Tag Archives: green home

9 Keys to Building a Healthy Home

Healthy home

Using the right materials is one step in ensuring good indoor air quality and a healthy home. It also takes a range of building science-based strategies—from proper ventilation and moisture control to radon mitigation and conscientious construction practices–to make sure a home is healthy. Thanks to Brandon Weiss and Evolutionary Home Builders for sharing this list…

Seattle’s NEXTHouse, by David Vandervort (Gallery)

Since we announced SunPower’s $16,000 December giveaway, we’ve gotten a few emails about the home pictured in the article. That’s the ultra-green NEXTHouse designed by David Vandervort- a 3 bed, 2.5 bath home and shop built in Seattle, Washington. Designed to be an supremely energy-efficient home, the NEXTHouse features a number of “green” technologies like…

Timbatree Offers Sustainable Christmas Tree Option

This post is part of Important Media’s “More About the Love, Less About the Stuff” holidays series. This year, we’re talking all about redefining holiday traditions to focus on sustainability and compassion over cutting down trees and fighting for more stuff.   Since it’s well past Halloween and officially the “holiday season,” here is a…

Passive House Recognizes Net Zero, Plus Homes

passive house - energy plus home

Passive House is an international building standard developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI), which is located in Darmstadt, Germany.  Building to the Passive House Standard recognizes buildings which have been optimized through passive measures and components such as insulation, air-tightness, heat recovery, solar heat gains, solar shading and incidental internal heat gains.  Buildings which…

Penda’s Unique Creations

In design, when concepts become creations that the world hasn’t seen before, then the job is well done. A young and upcoming firm is Penda and their goal is to create nothing that isn’t unique and thought out. Penda was started in 2012 by Chris Precht and Dayong Sun. Every project that they undertake becomes…

Green Materials Report: IceStone Countertops

IceStone countertops in kitchen

This post is part of the Green Materials Report series.  GBE is providing information on various building materials and what makes them green.  Each post focuses on one material.  We will be looking at the ingredients in the material, how it is used, what makes it green, and any green product certifications that it has earned.  We…

Rhino3 Creates Shipping Container Homes starting with a ‘Queen’

A new creation has come to fruition on the plains of Colorado. The first of its kind is called “Zulu Queen” and it is a Corten steel shipping container ‘high cube’ turned home. The designed home emerged from a team of an artist/architect and an outdoor woman/tech guru of Sam Austin and Jan Burton as…

Skylights Contribute to Energy Savings

Room with skylights by VELUX

Homes that utilize skylights, in combination with vertical windows, to provide adequate levels of daylight tend to be more energy efficient, according to a study commissioned by VELUX America.  Homes with skylights need less vertical windows to achieve the same amount of daylight.  Less vertical windows increase the energy efficiency of a building. “While we have…

Shigeru Ban is Awarded The 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Everyone has their heroes, their role-models, their if-I-could-be-like-anyone-it-would-be persons and I am no different. I wrote about his past accomplishments, including his cardboard cathedral and paper tube relief houses on GBE a couple of years ago and now my career hero was given the ultimate award in architecture this past month. He is Shigeru Ban…

Honda Smart Home is Built for Your Green Lifestyle

Built in collaboration with UC Davis in California, the Honda Smart Home is a three-year green building project that will monitor typical energy use needs for average Americans and their families.

Vertical Glass House

Architecture, like all art forms, has its lovers and its critics. If a new structure did not draw attention of both, then there would be nothing new to celebrate or berate. A new residential structure built for West Bund in China is one dwelling that is causing a stir. The building is the Vertical Glass…

Case Study: Eagleyew – A High Efficiency Natural Building on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada

The Story of Eagleyew: A High Efficiency Natural Building on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada I’m pleased to say that I have been building Natural Buildings for a number of years now. My work has taken me up and down the West coast of North America, with a focus in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been calling…

CSO Arquitectura’s Modular Housing System: SAVMS

CSO Arquitectura teamed with prefab construction specialists Torsan and created Sistema Abierto de Viviendas Modulares Sostenibles (SAVMS) which translate to the “open sustainable modular housing system.”

A Variety of Sustainable Home Options: Modular Lifestyles and Nueva Vida III

Off-grid Modular Lifestyles' Camper

Two different types of environmentally sustainable homes are being incorporated into neighborhoods or developed as their own neighborhood community across the country giving people the choice to not only be green but to be entirely sustainable in their living situation. They are Modular

Florense; Brazil’s Leading Sustainable Furniture Manufacturer

A company that was established in 1953 in Flores de Cunha, Brazil, called Fábrica de Móveis Florense is a leading example in a business that thrives on sustainability. Fábrica de Móveis Florense, or more commonly known as simply Florense, is an international company. Florense is a furniture manufacturer and producer of high quality wood veneers.

Choosing the Most Energy-Efficient Refrigerator for Your Home

There are a lot of things to consider when purchasing a new appliance – this is especially true with refrigerators. Before buying a new fridge, make sure you know about the different styles and which will give you the best energy efficiency.

5 Projects You Can Complete in 15 minutes or Less to Green Your Home

Who says completing green updates around your home should take a long time and cost a lot of money? Here are some simple ways that you can enhance your home with products that are better for the environment, and save money.