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Nan’s Top 5 Favorite BuildDirect Green Blog Posts of 2011

December 30, 2011 By 1 Comment
Green world

I love research. I’m an analytical info junkie. I love to surf, read and connect the dots. Researching for this blog for most of 2011 has been enlightening and humbling. I’ve discovered joy and conflict, moved into topics that I knew little about and expanded on topics I already understood. I’ve learned a lot and hopefully got you thinking. A big thank you to Rob Jones for hiring me in February and for giving me ideas and inspiration when I was dry throughout the year. Our emails are worth … [Read more...]

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Green Prefab Housing Ideas

December 16, 2011 By 4 Comments
Illustration of proposed Nashville, TN prefab housing project. (image: David Hunter)

My favorite thing to do is design houses. I’ve been a wannabe architect since I was 6. My partner and I will be combining households within the next year, and we are going to build a house, so I’ve been planning! Since we will be running a vegetable farm, I wondered how much time I would actually have to design and oversee the construction. Prefab housing came to mind, so I did some research. Prefab housing means less waste, less impact Prefab building is done in a factory, and sections are … [Read more...]

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Green Housing Developments: 3 To Watch

November 16, 2011 By 3 Comments
The Navy Yard at Noisette, North Charleston, SC

I started out to write about green housing developments in general, but as I got deeper and deeper into my research, I discovered there were a few that really struck a chord with me. So those three will be the focus of this post. What are green housing developments? Green housing developments: are environmentally conscious with energy efficient homes, recycled materials, native landscaping, water conservation measures care about their occupants with affordable price tags and necessary services can … [Read more...]

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Green Building: Advanced Framing

September 7, 2011 By 2 Comments
OVE Advanced Framing

As I started researching advanced framing, or OVE (Optimal Value Engineering), I found a lot of technical data and wasn’t sure how to present it. This opening paragraph of an article at www.buildingscience.com summed it up for me: The current industry standard wall – a 2x4 frame at 16-inch centers with double top plates, three stud corners, jack studs, cripples and double headers – is being replaced by a 2x6 frame at 24-inch centers with single top plates, two stud corners, no jack studs, … [Read more...]

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Green Building with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)

August 17, 2011 By 5 Comments
Illustration: http://www.homebuilding.co.uk

All green building materials are meant to save energy and natural resources, reduce emissions and create a healthy living environment for the occupants. Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) go one step further to reduce build time and maintenance. Building with ICFs is a one-step process to create walls for the building envelope, foundation and floors. The final product is a sandwich of two layers of polystyrene insulation and a concrete filling. There are no wall cavities to insulate. Interior and … [Read more...]

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Green Jobs: Commercial Building Construction

August 3, 2011 By 2 Comments
Green jobs building construction

Building construction is way down in most of the US, but when the economy recovers and building picks back up, green building will be the norm. In this recession, we have learned how to cut back on expenses,  including energy use. We discovered it wasn’t a big sacrifice; we were still comfortable in our homes. We’ve learned that our natural resources are finite and how important it is to conserve them. We have also learned that buildings are energy hogs. According to the US Environmental … [Read more...]

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Green Jobs: the Housing Construction Industry

July 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Green economy

Despite the still sinking economy, layoffs, businesses closing, and the rise in unemployment and food stamp applications, jobs in the green sector are growing. What is a green job? According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP): We define green jobs as work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this … [Read more...]

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Green Building With Earthen Homes, Pt. 2: Cob Home Construction

July 8, 2011 By 5 Comments
Cob house

Twenty years ago, a friend of mine told me he was building a one-room cabin for himself. I went to his remote, sagebrush-covered land to see what he was doing, because I had seen a few of his other inexpensive, one-of-a-kind homes before. He’s a resourceful guy, building from scraps and recycled materials. Leading a simple life and traveling quite a bit, he just wanted a simple shelter to spend summers in Taos. The walls of his current project were solid yet rugged, uneven mud and only about … [Read more...]

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Prefab Homes Construction: Eco-Friendly Innovation

June 29, 2011 By 4 Comments
Modular construction homes

Prefab homes have had a negative associations attached to them; unglamorous, characterless, low-quality, temporary. But in addition to the falsehood of these associations, as it turns out, they are actually coming into line with a new paradigm for green building. Fashioned in modular processes offsite, and then delivered to a location, a pre-fab home is less instrusive to an eco-system, and less fuel is burned to build them, due to fewer trips to the site. But, what are the advantages of a pre-fab … [Read more...]

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Green Building End-of-Spring Round Up!

June 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Eco construction

In addition to some of the issues and pointers we've covered here on this humble green blog of ours, there have been lots and lots of excellent posts out there  that talk about what's coming next in the world of green building innovations, trends, news, technology. So, I thought I'd search the Internet high-and-low for some examples. One of the things that interests me in this area is that ideas about how to create a more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible world is a constantly … [Read more...]

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