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Green Thinking Is The Life For Me!
Updated: Jul 14, 2011 Ripper
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I am not in favor of altering our current building codes. I post this only as a suggestion. I wish to challenge Tuscaloosa city planners and our local home builders to create new affordable energy efficiency standards. From the greatest of tragedies comes an opportunity to change the way the entire city of Tuscaloosa uses energy. Tuscaloosa can become a green building model for the entire state. I challenge Tuscaloosa to showcase cutting edge, passive solar, gray water, energy saving home designs. To do this I recommend building a model home in one of the devastated neighborhoods. Companies willing to sponsor such construction would receive free publicity and use this home to promote their products, business and green living. Perhaps a property owner in one of the damaged neighborhoods could be chosen by lottery or through an essay contest. Or the finished home could be built then raffled with proceeds going toward charity. Prior to the home being occupied it could be used as a model to showcase the newest green footprint or passive solar building designs, materials and appliances. Knowledgeable vendors staffing the home could fully explain their products to those touring the model and how these ideas could be incorporated into their own home design plans. This home should also be a challenge to Tuscaloosa builders. Local home builders must be challenged to find new and better ways to construct homes or nothing will ever change. Today’s challenge is to design and build a zero energy foot print home. Not possible? We have only to look toward Europe to discover what can be done. Every item in the house should be the lowest of the low in water and energy consumption. This should not be just another house but a super insulated zero energy foot print home for our future. It does not matter if this exact home would be affordable to all. The idea is everyone could incorporate concepts learned from this home into their own present or future designs.

5 Comments
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    by glenn k Just start with a "green" system, https://www.envirobuilthomesystems.com

    Aug 09, 2011 at 5:16 PM  
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    by Rolltide Good suggestions

    Jul 17, 2011 at 9:55 PM  
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    by Ripper I agree the Tuscaloosa Home Builder's Association will pay a key role in the recovery and should be on board or even lead this initiative. Some ideas such as a gray water system could be included into even cookie cutter housing with minimal cost. We have to start somewhere. I believe this is the time and place.

    Gray water systems collect water from showers, dishwashers and washing machines for reuse. Why not use the water twice? The water is usually stored in a tank for later use such as flushing the toilet or watering the yard. It is not drinkable. The cost of installing such a system should be lowest during new construction.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater

    Remember you pay for water twice (Water & Sewer), once when it enters your house and then again as it goes down the drain. The less water that you use the more money you will save.

    Jul 17, 2011 at 10:41 AM  
  • comment icon

    by Ripper I agree the Tuscaloosa Home Builder's Association will pay a key role in the recovery and should be on board or even lead this initiative. Some ideas such as a gray water system could be included into even cookie cutter housing with minimal cost. We have to start somewhere. I believe this is the time and place.

    Gray water systems collect water from showers, dishwashers and washing machines for reuse. Why not use the water twice? The water is usually stored in a tank for later use such as flushing the toilet or watering the yard. It is not drinkable. The cost of installing such a system should be lowest during new construction.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater

    Remember you pay for water twice (Water & Sewer), once when it enters your house and then again as it goes down the drain. The less water that you use the money you will save.

    Jul 17, 2011 at 10:39 AM  
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    by Bama P Its the Home Builder's Association members that really need to be converted. Rebuilding after the tornado is a bit different ... but otherwise, the percentage of people who custom build a home is very small. Most new home buyers wind up buying either an existing home, or one built in a newly developed subdivision where builders use cookie cutter designs, built to a certain price point. Its these home builders /neighborhood developers that build the bulk of new homes. They are the ones to convert to thinking more green.

    And I understand the difficulty from their viewpoint. To add more insulation, yet keep the price the same for the home, something like crown molding may have to be sacrificed. So the builder who is building a home before its put on the market ... has to decide if visual appeal will sell the home quicker than trying to sell the energy savings?

    Ask any real estate agent ... and they'll tell you the answer to that one.

    Jul 14, 2011 at 11:33 AM  
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