DFW Solar House Tour: Denton, Texas Home

I visited one home on the North Texas Renewable Energy Group's DFW Solar Home Tour. After hearing about their home about 1 year ago, I was pleased to be able to visit the Soph Residence in Denton, Texas.

Their system, installed by North Texas Renewable Energy, is directly tied into the energy grid, without the use of storage batteries. In fact, if there is ever a power outage, the Sophs or Denton Municipal Electric (DME) must shut off their system to avoid injury to workers restoring the power. A meter shows how much energy they are generating or sending back to the grid at any time.

Denton Municipal Electric created the GreenSense Program and a $15,000 rebate for future solar installations as a result of the Soph House. Over time, the Sophs hope other residents will take advantage of these incentives and provide a home-grown source of renewable energy. Since DME gets 40% of the electricity from wind energy, the Sophs have a nearly zero impact on the environment from their home energy use.

For lower-cost solutions, they suggest purchasing energy-star appliances and installing a timer on the whole-house water heater to reduce the time that the heater is utilizing energy.

Eco-friendly and Healthy Things To Do for Spring

Spring is here and it is the perfect time to renew your home and garden with eco-friendly practices.

1. Buy a compost bin and begin to recycle household and garden waste for extra rich soil in your garden. Compost adds vital nutrients and microorganisms to the soil.


2. Use several inches of mulch on your garden instead of resorting to weed killers.

3. Buy organic seeds from Seeds of Change or other venues.

4. Spring Cleaning: unclutter your house to create a healthier indoor environment---minimizes dust and other allergens that collect on items and promotes easier cleaning.

5. Spring Cleaning: select natural and biodegradable cleaning products for your home. These are now readily available in health food stores, some grocery chains, and online stores.

6. Add solar lighting to your yard to save energy and provide an attractive addition to your organic yard.

7. Add recycling to your daily routine. Earth911 has a website that enables you to find a local recycling or reuse locations.


Eco-Living at Gaiam

"Eco-Tecture", the New Face of Green Building

In the New York Times Magazine of May 20th, Nicolai Ouroussoff discusses the great progress that Europe has made in designing and building green buildings. In fact, Europe is way ahead of the United States in commonly requiring and integrating green building elements, such as energy efficiency and sustainability.

As he says "By the mid-90s, all new construction in Europe had to meet basic requirements in energy consumption, and many European architects began to make sustainability a central theme in their work." Most of the green architecture shown does not "look" green at all, but just quietly integrates these elements into the overall functioning and design of the buildings. Examples are the Dessau, Germany headquarters of the environmental agency, with underground pipes that heat and cool the building as well as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart that has thick concrete walls to store hot and cool air that is drawn into an atrium.

This Magazine issue has several articles that discuss "eco-tecture"- the design movement of green buildings, zero-energy, green cities, and sustainable living.

It is good to see that the concepts of green building and sustainability are finally getting some needed attention.

What are Green Buildings?

There are many definitions. Some define green buildings as indigenous architecture that utilizes local materials and design options as well as utilizes passive solar. Adobe Homesin New Mexico are often a good example of this concept.

Others define green buildings in more modern terms. Over the past 20 years, the term "green buildings" has evolved from many experiments and programs developed around the country, such as Austin's green building program.

The U.S Green Building Council has developed LEED standards for commercial buildings and has a pilot program to develop LEED standards for residential buildings. Buildings become LEED certified by including a specified green building standards for construction.




In general, many of the green building programs often include some of these general principles:

•Site Selection, Design and Preparation: Design sites to have the minimum impact upon wildlife, trees, and other natural features.
•Educate contractors on minimizing environmental impact on construction sites. Recycle remainder building materials and minimize waste as well.
•Design buildings to efficiently use natural light, building orientation to sun, and other site features.
•Select low-impact building materials whenever possible—renewable materials (ex. Bamboo) or recycled materials.
•Select building materials with low volatile organic compounds and off-gassing for healthy indoor air quality.
•Energy-efficient appliances and HVAC systems.
•Solar energy whenever possible.
•Xeriscaping or other native plants for landscaping to eliminate the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Minimize the use of water for landscaping. Use organic gardening practices.
•Select low-maintenance building materials whenever possible to minimize the future use of building materials and lower long-term costs.
•Promote less-toxic house cleaning practices to minimize indoor air pollutants and contaminants in water runoff.


For Books on Green Building