Green building: energy efficiency in the home from the ground up
“Green building” homes to be more energy efficient, even energy independent, is something that has really gained popularity these days as more and more people are realizing the effects that our energy use has. on the planet, from the increase in energy expenditure costs. and even where we get our energy and fuels from. There are a few angles of approach to achieving energy efficiency and, truth be told, taking all of these is the best and most efficient way to achieve this goal. What are some of these approaches?
The many ways to build a green home toward energy efficiency, or indeed energy independence, can be seen as coming primarily from four main areas: Sun, Earth, Water, and Wind. This almost brings to mind the philosophical elements of the alchemists, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, not very far, actually, in the alchemy of energy conservation. Of course, dealing with the sun, we have solar energy, be it active or passive. Earth would be geothermal energy, and the other two are even more obvious. Let’s take a look at geothermal …
For the green construction of a house to use geothermal energy, a great way to use it also takes into account water. Sending simple water pipes a few feet underground under the house to circulate inside the house and back underground and back is a great way to heat and cool your house and water at the same time. Former President Bush’s home in Texas uses this same technology, and for years, many homes in northern Canada do as well. This is a great example of “green building”. The houses that have this type of technology installed can basically function without connection to the network, in terms of heating and cooling of air and water.
Solar energy, as I mentioned before, can be both active and passive. The active form uses solar panels, which these days are much more efficient than decades ago, and also much less expensive, and the passive form is usually structured around the green building of the house itself – its overall shape, how expensive , the exposure of windows, the use of convection wrap designs in the structure of the house itself using a “double hull” design, and so on. Building green homes with these designs in mind has much less impact on our environment and also helps in the necessary elimination of our huge “carbon footprint” that we have stamped on the Earth.
Wind and water are other angles of focus, whether you use windmills or water wheels to generate electricity, or maybe even both at the same time. These systems typically use a battery with a few cells, such as those used in cars, or a single cell, such as those used in forklifts, to store the energy created for continuous use. Using all of these angles of approach, we can see how building green homes with all of them in use can create a fully energy efficient home, even energy independent for living.
