I posted this graphic compliments of the Vermont Green Building Network: www.vgbn.org/guide.php to inspire your thinking around green building and housing becuase today and tomorrow you have a chance to see hands-on examples of green building elements at Charlottesville's Earthcraft Home Tour 2009 which began yesterday May 22 and runs through tomorrow. Details at www.blueridgeearthcrafttour.org The tour includes homes that are in the stages of construction so you can see up close and personal techniques and materials that help reduce energy use in your home.
The Department of Energy reports than single-family homes account for 80% of residential energy use - 47% of which goes to heating air, 17% water, 24% lighting. So whether you decide to build a home or renovate your existing home, keeping the
Earth in mind will reduce your carbon footprint, conserve natural resources, and over time save you money.
Kingma Developers and Barry Meade are two of 19 EarthCraft Homebuilders in the area, who are also listed in Betty's directory: www.betterworldbetty.org/directoryF.html#H
Real Estate Weekly magazine's article on the event cited a recent study which found that %70 of buyers are inclined to purchase a green home over a conventional home, which means in this market it's also a good investment if you plan on the future resale of your home.
As we've talked about in previous blogs, there are also tax benefits available for use of solar panels and geo-thermal units.
Best,
BWB
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Earth Craft Home Tours begin...
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2 comments:
Energy-efficient housing is a good thing, but it would be nice if at least one of these demonstrations were on a sustainable site.
Daniel,
Thanks for your input. Would you be willing to write a guest blog post or link to one of your recent posts and tell us more about what it means to be a sustainable site?
Best,
BWB
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