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What is a green building and why should you care? Why are people building efficient green homes? What is the number one reason for the increased demand for eco friendly houses? The answers may surprise you!

What is a Green Building? A green building (the noun) is a building that has been specifically designed to save energy, promote healthy indoor air and have much less impact on the environment.

Green building (the verb) is mainly a construction term used to describe whole house system design and techniques that use eco friendly, or green building, materials and components.

The following terms are pretty much interchangeable when talking about houses: eco friendly houses, eco friendly home, eco home, eco house, green house, green building a house, green home designs, or building efficient green homes.

Here are some great examples of using green materials for the home:

1. recycled glass counter tops – stylish and eco friendly

2. bamboo flooring – grows quickly (sustainable) with durability comparable to hardwood

3. eco friendly furniture – made from sustainable or recycled materials, or certified wood

4. tankless water heaters – water is heated on demand, saving energy

5. low flow shower heads and LED faucets that turn on and off automatically

6. energy saving appliances and light fixtures

7. renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power

Why are people building efficient green homes? Why eco friendly houses? As I mentioned, the answer may surprise you. Most people think the number one reason to “go green” is for the environment or to save energy…but, according to a recent survey done by the folks at Building Green TV and RCLCO, the number one reason people are building eco friendly houses is for health reasons! In fact, a full 42% of those surveyed replied that health was the number one reason to build a green home. Only 17% said they would be motivated by energy savings, and only 12% for the environment!

What do eco friendly houses have to do with health? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the list below contains just some of the things that may be causing your family health problems inside your home:

Radon, Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Biologicals, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Organic Gases, Respirable Particles, Formaldehyde, Pesticides, Asbestos, Lead, and Chlorine.

In fact, the EPA estimates that the pollution levels inside your home could be 3-70 times the outdoor pollution levels in major cities – yuk!

Makes you want to open a window now, doesn’t it?

Author: Isabella Green
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Multi-cooker

We all want to do our part by being involved in the Green Movement. Most believe going green costs more. You can actually save money going green. There are some great tips here that will help you save your green and go green.

Out Doors:

Use a rake instead of a leaf blower. You will get more exercise, not pollute the air and save the money you would be spending on the gas or electricity to use a leaf blower.

Instead of a 2 stroke gasoline powered mower which releases as many hydrocarbons into the atmosphere in 30 minutes as a car does in 90 minutes switch to an electric mower.

Ride a bike to work, take public transportation or car pool. My husband bought a bike and rides it to work when the weather permits, which in Texas is pretty often. We have not only helped the environment but a lot of money as we do not have to buy gas often anymore.

Dry your clothes on a clothes line. You will be saving on electricity and your clothes will smell fresh and clean.

Electronics:

LCD Flat Panel tv’s use 1/3 of the electricity of the tube based tv’s.

Just because they come out with a new gadget doesn’t mean you have to run right out and buy one. Use the one you have until it is no longer useable.

Recycle your non working computers, printers, I-Pods, computer game equipment and cell phones.

Donate working electronics to charities, companies and schools.

Use E Cards instead of the conventional greeting cards, you are saving trees and saving money. You are not having to buy the card, pay the postage and make a trip to the post office for mailing.

Go paperless, pay your bills online.

Save documents on your computer or to a disc instead of printing them and filing them.

Around The House:

Instead of going out and buying new furniture head out to the flea market, garage sales or re-sell shops. If more of us did this there would not be near as many materials being used to manufacture furniture.

For the expectant mother I recommend you never buy new maternity clothes, you are only going to use them for a short period of time. Once again the garage sales and the re-sell shops are a great place to shop.

The same goes for baby clothes, I am not saying never buy anything new, but we can save a lot and help the environment by buying used clothing. My grand daughters who I spoil unmercifully had clothes from garage sales most of their lives. I do buy them some new clothes but I can find very nice designer clothes for a fraction of the cost by hitting the better re-sell shops and the garage sales.

Used appliances when ever possible for me also.

I shop in pawn shops for tv’s, just bought an almost new flat panel tv for $180.00. I buy all my jewelry in pawn shops also. I save tons of money and have more jewelry than I would if I went out and bought it new. I see it as not having to mine for metals and gems.

Bottle your own water. Studies have shown that the water you buy is really no better than your own tap water. You can buy a nice water filtration system and save a lot of money by bottling your own water.

We all talk about re-cycling. Now they have FreeCycle. Check online for one in your community. People post what they have to get rid of and others that want it come and pick it up from your porch at a time that the two of you set up and you have just gotten rid of the things you no longer want and someone else needs. Charities also benefit from this site. Just go to www.freecycle.org to check in your area.

Use cloth diapers. Help the environment and your child will also benefit. The disposable diapers cause more diaper rashes than the cloth diapers do.

Use a ceiling fan to cool a room. Ceiling fans consume as little energy as a 60 watt bulb, about 98% less energy than central air.

Install a programmable thermostat and recycle your old mercury containing thermostats.

When using the oven, throw a cake in when you are baking the chicken, roast, etc… You can also bake two meats at once and have one for dinner and one for lunch the following day. I like doing a chicken for the following day as it is as good cold as it is warm.

Take your own containers to the restaurant to bring home any leftovers from the meal. You will not be using the Styrofoam containers and have nothing to throw out to the landfills.

Author: Cheryl C Mcneil
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker