Green construction is a two faced systematic approach to building homes that use resources more efficiently and and limit their impact on the environment. Green homes should use less energy, water and materials to be efficient. These home should also reduce environmental impacts do to pollution and protect our health.
I truly believe we are living at an exciting time in history where the economic pressures from fossil fuels will help shape the construction industry for years to come. The results should be a very intense focus on building better green structures every day.
Every aspect of modern construction is now being evaluated as part of the green construction movement. Many projects are now focusing on reducing job site waste, including recycled materials, procuring products manufactured locally, incorporating alternative fuels and promoting healthier living conditions. Please join me as I start to cover this exciting area within the construction industry.
I'd like to invite all of you to leave comments on subjects you'd like to see covered and areas that interest you. I'll do my best to bring you the latest information about Today's Green Construction.
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Todd Fratzel, P.E.
I'm the Principal Engineer for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experiences with green construction in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the author of Home Construction Improvement. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.
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4 comments:
What is your opinion on bamboo floors?
I am not certain that this is exactly the right place to post this, but I would like you to share this with your readers, please. As a Minneapolis real estate agent, I am always interested in promoting discussion about "green" construction and building techniques.
Here is a post I wrote about bamboo floors:
http://realestatetwincities.net/bamboo
Any opinions or corrections are very welcome.
Thank You.
I would like to hear your opinion on Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) construction (given where you live, ie snow country, wasn't sure why you didn't consider this for your house...or did you?), Structural Insulated Panels, and more about geo-thermal heating\cooling systems (costs, break-even time, etc).
Your house is just beautiful btw - nice job. My wife and I are also looking at Colonial-style plans for our next house out here in the Seattle area.
thx,
Jay
Hi, it's me again with one more suggestion for discussion: non-vented attics. Was reading about these and it seems to make a lot of sense, especially if you like to use your attic for storage.
thx,
Jay
@ Jay
All great topics that I can work on to bring my opinions and experience to the blog.
We did not consider ICF's for our home for one reason really. Our home has a full walkout along the entire back of the house. I felt that it wasn't really justified for the remaining half. Also, the crew that works for me hasn't done them before so I would have needed another crew which would have cost me more money.
I'll certainly be covering geothermal issues in future posts.
I'm still not sure how I feel about un-vented attic space. I'm really all about ventilation but I have an open mind and I'm waiting to see a real example before I totally discount it.
Thanks for the great compliments and suggestions!
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