BEGIN YOUR HOME DESIGN WITH GREEN BUILDING IN MIND:

With concern over global climate change and environmental health, going green when building a custom home has attracted the attention of many homebuilders and homeowners. Most people think that green building is just about cutting energy use, but it encompasses a whole lot more. Green building is aimed at making homes more resource-efficient and healthier for people and the planet.

Let our Architectural Design team and Certified Green Consultant assist you with your Green Building Plans - just call 800.968.3178 today. Or click on one of these helpful topics for more information on green building:

 

>HOW TO BEGIN BUILDING A GREEN HOME


>GREEN HOME LEED CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS


 >GREEN HOME ENERGY USE RATINGS 

 

 
Protect the natural environment surrounding your new custom home with assistance from our Architectural Design Team and our Certified Green Professional. We will assist you with all aspects of the home's design to assure compliance with your desired energy rating level. To begin the process, contact us today. 

Call 800.968.3178 for assistance or ...
>Click here to request a convenient, free teleconference about your building plans!

 HOW TO BEGIN?

Start when you begin designing your home and evaluate the different greenness of materials. A new kitchen is the perfect spot to go green. Choose energy saving appliances and lighting, select non-toxic finished for floors, walls and cabinets, and provide plenty of nature lighting with windows.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)   http://www.nahb.org  is providing local builders with the knowledge they need to build green. Model Green Building Guidelines have been issued to provide a practical, nationally recognized baseline for home building. The NAHB guidelines focus on: reducing the impact on natural features and vegetation during building site preparation; choosing environmentally friendly components for sub flooring, trusses and other conventional materials; choosing energy-efficient appliances; conserving water with low-flow plumbing fixtures; and protecting indoor environment quality.

What is the Cost? Going green does not have to become costly. While it may not look any different, it should be cheaper to operate, healthier to live in and easier to maintain. Green building often means nothing more than building well and perhaps substituting one material for another. Therefore green building doesn’t have to be any more expensive than typical good quality construction. Eventually you will reduce any additional cost of going green through reduced maintenance or operating costs. It’s about careful selection and an intelligent use of resources.

Town & Country A+E has a CPG (Certified Green Professional) on staff to assist with the determination of a project's green goals.  Whether it is an ENERGY STAR, Green Build, or LEED for Homes certification, we can help achieve desired green goals for any home building project.
 

ENERGY USE RATINGS AND WHAT THEY MEAN:

Energy Star:

For a complete list of Energy star ratings and additional information, please visit http://www.energystar.gov/.

Energy Star® is a program that was first developed in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a method to identify and promote products that are energy efficient, such as home appliances.

Products carrying this symbol provide a way for consumers to save money, while at the same time, protect our environment. Since its initial onset, the government has partnered with other industry members, to promote and expand the scope of this project to include, not only major appliances, but also new homes and buildings.

Energy Star ratings now also apply to windows, doors, lighting, and insulation types, appliances of all kinds and the HVAC system and its duct work. All of these materials are available in Energy Star Rated standards or better. Energy Star is a Department of Energy guideline based upon a building energy efficiency which exceeds current building codes for energy efficiency by at least 15%.

LEED Home Certification:

For a complete list of certification requirements, please go to the Green Building Certification Institute website: http://www.gbci.org.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is an internationally recognized third party verification system that measures how well a building or community performs across all the metrics that matter most to our environment: overall energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

LEED is flexible enough to apply to all building types – commercial as well as residential. It works throughout the building lifecycle – design and construction, operations and maintenance, tenant fitout, and significant retrofit. And LEED for Neighborhood Development extends the benefits of LEED beyond the building footprint into the neighborhood it serves.

GREEN STRATEGIES TO CONSIDER:

BUILDING SITE: The choice of site and management of that site during construction for the most minimal impact on ecosystems and waterways.

WATER USAGE: Choosing appliances and fixtures which reduce the use of potable water both inside the home and in landscaping. 

ENERGY AND ATMOSPHERE:  Considers not only the use of energy efficient home appliances and building products such as windows and doors, but encourages the use of energy monitoring systems, renewable and clean sources of energy inside the home, and innovative strategies to bring energy use down to a minimum.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES:  Purposeful election of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported products and materials used in the building of the home, as well as the ability to reclaim all waste from the construction of the home, taking into consideration the production of waste at the source of a home product's manufacture, i.e. amount of waste utilized in production of the home's drywall and that waste's impact on the environment.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:
Incorporation of strategies that mprove indoor air as well as provide access to natural daylight, views and improve acoustics.