ECO’s Green Home Tour

HENDERSONVILLE — Tickets are now on sale for ECO’s fourth annual Green Home Tour that will be held on Aug. 20. The tour will showcase homes that demonstrate the good use of green technology as well as sustainable living practices. This year’s tour features a treasure trove of homes that work with nature.

Showcased in this year’s tour are two gems hidden in the beautiful wilderness of north Henderson County that form the cornerstone of an intentional community. Both have made excellent use of passive solar design that will not only keep their homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but will also keep energy bills low. One is accentuated with a 1,500 gallon rainwater cistern that collects rainwater from 80 percent of the home and impermeable earth plaster stucco that was created on-site and will continue to get strong as time goes on. The other uses the top of their garage as a living roof which one day will have edible plants and medicinal herbs that will sustain the owners all year round. Both homes have solar panels providing radiant floor heating and hot water. On top of all this they are both part of an intentional eco-community that has preserved 200+ acres of pristine nature and maintains a 10 acre orchard and garden.

When talking about leaving a small footprint, what better way than to build small? A quaint 1,080 square foot residence will display to tour-goers the benefits of living in an appropriately sized home. However, the main attraction here is the vast and enchanting edible garden that is home to apples, cherries, blueberries, onions, tomatoes, blackberries, and grapes just to name a few. The garden is complimented by two 600 gallon rainwater cisterns and three composting bins that allow for amazingly sustainable use of the property.

A primary goal for this year’s tour is to show homeowners affordable and feasible ways that they can make their brown home green. A home in Flat Rock can teach homeowners just that. With solar tube lighting in three rooms, an edible vegetable garden, composting, and rainwater catchments this home truly exemplifies changes that are attainable for the average homeowner.

Last, but not least, we are happy to include one of Hendersonville’s new green schools. Hillandale Elementary School is a shining example of how fiscal conservative practices combined with environment concerns can create a win-win situation. Recent studies suggest that healthy indoor environments can reduce asthma and upper respiratory infections among school children as well as promote staff health, safety and productivity, and improve achievement. Healthy indoor environments are also associated with improvements in children’s learning and behavior. Hillandale Elementary features LEED certification, motion sensor turn out lights, dual flush/low flow toilets, and solar panels that heat water and the building itself.  The solar hot water and sun lighting implemented have made the building students go to school in everyday an effective learning tool. ECO’s Green Home Tour is a great way to spend a day enjoying the countryside while viewing some beautiful green homes, while picking up some great ideas on how to live sustainably. Tickets for the Green Home Tour, which includes five homes, a green community center and a green school, are available online at www.eco-wnc.org or available at the ECO office, 121 Third Ave. W, Suite 4, at the Hendersonville and Asheville Visitor’s Centers and at Wild Birds Unlimited in Hendersonville. Read here about Green Home in Florida

Green home savings

by Sandra Parker

VIRGINIA BEACH — At Homearama in Virginia Beach, there are a lot of beautiful green homes.  But if you look past all the beautiful decor, you’re likely to see something that is even more attractive to most homeowners – cost saving technology.

Builder Jeff Ainslie has several items in his home “The Rockwell” including a super low-flow toilet that has two flushing options.  According to Ainslie, “a normal toilet uses about three gallons per flush.  A low-flow toilet uses about 1.6.  But this toilet uses about 1.2 on a large flush and about three-quarters of a gallon on a smaller flush.”

He says the toilet also reduces the impact on the environment because you have less waste water to treat.  And when it comes to a water heater, Ainslie researched the tankless water heater and found it to be a big cost saver.  He says it will “heat water instantly when you need the water versus keeping a water tank heated 24/7 when you typically only use water three or four hours a day.”

The attic is another place you’ll find savings.  What may look like a labyrinth of duct work according to Ainslie is a great way to keep air flowing throughout the house and keep too much cash from flowing out of your pockets.

“If we built this house ten years ago to code, heating and cooling costs would be about $120 to $130 dollars a month,” said Ainslie.  “And your efficiency of your HVAC equipment would only be about two-thirds of what it is today.”

He says today with all the ”green technology” in place, heating and cooling this 4080 square foot house  will cost between $35 and $40 a month.”

Before you rush out and purchase things that claim to be the latest and greatest green technology for you home, Ainslie suggests you do your homework first and ask some questions like “Is it really going to be a benefit to them or is it just going to be a buzz word that doesn’t provide a return on investment?”

Something else to consider when going green in Virginia Beach – the city has a program that if your house meets certain green home criteria, it will lower the tax rate on the home. Ainslie says for his home at Homearama that would be a savings of $75 a month.

Green Homes Business

The concept of being green home has for decades, in my opinion been unnecessarily politicized. People are labeled as either tree-huggers  or a ‘drill baby drill’ types. We all want to save money on energy and increase the value of home at the same time so why not harness energy in more creative and natural ways.

Should I optimize for Green homes?

Harnessing the Sun’s Energy

As part of the search engine business, I am particularly interested in what people are searching on for information on green home building and as I research this, I start to get  a better idea of how popular it is becoming. There is plenty of nomenclature for green homes; carbon neutral, sustainable etc etc.

The cost of building your own or adding environmentally friendly features have been historically high.  With more and more green companies providing a critical mass with green tax deductions, breaking even and beginning to saving money the green way is closer than ever.

