 A green home is a healthier, longer-lasting building that is energy-efficient and which conserves natural resources. By choosing less-toxic, sustainably harvested materials and energy-saving approaches, your home can be a healthier place that is cheaper for you in the long term and contributes toward overall sustainability. EnviroCitizen.org has found that this provides for the needs of the present without taking away from the ability to fulfill the needs of the future. The craftsman style home, ever popular in America can be made green. All it takes are the right plans.
The Craftsman style home was an American architectural design, and they were built all over the nation between 1905 and 1930. In the late part of the twentieth century, the Craftsman home became popular again. Like many design disciplines in architecture, the Craftsman home is a work of art as well as a functioning dwelling. The Craftsman home has a distinctive style which is instantly recognizable to architecture students, contractors, and aficionados of the Arts and Crafts movement of architecture.
The craftsman style sustainable house plan is created rather easy. Craftsman style homes use a lot of wood, so the use of sustainable wood is a must in the plan. Given the benefits to the environment and our future, it's the one kind of wood you can feel good about using. Big chains such as Home Depot and Lowes have begun to offer it. When buying your woods, there are a few tips to help you be sure your wood is sustainable. Look for products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an organization that has developed sustainable standards for forest management and which operates programs that verify adherence to them. Avoid any wood that comes from old-growth forests such as Douglas firs and redwoods as well as tropical woods. Look for products made with reclaimed or "rediscovered" wood. This is wood that has been used before, so no trees are cut.
Craftsman style homes also use windows throughout the home in a way that highlights the lighting of the home to show the craftsmanship. Windows and skylights can be used in a sustainable way to conserve energy in passive solar use. This is a technique that doesn’t require any solar panels. It just has a little positioning and planning so sunlight is used efficiently. This allows for optimal solar use and less energy use. Look out for taller buildings and trees that will inhibit sunlight from reaching the building. Southern facing windows is best for passive heating, with east and west exposure being the most difficult to deal with. If your site doesn’t have much solar exposure, all it requires is just a little more creativity.
EnviroCitizen.org suggests that when you decide to design a green house plan for a Craftsman home, you hire a green architect or refer to green websites such as EnviroCitizen.org or freegreen.com.
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