warmer, cooler, and drier. Many of the native building techniques employed centuries ago are still reliable in similar climates today, and used as optimal models for environmentally conscious architects. However, since global acceptance of the air conditioner in the 1950s, the benefits of responding to a unique climate have been left by the side of the road.

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Feeling good in our homes or offices isn’t just a matter of having a beautiful space. No matter how fabulous your furnishings, a poorly designed indoor environment can literally make you sick. Building green means considering not only the environmental impact of materials and construction, but also the physical and psychological health of the occupants.
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Last week we dug into the LEED-H criteria for sustainable residential materials and resources. Now that we’ve given you the low-down, it’s time to get specific. While the variety of options and applications in this category can be overwhelming, it happens to be one of the easiest avenues for going green at home.

From decking and roofing to countertops and indoor paints, these are the places where the decisions are yours; and they matter. Read on for tips, resources, and product recommendations that will guide you towards beautiful materials that ensure a safe, healthy home.
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When we think of greenhouse gas emissions, most of us envision a tailpipe spewing exhaust out of the back of a car. But 40% of the carbon dioxide that contributes to our warming planet comes from buildings. While some of that is a secondary effect of operational needs such as electricity, A/C, and heating, many GHG’s arise from resource extraction, manufacturing and production of the building materials themselves.

Of all the criteria covered by LEED-H and our own GreenBuilding 101 series, MATERIALS and RESOURCES has perhaps the broadest application and relevance. They are the ingredients, and choosing them wisely makes all the difference in terms of the overall impact of the building throughout its life. This is where ‘environmental footprint’ or ‘life cycle assessment’ come into play; as we learn in Cradle to Cradle design basics, the materials are in the picture from the first round of planning to the final stages of demolition or renovation.

Today’s series walks you through choosing ingredients wisely, being sure that the materials you select, and the resources it took to produce them, are a part of the whole picture of a sustainable home.
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There are few things we take for granted as much as our ability to turn on the tap and get water in seemingless endless supply. Even during droughts, and in spite of ubiquitous advertising about shortages and conservation, most of us treat this precious resource as a given.

The average American uses 80-100 gallons of water per day; and while less than half of it will be drunk or used to cook food, chances are that all of it is treated, potable water from the municipal water provider. What many people don’t realize is that it’s fairly easy to implement simple systems for recycling and reusing water on your own property, drastically decreasing the demands on shared supplies, and in turn, reducing your water bills.

Read on for details on the three LEED-H criteria for water efficiency at home, plus some additional information on innovations in wastewater treatment and reuse.
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Welcome back to Green Building 101.

Last week we covered how to select an environmentally responsible location for your new abode; this week we’ll begin discussing ways you can improve upon any home site. The SUSTAINABLE SITES section of USGBC’s LEED for Homes Program outlines various “green” opportunities for reducing the negative impact your home has on the environment. The great thing about these principles is that most can be implemented anytime, regardless of whether you’re still in the design process, or if you’ve been in your home for a lifetime.

So without further ado, here are five measures you can take to create a more sustainable site:

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Where do you want to live?

Today kicks off Inhabitat’s summer series, Green Building 101, our weekly column covering the fundamentals of green building. This series will be structured around the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, specifically the new LEED for Homes for residential building, which establishes seven criteria for creating healthier, greener, more efficient homes.

LEED is not the only system for determining whether or not a project is sustainable – and debatably, it may not be the best. However, it is the most commonly accepted benchmark and an excellent starting point for those wanting to get their feet……green, so here we go!

LOCATION AND LINKAGES
We’re beginning our series this week with “Location & Linkages” (L&L.) This somewhat vague term has been defined by LEED-H (currently in pilot) as a methodology for sustainable site selection and development. The USGBC has implemented L&L in hopes that it will help reduce energy consumed by Americans in pursuit of cheap land and more closet space across the (seemingly) infinite supply of pasture and native habitats.
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We’ve been paying close attention to our reader survey, and one emerging trend has been a loud and clear request for more information on how to better understand green building. In answer to your pleas — and since most of the Inhabitat team are LEED accredited designers — we thought it a perfect time to launch a new weekly column: Green Building 101

This new summer series, presented every Wednesday morning, will go over the basics of green building and offer tips and tricks for applying sustainable design principles to your home.

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