Simple and Green Building

Reader Contribution by Leigha Dickens
Published on April 25, 2013
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I’m a green building consultant for a company that builds unique round homes in Asheville, North Carolina.  I work with customers from all over the US — customers who have all kinds of different dreams about what it means to build and live in a “green” home. You might imagine that I am involved in many LEED-certified projects, that I work with an array of neat technologies like wind and solar power, geothermal heat pumps, and greywater recycling systems. I do get a lot of customers asking about these things, and not a small few of them go on to incorporate these efficient and forward-thinking building systems into their new homes.  I’m both an environmentalist and a nerd, so I love seeing all of these things coming into more widespread use.

To me, though, the most important features of a sustainable building are not its technological wonders but

its simple design features:  common-sense strategies that should be incorporated whether the building becomes LEED certified, Energy Star certified, or is just trying to be environmentally friendly. These are the strategies that I find are at the core of green building.  I will go into more detail about these and other green building topics in future blog posts.

Photo at right: Well-designed green homes, such as this round Deltec Home in North Carolina, focus first on simple design features such as passive solar design, a simple shape, and quality craftsmanship.

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