The Green Home: A Decision Making Guide for Owners and Builders

What does a "green" home look like? What are its characteristics, and how can you ensure that you meet the highest green standards within a given budget? The answers to these questions and more are found in The Green Home, a book dedicated to teaching builders and homeowners alike about environmentally-friendly residential construction. This highly practical resource explores the very latest construction techniques, materials, processes, and green practices that will reduce the environmental impact of the building itself. Coverage ranges from air sealing measures and energy efficient practices to water conservation and the usage of natural materials, with a special focus on complying with zoning ordinances and building codes. With thorough explanations of the many benefits of green building, this is the perfect "nuts and bolts" guide to environmentally-sound homes.

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Making Ourselves at Home: Women Builders and Designers

General contractor Janice Goldfrank interviewed 21 trailblazing women, from experienced architects to novices who have never used tools, to assemble this collection of incredible, true accounts of women who mustered the courage and resources to design and build their own homes. Printed on acid-free paper. Photos & illustrations. Size D. National workshop tour.

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How to Design and Build a Green Office Building: A Complete Guide to Making Your New or Existing Building Environmentally Healthy

As energy costs rise, more and more companies are looking to create green offices buildings ones that use resources efficiently while simultaneously creating healthier working environments. The energy use statistics are staggering: The heating, cooling, and powering of offices accounts for 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and are responsible for more than 70 percent of the country s total electricity usage. Office computers consume $1 billion of electricity annually. Moreover, recent surveys demonstrate that employees are fed up with their companies energy-wasting ways: One-third of workers are more inclined to work for a company that is going green, and approximately 50 percent want their employers to be more environmentally friendly. How can you attract workers and reduce your costs at the same time? By going green; the tips in How to Design and Build a Green Office Building will show you how. In this book, you will learn how to protect the building occupants health, how to improve employee productivity, how to use resources more efficiently, how to reduce your impact on the environment, how to select a site for a new building, how to protect and maintain the current landscape, how to use recycled content, how to use natural lighting, how to install high-efficiency lighting systems, how to select heating and cooling systems, how to select materials, and how to use dimensional planning and material efficiency strategies. You will also learn everything you need to know about water savings, energy efficiency, environmentally-friendly building materials, indoor environmental quality, building shape and orientation, alternative energy sources, dual plumbing, green building guidelines, gray water systems, water-conserving fixtures, the costs and financial benefits of building green, foundations, floors, and roofing. In addition, How to Design and Build a Green Office Building provides you with thousands of low or no cost ways to make your office more environmentally friendly. Whether you are building a brand new building, remodeling an existing one, or even just looking to make small changes that will have a big impact, you need to read this book. Employing the techniques in this book will ultimately save you money, increase your productivity, and attract more employees.

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House on a Budget: Making Smart Choices to Build the Home You Want (American Institute Architects)

Until now, homeowners have had to choose between the twin worlds of budget-friendly mediocrity and unaffordable fantasy. Responding to this gap, acclaimed architect Duo Dickinson demonstrates that a custom house doesn't depend on a fabulous price tag. House on a Budget, originally published in hardcover as The House You Build, is about a third way of building grounded in the realities of time and money, but focusing on your fondest hopes and dreams. He offers 19 real-world situations where unique and imaginative homes were built on real-life budgets.

Duo's Rules for Getting What You Want (and Can Afford)
1.Use Standard Materials Creatively
2.Shrink to Fit
3.Don't Fight the Site
4.Take Your Time
5.Defer and Save: Building in Phases
6.Take Charge: Spending Time to Save Money

Price: $21.95

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