Designing Your Perfect Houseenvironment

Green Roofs

Bill — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:36:24 +0000

Green roofs are roofs that have grass of other plant materials growing right on top of them. The theory is that the roof will stay cooler and reflect less heat back into the atmosphere.

There was an interesting article in the Raleigh News and Observer today. It was about how the local Universities are going “green” in an effort to attract students. They discussed some of the green projects, especially the green roof at Duke University Hospital.

Green Roof at Duke University

Photo by Tim Pennigar

I was particularly struck by these last few paragraphs of the story that note that these green roofs have an emotional benefit. Here’s what they said:

“The roof is receiving positive reviews.

Beth Yoder of Durham, a physical therapist at the hospital, said she notices the green roof as she helps patients walk down hallways. One patient joked that it was the doctors’ baseball diamond.

‘I never even thought about the psychological impact of green roofs in a hospital setting,’ Yoder said. ‘It’s very uplifting. It makes me feel almost more alive and have a more positive outlook.’ ”

I believe that our buildings, and particularly our houses, have a profound and often unappreciated impact on us emotionally. Our buildings can either promote or damage our sense of well-being. It’s an issue I feel we need to pay more attention to than we currently do. Wouldn’t you like you house to be uplifting?

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If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

Green Mansions – Part Five

Bill — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:22:55 +0000

An energy management system can reduce your electric bill and help reduce energy demand at peak times. This system monitors and controls what equipment can come on during certain hours of the day. It may block an electric water heater from starting until an air conditioner that is already running has completed its cycle. Most power companies allow residential customers to switch from the standard residential billing rate to a demand rate, which can be substantially lower if your peak usage is not high. When you change to a demand rate, you allow the power company to monitor your usage throughout the day, checking for peak demand. They will then bill you at a rate that is based on the highest peak they see. The energy management system suppresses peaks by controlling what is turned on, thus controlling your billing rate. You will not be using less electricity, but you will be using it at cheaper times, and you will be contributing to the overall “leveling” of electrical consumption in your community. This leads to less pollution being produced by the power generating plants.

An energy monitoring system can generally pay for itself through savings on your electric bill in about three years. Thereafter, you will be saving about one-third on the cost of your electricity and doing an environmental good deed.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

Bill Hirsch

www.designingyourperfecthouse.com

www.williamhirsch.com

“Green” Mansions – Part One

Bill — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:13:28 +0000

You don’t have to compromise aesthetics to build an environmentally responsible house.

Recently, substantial increases in energy costs and a renewed awareness of our environmental responsibility have been quickly changing the way we think about our way of living and the methods and materials we use for construction. More and more, people are interested in building “green.”

A “green” house, by the current definition, is a house that is both energy-efficient, and constructed with “environmentally-friendly” or sustainable materials. Our first impression of what a “green” house should look like might be something ultra-contemporary, industrial looking, or covered with solar panels and ugly materials. This does not have to be the case. It is completely possible to design and build an environmentally responsible, energy efficient house without giving up anything regarding aesthetics. Your “green” house can match your vision of your “dream” house. One example I can point to is an 8,000-square-foot, French country style house in North Carolina I designed that costs only about $100 per month to heat and cool. There was never a thought of compromising the aesthetic, but there was a lot of planning for efficiency that happened right from the beginning. Your Perfect House can do the same thing.

Building “green” is both a matter of having a design strategy and selecting materials properly. An appropriate, integrated design is essential to creating an energy-efficient house. It is not merely a matter of slapping some solar panels onto a poorly sited, badly designed building. You need to plan the house as an entire system right from the beginning. Passive energy efficiency is created by properly positioning the building on the land. Mechanical energy efficiency requires adequate air duct sizes and proper equipment location. Both of these considerations are hard to address at some later date.

The energy consumption of a house can be greatly reduced by properly positioning the house on its site. The direction the windows face, the lengths and positions of roof overhangs, and the way the building sits on the land relative to the sun and the weather are the key factors in making a building intrinsically energy-efficient. This is the heart of passive solar design, and it is the single most important planning consideration for building “green.”

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

Bill Hirsch www.designingyourperfecthouse.com