Archive for the ‘Green Buildings’ Category
Guest post by: James Kim
Something that more and more people are looking into is the green movement. In particular people are looking at green building as a way to lower their carbon footprint. It is possible to make your home more eco-friendly by adding certain technologies to the structure. Of course for those who want to move to a house that is built green from the ground up, then specialty builders like Hill Country Ecobuilders in the Austin real estate market can build them for you.
Knowing that you can go green and quantifying the benefits from it are two different things. Many people go green for the financial upside: lower bills and higher resale prices down the road. Real Estate Weekly reported that going green is a significant trend and that in ten years time those people selling homes that are not green in some way will have a harder time competing and getting the price they want. However, there are many other benefits that you can get and one of them is reducing the impact on our environment per the Environmental Protection Agency. You can also find many health benefits with green buildings. The materials they use create better air quality which is highly noticeable and ideal for those who suffer from asthma. Additionally, green materials eliminate the risks associated with many older building materials as those who went through the problems with asbestos will know all too well.
So how do you build or retrofit green? There are many different technologies that can be placed in a home to make it green. Check web resources such as http://homepower.com/home/ and the Hill Country Ecobuilders website to see what you can do to your home. Water saving technology, solar panels and electricity usage monitoring technologies are the most recognizable of all the technologies. Out of the three it is the water saving technology that is the least well-known. Saving water can be done in a number of ways and some of the technology that can help is low flow fixtures and dual flush toilets. You can also have rain water collection systems installed which catch water from the roof gutter system. New windows, insulated siding and higher “R value” insulation in your attic are some other simple ideas that are highly effective in reducing your energy bill.
Green building is something you should look into if you are moving house or if you just want to make your current home a bit more eco-friendly. By doing this you can help the environment, save money on bills and make sure that there are resources for the next generation.
The Author:
James Kim writes for Austin Real Estate service Homecity.com. HomeCity combines powerful online Austin MLS search technology and other online tools with personalized real estate services to provide clients with the knowledge they need to make the right buying and selling decisions.