Of course, there were times during the two years that it took to design and build our solar home, that I almost shared their "it can’t be done" sentiment. My husband, Duane, and I learned early on that when it comes to building an earth-friendly home, weighing alternatives and harmonizing dreams with reality is quite a challenge. And while I’m thrilled with the house we built, it is a modest version of the one we originally envisioned.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times—and occasionally more than 100 times—higher than outdoor levels.
Enliven Your Yard with Feeders and Baths A pair of acrobatic American gold-finches alight on a cylindrical hanging bird feeder, hungrily searching for thistle seeds. A shadow plays across them, and the goldfinches dive to the safety of a nearby shrub. A large hairy woodpecker lands on a nearby feeder filled with peanuts. Relieved, the […]
Most people link air pollution with industrial smokestacks or trucks belching clouds of diesel exhaust. But the air we breathe while indoors, where most of us spend 80 to 90 percent of our time, is filled with chemicals and particles that can deliver even higher levels of chemical exposure.
No doubt about it, home is where the danger is. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 50 percent of all our illnesses can be traced to indoor pollution, which is 10 times more toxic than its outdoor counterpart.
Roofs and solar energy can save money and the environment By Mark Harris
Homeowners can prevent pollutants from harming surface and groundwater by installing a rain garden, a pond-like recess shaped like a saucer or shallow bowl.
All Decked Out — Everything You Need To Know To Build A Barbecue-Ready Eco-Deck. As the thermometer begins to creep upward, there is a mass unfurling of deck umbrellas across the country. If the time has come to build a new deck or replace your worn one, you’ll be happy to know there are many ecologically sound materials with which to work.
Salvaged Building Materials are Catching On In 1976, Dr. Dan Knapp quit his teaching job and started hanging around the dump in Lane County, Oregon. On a mission to rescue reusable items, he rooted through tons of trash, undaunted by the landfill's “No Salvage” signs. “I thought that [prohibition] was kind of silly,” he says, […]
When Mary and Howard Maynard were building a new home in Connecticut, the design included an 18-foot high wall of glass that spanned nearly the entire east side of the structure. Wood framing would not have been effective. “That vast space had a number of tricky structural implications,” says Howard Maynard, adding that the engineer […]
