What, No Solar Panels?
In the days of rising gas prices and murmurings of an impending recession, we’ve heard that almost all industries are feeling the squeeze. Except for one. From eco-chic furnishings to organic baby food, local and sustainable offerings are the new black and there’s an unrelenting interest in all things green. John and I have always loved the idea creating a more eco-friendly abode (since going green and saving green go hand in hand) and over the past two years we’ve steadily added long-lasting hardwood floors (made from local oak as opposed to imported exotics), energy star appliances in our kitchen and laundry room, low-e windows throughout the house, and “recycled” thrift store furniture in almost every room.
And while every magazine seems to be hitting us over the head with “it’s easy being green” tips that we’ve all heard 100 times (compact florescent bulbs anyone?), I recently found a story in the June issue of Better Homes & Gardens that featured an inspiringly green new home.
Instead of the usual mention of solar panels and bamboo flooring, these homeowners were refreshingly unique in their green approach, while chalking up their motivation to “laziness”. After mentioning that they’d “rather spend time with each other instead of taking care of the house and spending money on things we don’t have to” the couple went on to drop a bunch of green tips we’d never heard.
One of which was raising the fireplace a few feet off the ground (to the height of a couch seat cushion) so heat is dispensed right at the level of those lounging on the sofa during a cold winter night. The couple also extended their home’s overhangs 3-5 feet to provide summer shading (and dramatically decrease the amount of window cleaning that’s necessary).
Some of their other tips included: choosing a light roof color (theirs was a gorgeous cream colored metal one) to deflect heat, intentionally building a detached carport instead an attached garage (to keep gas and paint toxins out of the home and improve air quality), and going with an open floor plan (which allows air to naturally circulate throughout the space to reduce energy consumption).
Now we’re not exactly planning to build another home anytime soon, but if we were we’d certainly consider working these easy-living tips into our design. So we thought we’d share in case any of our lovely readers are renovating or designing their dream home. Doesn’t less frequent window cleaning sound positively dreamy?
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I just read that article last night and thought the same thing! Finally some tips that are a little more cost friendly. Solar is great, and something we hope to do in the future, but the cost is high. Lighter colored shingles aren’t nearly as pricey.
Thanks for sharing this! I would never have thought about toxins from the garage coming into the house.
I think you guys would appreciate adding this book to your library if you haven’t already: The Lazy Environmentalist (Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living) by Josh Dorfman. Awesome book with plenty ‘o green resources.
Hi, this is the homeowner speaking. I just want to point out that the color of the roof is actually unadorned aluminum, not white or cream. We didn’t even inquire about the cost of colored metal, just presumed it was too high. Also, we were aiming to capture the feel of the house we were replacing with this project, and the original house had a plain metal roof.
The article incorrectly states that we have radiant floor heating. This kind of system makes no sense in our climate, which is rarely very cold. Our heating system consists of a fan that blows air across coils filled by water from our extremely efficient water heater, so that we get more bang for the buck from heating the water.
Hey Ann,
So exciting to hear from the homeowner herself! Your house is gorgeous and über inspiring. Thanks for the quick note to clear everything up, and for reminding us all that there’s always something we can do to make our house work harder for us.
xoxo,
Sherry
solar panels for homes are still expensive and requires some large capital to install,`;