Green Building Solar Power Energy Generation Guide
Green Building With Renewable Resources
By Gerard J Howson
Green building materials made with renewable resources
are becoming a popular option for many people these
days. These materials will help to lower your carbon
footprint and limit the number of emissions from your
home. You can also use solar power to generate electricity
to meet all your power needs in your home.
You can review a number of options with solar power.
There is solar thermal power, where materials to absorb
and store heat are placed in strategic locations around
the home and a solar power system takes that heat and
generates solar power.
Trap Sun Energy
Another option is to use photoelectric cells with solar
panels, to trap sun energy and generate solar power.
Both of these systems generate free electricity, as
there are no ongoing solar power generation costs, when
using these solar power systems.
There are no emissions when generating solar power,
so using this system, helps to maintain your green home
credentials.
Reducing Your Impact To The Environment With A Green Home
A home that is green is a home built and run with the
environment in mind. With the threat of global warming
becoming more urgent everyday, the average family needs
to do their part to make as little impact as possible.
Going green is a way to do this and the first place
to start, is with your home. You can find a lot of home
supplies from bathtubs to faucets at fuzing.com.
Whether you are constructing your toilet or your kitchen,
it will help you in the long run if you build it from
an environment friendly perspective. The greener your
home will be; the healthier environment it will have.
You can use environment friendly things from paints
to drapes and other objects that will add to the overall
decor of your home.
Using Renewable Resources As Building Materials
If you are looking to build a new home, think with
the environment in mind. You can use renewable resources
such as lightweight concrete, manufactured, stone, straw,
wood or earth. Each one of these materials has its own
merits and disadvantages, but they all have the environment
in mind.
1. Earth is an abundant
resource. What can be more environment friendly than
the very dirt beneath your feet? You can choose from
earthen materials kind to the environment such as cob,
adobe and rammed earth.
2. Lightweight concrete has
been used for building for the last 50 years in the
United States. Its strength is not as great as the usual
concrete used for construction, but you can rest assured
that it will weather the elements just as well. Advantages
to using this building material is that can be used
for insulation, it has great fire resistant properties,
it will require a smaller foundation and there isn’t
as great a need for reinforcement of structural steel.
This impacts the environment in a positive way.
3. Manufactured building
materials appeal to those who have concern for the environment
but don’t want to live in a home made of dirt, tree
parts, straw, etc. Usually a home made with this type
of material once built will make an excellent home that
is energy efficient with thought to the environment.
4. Wood is one of the most
versatile materials for building. It used to be considered
a sustainable material for construction, but with the
over harvesting of forests worldwide, the world’s greed
has outpaced the capabilities of forests to regenerate.
You can build a green home with an eye to the environment
by using stick framed, timber framed and log wood if
wood is what you must have.
Improving Styles With A Green Home
There are quite a few styles of green homes available.
Styles can range from conventional, to rounded, earth-sheltered
and organic. Each style has many plans you can choose
from to make your home unique, comfortable and concerned
with the environment.
1. A conventional styled
home typically means that it will fit the normal concept
of a home according to the opinions of the Western world.
Homes that are considered conventional usually have
vertical walls and a rectilinear floor plan. Styles
that are considered conventional can include traditional,
contemporary, bungalow, Victorian or southwestern to
name just a few.
2. A home that is rounded
or curved in appearance is considered rounded styling.
This means that the plan for the house has a significant
part that is curved or rounded. It is said that when
you use natural materials and this style of home you
will feel in touch with nature to the extent that your
home feels like you are part of the environment itself.
This style of home is very environment friendly.
3. Earth sheltered styles
of green homes can be situated either partially or entirely
into the earth. There are many advantages to you and
to the environment when you choose this style of home.
When you go about six feet below the surface, you will
notice that the temperature only fluctuates a few degrees
all year round. The benefits to this are that it will
require much less energy to heat and to cool your home,
saving the environment from the depletion of natural
resources.
Building green can mean a lot to the environment. The
environment and its natural resources is something that
needs to be passed on to our children. If we don’t start
thinking towards the future there will be nothing left
of the environment to pass on.
Constructing A Solar Home To Generate Free Electricity
We can start, by either renovating our current home,
or building a new green home, using green architecture
and green building materials with renewable resources.
Another option is to construct a solar home with solar
power to supply electricity to power all your appliances,
turn on the lights and heat your water and help save
costs on your power bills. If you only use solar power
for all your electricity needs, then you may never see
a power bill again, as long as all your power needs
are met with free electricity and solar power.
Solar power is the new technology and is a renewable
resource as it uses the sun as its infinite source to
generate electricity. Unlike fossil fuels, which release
high emissions to pollute the atmosphere, and eventually
these fossil fuels will be depleted. Sun energy can
be renewed and there are no emissions when generating
solar power.
To reduce power costs in the longer term, a solar power
system should always be included when constructing a
green building.
About the Author:
Gerard J Howson has written a number of articles on Home Improvement, Energy Efficient Appliances, Green Ideas,
Solar power and Renewable energy including
Green Architecture,
Green Building Construction,
Patio Lights,
Solar Outdoor Lights,
Solar Technology,
Solar Electric.
Look out for new articles as they become available on this site.
Little Known Solar Facts.....
Who first used solar power?
It is believed that the ancient Greeks utilized
the sun when constructing their buildings. They realized that houses
and buildings facing the sun would receive more warmth and light.
Native Americans followed the same practice. The first
industrial use of solar power was brought about thanks
to Auguste Mouchoute in 1861 with his steam engine that
was powered by the sun. His invention may not have been
very popular with the coal industry but it was a start
in the right direction for the use of solar power.
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