Architect Eric Corey Freed offers 5 Tips to Green Your Home

Courtesy of my email subscription to Inhabitat.com's newsletter (try it, you'll like it!), I was happy to see the article 5 Tips to Greening Your Home, by Organic Architect Eric Corey Freed.

TIP 1: Wrap Your Home in Insulation – “The More, The Better!”

Proper insulation is probably the most important factor you can control in creating an energy-efficient home. I always say insulation is like chocolate, the more you have, the better! On average, ½ of your home’s heating and cooling will escape through walls (35%), windows (25%), floor (15%) and roof (25%). Therefore, the first thing you should do to determine where insulation is needed is to scan your home with a thermal radiometer or infrared scanner in order to detect where your home is leaking heat.



TIP 2: Manage Your Heating and Cooling Intelligently with a Thermostat

All the insulation in the world won’t make a difference in cutting energy costs if you aren’t smart about how you heat and cool your house. This may sound blindingly obvious to some, but you can cut your heating bill in half if you are strategic about WHEN your heating and cooling is running. Without a thermostat to guide them, most heating/cooling systems are dumb and blind and will consume loads of energy keeping your bedroom nice and toasty during the day (when you are not home), or warming your living room at night (when you are asleep). If you connect your heating and cooling system to a programmable thermostat, you can heat/cool different rooms at specific times during the day when people will be in those rooms (such as between 6-8pm in the evening, after work). Many brands of thermostats (check out Honeywell) even have smart phone apps that allow you to program your heating and cooling on the fly, remotely.


TIP 3: Conserve Water Through Smart Technology

Because water seems plentiful and is all-around us, most Americans have no idea about the coming water crisis. Our water infrastructure is crumbling in this country and potable water shortages are going to become commonplace within 10 years. You can get a jump on tackling this looming problem by installing some water-saving appliances in your house, such as low-flow shower-heads and water-saving toilets. I’m a big fan of the AQUS grey water toilet, which recycles grey water from your sink to flush your toilet!

60% of the average American’s water use takes place outside the home (in irrigating water-sucking lawns), so ditch the 1950′s Cleaver-style lawn and consider “xeriscaping” – planting native foliage that doesn’t need high maintenance watering and fertilizing.


View full online article Five Tips to Greening Your House, by architect Eric Corey Freed