eco-friendly

Homeowners are continually looking for ways to get a greater return on their home investment. But with the recent price increases for building materials and shrinking lot sizes, outdoor living areas are now becoming a more valuable and trendy upgrade.

Awnings, both aesthetically appealing and functional, create an outdoor extension of the home that can facilitate many activities. And a well-placed awning can add thousands of dollars to the price of a home, especially in smaller homes where square footage is at a premium.

“Homeowners often consider their home a retreat and are on the lookout for unique additions that add character,” said Michelle Sahlin, managing director, Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA). “An awning extends outdoor living space by creating a new room without the high costs and complexities of other home additions. These outdoor havens have the potential to give homeowners increased selling... Read More on GetWithGreen.com

Approximately one tire is discarded per person per year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports 290 million scrap tires were generated in 2003. These tires are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste, due to the large volume produced and their durability. Those same characteristics which make waste tires such a problem also make them one of the most re-used waste materials, as the rubber is very resilient and can be reused in other products. With landfills minimizing their acceptance of whole tires and the health and environmental risks of stockpiling tires, many new markets have been created for scrap tires. Growing markets exist for a majority of scrap tires produced every year, being supported by State and Local Government.

Believe it or not, recycled tire products can economically add value and safety to your home. Through a special process, tires can be chopped into small pieces and the metal removed. The resulting products are include crumb rubber (also known as ground rubber) and tire buffings that can be used for mulch or used to create a wide array of ...Read More on GetWithGreen.com

Recycled glass tiles are gaining in popularity, and let’s just face it — the unique patterns and colors are beautiful. We’ve taken some time to compile a list of manufacturers to help you quickly source tiles for your kitchen or bath. Enjoy!

Aurora Glass

Aurora Glass Architectural Accents include glass tiles and drawer knobs made from 100% recycled glass. Aurora Glass is a program of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Inc. All profits from sale of Aurora glass support homeless and low-income people through emergency services, housing, jobs, training, and other charitable endeavors in Portland, OR. Products can be purchased directly on the company’s website.

Bedrock Industries

Blazestone® tiles are made by hand from 100% recycled glass, most of which is post-consumer content. They come in all types of shapes an sizes, as well as mosaic pieces. Color varies...Read More on GetWithGreen.com

2008 is fast approaching, and the team at GetWithGreen.com is stopping now to recognize a few of our favorite eco-friendly home improvement products for 2007. These products are assembled together under one roof: GetWithGreen.com’s 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007.

GetWithGreen.com’s 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007 consists of manufacturers (or categories) who deliver eco-friendly products, which make our planet a greener place. These products help us conserve, help us reuse, help us recycle, or help us become less reliant on existing harmful resources. We also looked heavily at the popularity of these products with you, our readers.

Let’s give a GetWithGreen.com Thumbs up to our 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007:

1) Cyber-Rain – “The smartest, greenest, and easiest irrigation system on the planet.”

sprinkler cyberrainThe Cyber-Rain XCI System caused quite a bit of stir at GetWithGreen.com in 2007. It was one of the most widely read stories, and for good reason. Resetting the sprinkler timer at every change of season, or for un-seasonal weather changes, just isn’t practical – and we don’t do it! Instead we just let our sprinklers turn on when it is not necessary, and we waste our most precious resource. The Cyber-Rain XCI System made it to our list because it automatically adjusts our sprinklers depending on the weather forecast, thus greatly reducing water usage, and...

Read the other winners at www.GetWithGreen.com

Greetings Greenies,

If you enjoyed the West Coast Green Residential Building Conference + Expo, then you will enjoy their latest endeaver at the Western Interiors Design + Home Show. Western Interiors is renowned for their classic and contemporary take on high end design and interior decor. However, this year they have taken a big step in the green direction, and with the help of Wet Coast Green have incorporated a "green home pavilion" into their tradeshow.

The 1,500 square foot staged home, complete with living room, dining room and outdoor area, will be arranged and designed by Interior Designers Deborah Coburn of Naturally Inspired and Tamara Blackstone of HomeLife.

There will also be an "ask the experts" booth with representatives from west coast green to answer green building questions, and give green living advice.

Eric Corey Freed will be giving another of his renowned keynote presentations on the inevitable future of green building and design, and well as distributing his own expert advice.

The green home will feature:

• Complimentary consultations with green home professionals

• Large selection of high quality eco-friendly products and furnishings

• On site examples of how to increase your homes energy efficiency while
decreasing its ecological footprint

**Compact Fluorescent light bulb giveaway to the first 2,000 attendees, provided by Sylvania

For more information check out www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com

WESTERN INTERIORS DESIGN + HOME SHOW INFORMATION

LOCATION: Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123-1382

HOURS: Friday, October 26 – 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. VIP preview breakfast reception
Friday, October 26 –10:00 a.m – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 27 – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 28 – 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Tickets: Tickets are $15 day, $35 for a three-day pass and can be purchased online at www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com. For more information, call 323.549.3449 x229.

One Monday. Cyber-Rain announced their new wireless sprinkler control system for your present and future yard...and, just because it says “wireless”, doesn’t mean it’s only for techies.

This $299 sprinkler control system can save consumers 30-70% on watering bills says the company. While most sprinkler control systems on the market today rely on timers to regulate watering schedules, the Cyber-Rain system automatically adjusts watering levels based on YOUR local weather forecast, saving money, water and reducing pollution-causing runoff by stopping sprinkler systems on rainy days, automatically decreasing the watering schedule on cold or humid days, and increasing it on hot and dry days!

Question: How does the Cyber-Rain XCI do this?
Answer: Via your family PC!

The Cyber-Rain sprinkler control system and your computer speak directly to each other wirelessly, and Cyber-Rain talks to the Internet via your computer to get the weather forecast. You don’t need to have wireless in your home, and there is no complicated...Read the complete story at www.GetWithGreen.com

Do you need some tips on the whole "owner-builder" building process and you want to get with the Green kick and learn about eco-friendly, healthy or energy efficient features and methods that are in use today? Visit this blog by clicking the icon below!



http://sjodindreamhome.blogspot.com

We want to implement the latest and best green design principles in the most cost-effective and/or affordable way. We are in the process of building our home in Austin Texas (one of the hottest places in the U.S.) and feel we will be a good test case being in such warm climate where we live in energy-sucking, air-conditioned abodes.

We will blog as often as possible - letting you know our successes and pitfalls (hopefully very few!) as well as tips and non-sales biased reviews of materials or products we want to use.

Here are the green design features we hope to have for our home:
- Rainwater collection
- Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) walls and roof
- Solar water heating
- Geothermal cooling/heating
- Geothermal mass
- PVs (Solar panels)
- Stained concrete floors with fly ash
- Bamboo flooring
- Space efficient design (2419 a/c sf, 4 bedroom, 3 bath space)
- House orientation to sun
- No VOC paints
- Graywater use
- Compost use
- Dual, low e windows
- Use of recycled materials (for our concrete countertops and catwalk)
- Eco-smarte chlorine-free pool sanitation

We want to do a lot ourselves (DIY) and are trying our hardest to minimize costs without compromising quality. It's not an easy feat, but we are up for the challenge! Please visit our blog and feel free to contact me with questions or suggestions!