Green Home Building

According to conventional wisdom, building a green home is an expensive endeavor. The standard approach treats green as an add-on, tacking “premium” products, finishes and equipment onto a traditional home design. As a result, many green home projects end up overbudget or fail to achieve their environmental and performance goals. Green Home Building explodes the myth that green homes have to cost more. Using proven methods based on applied building science, the authors show how to: • Lower base construction costs to provide funding for high performance upgrades• Achieve a net zero energy home, including “zero-ing” water, waste, carbon and associated costs within fifteen years• Live affordably into the future, despite anticipated rising costs for fuel, water, materials, taxes and health care.This comprehensive guide to building green on any budget defines the strategies that maximize the return on green investments. Written for anyone who has ever been swayed by the argument that the price tag limits how green a home can be, Green Home Building is a must-read for builders, contractors, architects, designers and homeowners.Miki Cook is a green building and sustainability consultant who has dedicated her career to educating contractors and the public on the strategies, methods and benefits of green homes. Doug Garrett is a building science consultant who has trained thousands of homebuilders, architects and sub-contractors to build energy-efficient homes using applied building science to improve comfort, durability and healthfulness while meeting or exceeding the energy code.