Green Home For You

Education is your best friend when it comes to building a greener life. It’s not the easiest way to live for most of us in a hectic 9 -5, but it’s good to know there are doable steps that will bring you closer to making an impact (versus being a pseudo green washer with a head full of half-truths and slogans). There are many simple and cheap steps we can take to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and toxicity.

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Eco-building’s

The marching order to “leave nothing but footprints” enlisted an infantry of green builders this season, before our collective attention turned to security. While our man from the Midland Petroleum Club (aka George Bush) dissed environmental causes and dismissed global warming, — before his attention, too, was turned — a growing number of land-shapers and place-makers began to cast an ecological eye toward planning and construction. Whether labeled green building, sustainable architecture, organic architecture or what one inclusionist calls “The Whole Building,” this new constituency of ecologically-attuned and everyday builders has begun to consider environmental values in building inside and out – from the materials in the making, to the siting of the structure, to the energy it consumes.

Chic Decor

Almost every article you read these days uses the word “chic,” referencing everything from residential interiors to hotels to personal style. But what is “chic,” and in particular, what is “chic decor?” And how can you achieve this in your home? By definition “chic decor” means elegant or stylish decoration. An elegant home is one that has been well-planned and appointed using a number of the design principles outlined here to help you achieve this goal.

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The First Healthy Building

The first Healthy Building News for 2007 is a week late. On the eve of publication last week, our scheduled topic was rendered moot by the US EPA’s decision to prohibit the residential use of a toxic pressure treated wood formula known as ACC (acid copper chromate). Its main ingredient, hexavalent chromium, is the human carcinogen that made Erin Brockovich a household name.

The urgency of the pending EPA decision had itself bumped our original topic for the 2007 inaugural issue — highlighting the positive implications of the ambitious USGBC initiatives unveiled last November at GreenBuild. The EPA’s surprise but welcome decision brings our thesis full circle: the growing weight of the evidence suggests that the climate of the green building movement is changing, for the better.

Consider this: the US EPA did not move to restrict the use of arsenic-based pressure treated wood until nearly a decade after the green building movement’s journal of record, Environmental Building News, suggested it should be phased out.

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Nice Fresh Paint For ur Home

As the green building construction boom becomes widely popular due to the large cost savings and environmental benefits that can be achieved, green paints and coatings are also becoming a necessity for painting contractors who want to deliver quality green building projects.

What constitutes a green building? According to certification standards, green buildings are environment-friendly structures that use only ecologically-friendly materials in construction, and releases non-toxic hazards and substances that may cause harm to the environment and to human beings. Furthermore, green buildings are sustainable structures that are efficient to maintain, using lesser power, energy and water consumption to operate. Green buildings are therefore much more cost-beneficial compared to non-green buildings.

Make Ur Life Green

The concept of “green” buildings is catching on in the commercial painting contractors business, despite the economic crisis that is gripping the country and the whole world these days. Even as new construction projects are declining, the demand for green buildings is increasing. Building owners and commercial painting contractors are more and more interested in the significant benefits that a green building can bring.

Green buildings use environment-friendly materials and methods to construct. Green buildings are not only sustainable and eco-friendly, but also provide huge savings during its construction and post-construction phases. Once the building is operational, long-terms savings continue to be realized in terms of lesser utility bills and maintenance costs. With green buildings, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) estimates an average ROI of 20%.