A simple guide to starting you in the direction of creating a better, more sustainable home

Insulating is great; however, you could have energy efficiency issues with your air ducts. Sealing your air ducts can help to make your system more efficient.

At one point the advice was not to insulate gas water heaters. You may now see advice that you should to improve energy efficiency. Insulating can help, but you need to do it correctly.

As we use more science in building our homes, homeowners may want to understand what is being discussed. U-factor has been a term used in the past, but now is seen more frequently when energy efficient standards are being mentioned.

Adding water or energy efficient appliances can be more expensive, but how much more expensive is it? Is having a green home a luxury item? Maybe we should re-evaluate the messages of the green building movement.

Part of the promise of the smart grid is to reduce our energy costs while also making the power supply to our homes reliable. This would lead to home energy management systems being put into place.

To lower your electricity bill, you have to save energy. The biggest cost is air conditioning. How can we prevent loosing our conditioned air through vents which are open to the exterior.

Windows are problematic when it comes to energy efficiency. We have long used a shutter or a blind to help keep a room cool or warm, but does this really help.

Are you planning to spend money on your home this year? Is your project focused on improving you energy efficiency? Then there is the likely chance that you are going to take the wrong step.

My electric bill came in lower this past month, which caused me to reflect on all of my efforts to work on making my home more sustainable.

It is not enough to purchase a home with green features. To reap the benefits of such a home, you need to manage it with green principles in mind.

Most home builders are focusing on green elements in the home, which increases the price of the home. Passive features achieved through smart design does not cost more, and this can be the best green feature.

We want healthier lives. We want to pay less on our energy bills. We can use the sun to make us feel better and light our homes, but we do not need to rely on solar power.

Are we rethinking how our homes are built? We are delivering new standards, like advanced framing, but we are delivering new materials as well.

For the last two years, we have heard about using CFLs, and now we have LED lights. LED lights may be the wave of the future

The passive house concept is being furthered, as more homeowners are looking into smart designs. Can we think outside of the box when it comes to these ideas?

Building performance evaluations, home energy audits, and green home consultants are growing trends. You may be wondering if you should put your home through such a stress test.

In Houston, there are rules about greywater systems and how that water is used. Filtering the water is required if the water will be reused inside the home, but what about outside the house?

Moisture problems can lead to mold or damage to wall coverings, and maybe more. As we improve the tightness of our homes, we should be concerned with indoor air quality as well. The first step is dealing with humidity.

Letting my thoughts wander on what could be done to make a home sustainable.

A town home in Houston presents an air conditioning problem, which comes under energy efficiency, but standard answers for a home may not suffice.

Do we think about how we use space when making decisions on how to change our homes?

In older homes, return air ducts are typically just a cavity in the wall, which is not energy efficient.

Liquid roof coatings are becoming easier to find, and elastomeric coatings may be a wave of the future.

A green home may mean different things to various organizations, and you may find that one organization or another states that the product you are using does not mean you are being green.

Could being green make your neighbors see red? Sometimes being an early adapter of sustainable technologies may make you the object of scorn.

Some home designs cause attic layouts which need ventilation help. Installing a solar powered attic vent can be a great solution.

Any break in you insulation allows for a great reduction in your energy efficiency, but you may not realize it, there could be a good number of breaks in your attic insulation.

Most homeowners are concerned about energy savings, but water savings will be the big deal on the horizon. You may hear about greywater, and how you can use it in your home, but can you buy equipment like you would for energy savings?

A report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that it may be a buyer beware situation with EnergyStar. Yes, you still have to do your homework.

I believe in passive measures to ventilate attics, but I bought a solar powered fan to try out an idea.

To make your home green, you should understand a little building science to make wiser choices.

Many green home advocates may not be leading you to a the best green option.

After having written a post about building a solar oven, I was asked over the weekend by a friend, could I build one into the home. I took the challenge to make a plan.

Creating a passive system that will not cause you to spend money on a utilities to help with the energy efficiency of your home.

A passive way to create a greener home has one simple step that many buyers do not consider: high ceilings.

Micro-CHP systems could be the direction that will shape the mechanical systems of our home.

A new idea on how to insulate your roof using nanotechnology.

Not really a new concept, but there is a new product being used for creating steel walls, and it may be coming to a home near you.

Your home’s insulation may not be complete, causing you to loose money.