Contents
*Homes Across America
*Special Video Offer
*Feedback
*General and Unsubscribe Information
Greenhomebuilding.com E-zine is a monthly opt-in email publication for people who are interested in sustainable architecture and alternative or natural building. It is written by Kelly Hart, the host of http://www.greenhomebuilding.com ..........
Homes
Across America
I would like to introduce you to a website that is doing a great job of providing
specific examples of energy-efficient homes in many areas of the United States.
This is http://www.homes-across-america.org/
. I found out about this site when they contacted me about the possibility
using my home as an example, and I decided to follow up on their offer. You
can see the report on my home by checking out the earthbag/papercrete home
listed in Colorado.
This website, sponsored in part by the EPA, particularly focuses on the preservation of local ecology, the use of green products for construction, minimizing the waste stream during construction, the enhancement of indoor air quality, general energy efficiency, water protection and conservation, and design for a wide spectrum of humanity.
You can search their database for homes that feature these elements in all 50 states, although not all of the states are yet represented. Contact information is given for the various featured homes, so that you might be able to tour some of them, or at least find out more about them.
Homes Across America is also soliciting submissions of more homes to profile. If your home might qualify (it needs to be built no earlier than 2000), there is an on-line application form you can fill out. You can also request a Word file be sent to you for your application, which I recommend doing, as the on-line form can be frustrating at times.
So, whether you submit a profile of your own home, or simply review what is available at this website, I'm sure you will find it informative and interesting.
Special
Video Offer
Perhaps the description of my home has aroused your curiosity about exactly
how it was built. Well this can be satisfied by watching the video program
I made called Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete
Home, which shows the progress of construction over the course of the three
years it took me to build it. As a subscribers to this E-zine, you may purchase
this video at a 25% discount or $22.45, plus shipping. Just go to http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/store.htm
and place an order for this video, and then indicate in the Special Instructions
field that you would like the special E-zine price ($22.45). This offer expires
on April 30, 2004.
Feedback
Great
article about the move. (http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/ezines/ezine17.htm)
A tax assessor once told me that buildings never need to be demolished, rather
they just get in the way of progress. Maybe a modern corollary is: Houses
and buildings never need to be demolished, rather they just need to be retrofitted.
Michael
I want to compliment you on your fine story about the old school and your father. It was very touching. He was a remarkable man. He left a very nice legacy. Keep up the great work. Regards, Mike
I am part of a group that is starting an intentional community in Belize.
It looks like we will be using concepts from lightweight concrete, conics
and possibly some others. I am so grateful for the huge amount of information
that you have gathered in one spot. Thanks again for the great work you have
done.
Jim
Your web site is educational, informative and inspiring. I am currently involved
in a local development project in central Saudi Arabia "adobe homes:
back to earth". Besides all facts about natural buildings, we believe
it is an excellent solution to provide homes for the low-income (as a start).
Again, I thank you for your efforts.
Raad
I will hazard
a prediction that some of the troops presently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan
will return to their home countries with a new appreciation of earth buildings
and will be open to utilizing the technology here in the west as they reach
the age where they can build their own homes. This will mean an upswing in
the number of earth buildings being built. That will mean jobs and a permanent
reduction in the amount of non-renewable energy used to heat and cool homes.
(That's a bit ironic if you accept the premiss that the wars in the mid east
are actually over oil...) This would be a kind of priming of the pump. Not
all the troops will be interested in this, but even a 5% response would mean
thousands of houses to be built as time passes. Time will tell.
Chris
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