As a member of the Dallas Green Building Alliance I feel it is necessary to let consumers know what green building programs are in our area.  Green Built Texas has been a valuable resource to the green community for some time now.  All members of the Dallas Green Building Alliance are members of Green Built Texas.

What is Green Built Texas?

Green Built Texas is a voluntary partnership of local home builders, industry supporters, and sponsors committed to creating awareness and interest in the construction of higher-performance, lower-impact residential homes in Texas. The program has a construction protocol that Home Builder Association (HBA) members have deemed essential in order for a home to be recognized by the program. Homes built to this protocol conform to higher standards of site management and waste recycling, water efficiency, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, materials, and homeowner education.

Membership in Green Built Texas is open to both Builder and Associate members of the Home Builders Associations in the State of Texas. Through special events and media outreach, the HBA endeavors to make homebuyers more aware of its green building program and its participants. Green Built Texas also provides educational seminars and is affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Program as its certification processes offer an alternative method to Green Built Texas recognition. A similar agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council enables homes built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes (LEED-H) protocol to enjoy the same benefit.

GBT is better able to serve its members thanks to the resources offered by these national programs. Meanwhile, the national programs benefit from a vibrant state and local initiative serving as a conduit for certification.

The HBA’s goal is to establish a green building program that is recognized by municipalities and consumers throughout the state. Green Built Texas has also established a program for low and mid-rise multifamily construction and will soon create higher levels of green building achievement that will allow builders to advance their building product to meet both consumer desires and their own business plans.

www.greenbuilttexas.com

Benefits of a Green Built Texas Home-click on this link to view benefits

http://www.greenbuiltnorthtexas.com/benhome.htm

Construction Protocol- Click on this link to view protocol:

http://www.greenbuiltnorthtexas.com/documents/GBNT_ProtocolVersion2_official.pdf

This week I decided to post a video blog on a “Awesome Product.” I found it saves Builders, Framers, And Drywall Companies a lot of Material cost, as well as labor that wasn’t needed. This Product is a one of a kind, and I wish all builders would use this product in place of “Traditional Methods.”  It makes the Drywall Contractors job, much easier when “Archways and Ceilings,” product is installed. I have also looked into the “Green,” aspects of this product.

You can click on the picture above for a link to video blog:

or

Click direct link below to see ”Video,” Below:

Greener Framing Practices

After you have seen Video go to This website to see more information on this product.

Link to Archways and Ceilings website: Must Cut and Paste Link

www.archwaysandceilings.com

The first thing that comes to mind when picking a lot for your dream home should be, which lot is going to save me money.  Can a lot actually save money?  Yes, with the help of solar landscaping.  Good landscaping practices offer one of the most practical methods of reducing energy consumption in homes. When done effectively, it can also increase real estate value and enhance the attractiveness of homes and communities.

Trees can significantly reduce summer temperatures.  Shading the roof of a house from the afternoon sun by using large trees can reduce temperatures inside the home by as much as 8 to 10 degrees.  If a home can be situated to take advantage of shade from existing trees on the southeast and west exposures, energy expended to cool the house can be reduced. Deciduous trees provide summer shade, and then drop their leaves in the fall.  This allows the warmth of the sun to filter through their bare branches in the winter and helps warm the home.  If there are no existing trees on a home site, tree selection and planting is still a good idea.  The temptation is to plant the fastest growing species available.  However, this is usually a poor choice for several reasons.  Trees that grow at more moderate rates usually live longer are less likely to break in wind and ice storms, and are often more resistant to insects and diseases.

Windbreaks obstruct and redirect the flow of wind.  As wind strikes an obstruction, it can move over, around or through it.  The extent of protection on the leeward side is related to the height and length of the windbreak.  Impenetrable windbreaks create a strong vacuum on the protected or leeward side, which reduces the protection.

In addition to traditional windbreaks, shrubs can also be used closer to the home for winter protection.  This is more practical for small areas and subdivision lots where space does not allow the use of conventional windbreaks.  For this type of protection, a combination of dense evergreen plants and groundcovers are most appropriate.  They should be planted close enough to eventually form a solid wall as far enough away from the house (about 4 to 5 feet, minimum) to create a dead air space.  The relatively still or dead air has much less cooling power than moving air, which can decrease the loss of heat through the walls.

