Responsible Building

It is more important than it has ever been for individual members of society to take responsibility for our planet. This consists of everything from reusing your grocery bags to hanging clothing to dry instead of using a clothes dryer that sucks up energy. Riding a bicycle or carpooling to and from work or school is also encouraged now. As well as packing your own lunch in a reusable plastic container versus buying fast food in disposable containers. There are many wise choices we can all make to improve the future condition of our planet, and this is especially true when it comes to green sustainable home building.

There are many books on the subject, and Planet Earth Home is a popular one. It is a compilation of the entire world's knowledge and technology for new self-sufficient and self-sustaining home designs. It is organized as a comprehensive reference work covering virtually all related self-sufficient categories such as passive/active solar, photovoltaic, wind power, biomass, greenhouse, vegetable production, recycling, water conservation, grey-water, wood heating, thermal mass, electronic design and manufacturing, food preservation, energy-efficient HVAC systems, healthy diets, fish/animal production, natural lighting, passive ventilation, and much more. It is invaluable as a source of information for designing/building your own home using energy-saving, renewable energy, sustainable, and/or self-reliance features.

This book or others like it are great resources for any home builder, and may have information that you would not have thought of on your own. This series of articles plans to do the same thing - to give you useful information on building a green, self-sustaining coastal home that you can be proud of. Having a solid relationship with your contractors and builders is a great way to get the best results and the most innovative home as an end result. Conflicts of opinions can some times result in class action suits in Canada, so being on the same page with your builders from the get-go is an excellent way to avoid this.

Living separate from the power grid is the ultimate in energy savings and green living (not to mention financial savings). More than anything else, being off the grid represents security. You may have to spend money to start with, but the results are worth it. Being off the grid means having your own power when everyone else's is out because of a municipal power failure. It means you can rely on not only your own power system, but the food you grow and the water you drink. You won't be affected by the cost of rising prices for your utility bills, and you can continue to operate despite any fuel shortages. Living off the grid does not mean that you will live in complete isolation, with no global internet access - your connected and wired lifestyle does not have to change one bit. Being off the grid also means that even though you may hopefully never need it, your alternative energy source is there for you in the event of any sort of national emergency.

Other things to consider when it comes to responsible building are installing a 'living roof', farming organically, and raising livestock. Depending on your lifestyle and amount of free time, you can sustain your family without much from the outside world. This is really a matter of personal choice. If you can not give up those Motorola leather cases, then you may not want to become an organic farmer! The self-sustainability and reusability of organic farming is greatly beneficial for the farmers. Production costs are drastically cut. Avoiding the application and storing of inorganic pesticides also can save a great deal of money. Organic food is environmentally friendly, healthy and best of all, delicious. Whether your finished home will have one of these amazing gardens or not is your choice, but building the home in a sustainable way is the most important thing you can do.