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Create a gorgeous and greener home with the help of Green Remodeling, a MOTHER EARTH NEWS Book for Wiser Living. It includes energy-efficient, healthful and attractive choices in building materials, heating and cooling systems and appliances. It's Easy-to-read and well illustrated.

Whether because of changing lifestyles or simply because houses are becoming outdated, millions of North Americans are renovating their homes every year, spending more money annually on renovation than on new home construction. But renovations can be fraught with unintended consequences like indoor air pollution. How do you remodel in a healthy, environmentally friendly way?

Green Remodeling is a comprehensive guide. It first points out the advantages of remodeling. Buildings are responsible for 40% of worldwide energy flow and material use; so how you remodel can make a difference. Upgrading furnaces, cabinets and toilets means less fossil fuel pollution, reduced resource depletion, and fewer health risks. Green remodeling is more energy-efficient, more resource-conserving, healthier for occupants and more affordable to create, operate and maintain.

Green Remodeling then discusses simple green renovation solutions for homeowners, focusing on key aspects of the building including foundations, framing, plumbing, windows, heating and finishes. Room by room, it outlines the intricate connections that make the house work as a system. For example, how new windows may affect the structure and mechanical systems of the rooms below, the health of the family, and the future of old-growth forests. Then, in an easy-to-read format complete with checklists, personal stories, expert insights and an extensive resource list, it covers easy ways to save energy, conserve natural resources and protect the health of loved ones. Addressing all climates, this is a perfect resource for conventional homeowners, as well as architects and remodeling contractors.

About the authors:

David Johnston has been developing green building programs for the last 10 years. Named one of the top 50 remodelers in the country by Remodeling Magazine in 1990, he developed the first green remodeling program in the country in Boulder, Colorado, trains remodelers across the US, and is creating a national green certification program for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. He is President of What's Working and Lightworks Construction, Inc. He is from Boulder, Colorado.

Kim Master is a Green Building Consultant and Senior Associate with What's Working. She was previously Ecommerce/Project Manager with Care2.com, the largest environmental website for healthy living and a healthy planet. She is from Boulder, Colorado.

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This 176-page book is loaded with inspiration and information to help you create your dream green kitchen — one that's beautiful, functional, healthy and easy on the environment. Illustrated with more than 150 color photographs.

Never have expectations been so high for the kitchen. It has to look great, of course, and hold up to the demands of today’s fast-paced lifestyles. Not only that, we expect our kitchen — as the heart of our home — to exude health, to be a vibrant space that nurtures body and soul. And increasingly, we’re coming to appreciate that creating a healthy home means taking care of people and the planet.

Good Green Kitchens, with its gorgeous photographs and accessible text, is loaded with inspiration and information to help you create your dream green kitchen — one that’s beautiful, functional, healthier to spend time in and easier on the environment.

Get ready to be inspired to make your next kitchen-improvement project a green one. Even if you’re not planning a top-to-bottom kitchen re-do, this book offers dozens of practical, everyday solutions that will contribute to a healthier planet.

Good Green Kitchens gives the lowdown on what’s green and what’s not when it comes to kitchen design. Here’s a taste of what’s inside:

• Extensive resource lists of eco-friendly products, manufacturers and retailers
• More than 150 color photos of beautiful kitchens and enticing products
• Up-close profiles of beautiful, green kitchens and the people who created them
• Tips for environmentally responsible redecorating, remodeling and building from the ground up
• In-depth chapters on greener alternatives for flooring, kitchen storage, countertops and appliances
• Strategies for greening the whole house
• Guidance on how to keep pollutants out of the kitchen
• Tips for keeping costs in check when greening your kitchen
• Advice on designing smaller kitchens that look great and really work
• Comparisons of flooring and countertop options, including their environmental pros and cons

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In a tight economy, this book offers clear financial benefits by helping homeowners immediately cut their utility bills. Many of these smaller home improvements require only a modest investment. Gives readers an edge when they sell their homes buyers are especially looking for energy-efficiency, but they're also tuned into green health and environmental concerns.

The book's projects include quick and easy, low- or no-cost tasks like insulating a water heater, sealing foundation cracks, or painting with insulating paint to bigger-ticket items such as installing a new energy-efficient heating system, windows, or green flooring. The more than 65 Go Green tips highlighted throughout the book give readers ideas to make their homes and lifestyles greener.

Projects include:

• Green flooring & paint options
• Environmentally friendly cabinetry & countertops
• Whole-house insulation & weather-stripping
• High-efficiency heating & cooling
• Water conservation
• Efficient lighting, appliances & plumbing fixtures including Energy Star and WaterSense models
• Solar electric and water heating systems
• Eco-friendly roofing & siding
• Energy-efficient windows, doors & skylights
• Green materials for patios, walkways & driveways
• Landscaping & irrigation for water conservation and energy

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Have fun, save money, and improve your home with these easy step-by-step projects.

Are you looking for a way to make your bathroom a little more beautiful? Or maybe you'd like to give your tired furniture a face-lift, improve your home's air quality, or fix a toilet. No matter your DIY needs and no matter whether you're a DIY novice or expert, home improvement guru Andrea Ridout, host of the nationally syndicated radio show Ask Andrea, has ideas, expertise, and advice to share with you.

If I Had a Hammer offers easy-to-follow instructions and illustrations designed to make home improvement simpler than ever. With a little help from Andrea, you'll be able to tackle repairs, painting and decorating, bathroom and kitchen remodeling, wood care for furniture and floors, and much more with projects that often take as little as an hour. Also, you can try a few of Andrea's energy-conserving projects that can dramatically improve your utility bill—Andrea's projects are friendly on the environment and on your wallet! With If I Had a Hammer, you'll have the tools to keep your home functioning and looking as good as—or even better than—new.