A Modular Home

In the last 12 months, searches on terms like modular and green homes etc are up 50%. Many real estate firms should be looking for opportunities to compete on these breakout terms early while it also remains possible to compete at a reasonable pay-per-click cost. If a web site is optimized for terms before they become wildly competitive, then you increase your chance to maintain a high SERP (Search Engine Rank Position) for a long time.

A local client of mine Brian Boardman, has become a great resource and Realtor that walks the walk with his Green credentials and also launched a new venture, Agents Driving Hybrids

Building Site Authority with Google

Google and others will recognize the site as an authority and consider you a trusted resource. Remember however that Google cares about deep, relevant, keyword-rich content, linked to and from other relevant, trusted sources. So don’t have anything spammy or stuffed to the gills with keywords. People are wary of greenwashing too, so don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk. Google is smarter than all of us too.

http://walkablesuburb.com/

Here at Union Street Media, we have been having success recently with clients in this market and have been able to advise them on how best to optimize their content for this market. Walkable Suburbs chose to focus on a particular market area which is becoming more and more relevant: walkable suburbs.

Partnering with Union Street Media, we built a site focusing on suburban real estate with walkable commutes to trains and commercial districts. This site is a great example of an agent seeing an unfilled niche in their market and building a website to take advantage of the opportunity and realize a passionate, personal goal.

A National Movement

http://www.globalgreen.org/

There has been  an exciting convergence of design, green technology, human ingenuity  and an increasing moral imperative that is taking shape in many areas often the least well-off. In New Orleans, the lack of government help and leadership has led to some exciting urban renewal projects spear-headed by a wide spectrum of people and partnerships including Brad Pitt‘s Global Green organization and people whose homes were actually devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Companies like GroSolar are leading the way in solar energy for homes, which Union Street Media was proud to be involved with.

To me, not only does it make sense to be investing in green homes but to be an early adopter of the right kinds of keywords that people are actually searching on.

Rio Ferdinand’s Green Home

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fiona_A_Davies

Green  Home Technology

The concept of going green home is picking up and more and more people are becoming aware and willingly contributing to the cause. Many of the major industries have also taken it seriously and are producing greener products. Technology is the ever changing field and with the frequent renovations and discoveries, it is getting updated with the green concept. The field of green technology covers a group of methods and techniques which are non toxic to the environment.Technology has become an essential part of our daily life. Electronic products such as cell phones, televisions, music players, laptops and commuting vehicles are an inseparable part of our lives. Technology includes research on varied aspects. There are many ways to minimize the harm caused by these and green them up. Some of them are covered here which have been making significant contributions to help save our planet.

1. Green Gadgets- Powering all the gadgets with solar chargers is the better option to keep them green. Many gadgets like the cell phones, i-pods, digital clocks and thermometers have been designed in a way as to be powered by solar energy. Algae are considered to be the next big thing in biofuels and can be used as paper-thin biodegradable batteries. Spotlight timer for road traffic lights is a beneficial design which displays a countdown timer encircling the standard red stop-light making it simpler for the drivers to gauge the time before the red light changes to amber and then green. This helps them save fuel and drive efficiently. Microbial fuel cell batteries have also been designed which derive energy from naturally occurring bacteria in soil. These eco-friendly batteries could be used to provide power to areas lacking electricity.

2. Green Computers- Notebooks consume less energy than the desktops and should be preferred. Green computers are being designed which require less material for their design, have a low emission mainboard and consume a mere fraction of electricity. Switching off the computers when not in use can save a lot of energy. Keeping computers for long is the green way. Computer uses less power when hibernating than when sleeping, so it is better to set up your computer to hibernate rather than go to sleep. Save paper when printing and avoid discarding huge piles of papers when using the network printer.

3. Green Mobile Phones- Recycling mobile phones and using them for long are greener ways of using them. Most of the toxic substances used in the manufacture of mobile phone handsets are being replaced by castor beans, water bottles, car tires, corn and aluminum cans to make them more environmentally friendly. Also, recycling the hardware at the end of its life has been recommended to keep the process green. Apart from these, there are several downloadable applications available to keep a tab on the carbon footprint.

4. Green Home Electronics- Electronic devices are an indispensable part of our life and greening them is a matter of knowing how best to use them and how to dispose them when their useful life is done. Some of the steps you might take to go green can be using rechargeable batteries as far as possible, pulling the plug on devices when not in use to save energy, identifying energy-saving electronic devices (like cordless phones, stereo systems, TVs, DVD players, battery chargers) before purchasing them, using solar chargers to power your gadgets, disposing the used ones properly and not mixing them up in trash to avoid releasing toxins into the ecosystem.

5. Green Cars- Cars provide comfort and convenience but 20% of greenhouse gas emissions come from cars and other SUVs causing air pollution. Green cars or the hybrid cars are a better option since they use biodiesel, a clean, veggie-based, carbon-neutral fuel without much modification to the engine. Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are also practical options over the current ones. Having clean air filters and having better driving practices can save a lot of fuel and pollution. Using windows instead of air conditioning is better. Carpooling is the best method to save energy, walking short distances instead of driving comes next. Read more about Green Homes in Florida