Did you know that over 5% of the energy usage in your home each year is consumed by electronics that you assume are turned off when not in use?  The US spends over $5.8 million dollars a year on something called “phantom power”, and growing at a rapid pace.  That is an estimated 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.
Some of the biggest energy wasters in most homes are the adapters that come with rechargeable battery-powered cordless phones, cell phones, digital cameras and music players, power tools, and other electronic devices. Most draw power whenever they are plugged into an outlet, regardless of whether the device battery is fully charged—or even connected. Other culprits include appliances or electronic equipment with standby capability (such as televisions and computer monitors), a remote control, and/or a digital clock display (such as microwaves, DVD players, and stereo system)
The best way to avoid this wasted consumption is to simply unplug all items you are not using, but I found a product that just makes saving energy a breeze.  One convenient slide of the GreenSwitch puts you in custom control of your electricity usage. (With no rewiring off your home)With GreenSwitch, you designate which outlets and lights are affected and you set the personal settings for your programmable climate control. Single-control outlets let you customize each outlet, allowing you, for example, to turn off the TV in one plug while keeping the digital video recorder in the other socket of the same outlet on and recording. You can also set your system up in zones, where one switch powers down your living area when you retire and another switch controls the home office that is used late into the night. Also, each component wirelessly relays the signal, giving GreenSwitch infinite range. This means that you can turn the lights off in the garage or backyard shed from the convenience of your kitchen or entry way on your way out or in.

For more information, visit:

http://texas.greenswitch.tv/index.cfm?

When looking for a flooring product to put in your home, you might want to consider this alternative, instead of traditonal flooring. Today's average consumer is interested in healthy living and looks for products that support this ideal. Natural Cork is one of those products

Natural Cork is environmentally correct as well as improving health and comfort for human indoor living. In our homes, Natural Cork floors create a warm, comfortable, resilient surface that is gentle underfoot, is anti-microbial, will not spread flame, and is inherently resistant to molds, mildews, and common pests. From harvest to production to installation, cork is environmentally sustainable, non-toxic, and healthy.
 

Natural Cork floors contribute to satisfying LEED credits for Rapidly Renewable Resources, Recycled Content, and Low Emitting Materials under the LEED Rating System. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings as administered by U.S. Green Building Council. USFloors is a member of the USGBC.

The determining factor for indoor air quality is the quantity of noxious emanations from volatile organic compounds in adhesives and finishes. Natural Cork floors are produced with adhesives and finishes from European manufacturers and meet the E1 standard, a European test method to measure formaldehyde emissions. Natural Cork core board material that provides the structure for the cork veneer is also formaldehyde-free.

Cork wall tiles provide excellent thermal and acoustic insulation. They are also resilient: marks and indentations typically disappear within a few minutes. Cork is naturally fire resistant, and also resists mold, mildew, and microbial growth. Suberin, a naturally-occuring substance in the cork, also repels insects. Long-lasting, easy to maintain, and non-toxic.

http://www.usfloorsllc.com/products/natural-cork-collection/cork-maintenance/green-building-with-natural-cork/

Cutting back unnecessary energy use is an easy way to keep your hard earned money in your pocket. Here are some suggestions you can do at home, at absolutely no cost to you.

Let the sunshine in. Open drapes and let the sun heat your home for free (get them closed again at sundown so they help insulate).

Rearrange your rooms. Move your furniture around so you are sitting near interior walls – exterior walls and older windows are likely to be drafty. Don't sit in the draft.

Keep it shut. Traditional fireplaces are an energy loser – it's best not to use them because they pull heated air out of the house and up the chimney. When not in use, make absolutely sure the damper is closed. Before closing the damper, make sure that you don't have any smoldering embers. If you decide not to use a fireplace, then block off the chimney with a piece of rigid insulation from the hardware store that fits snugly into the space (dampers don't shut fully without some leaking).

Eliminate wasted energy. Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms. Unplug that spare refrigerator in the garage if you don't truly need it – this seemingly convenient way to keep extra drinks cold adds 10-25 percent to your electric bill. Turn off kitchen and bath-ventilating fans after they've done their job – these fans can blow out a house-full of heated air if inadvertently left on. Keep your fireplace damper closed unless a fire is burning to prevent up to 8 percent of your furnace-heated air from going up the chimney.

Shorten showers. Simply reducing that lingering time by a few minutes can save hundreds of gallons of hot water per month for a family of four. Showers account for 2/3 of your water heating costs. Cutting your showers in half will reduce your water heating costs by 33 percent.

Use appliances efficiently. Do only full loads when using your dishwasher and clothes washer. Use the cold water setting on your clothes washer when you can. Using cold water reduces your washer's energy use by 75 percent. Be sure to clean your clothes dryer's lint trap after each use. Use the moisture-sensing automatic drying setting on your dryer if you have one.

Put your computer and monitor to sleep. Most computers come with the power management features turned off. On computers using Windows, open your power management software and set it so your computer goes to sleep if you're away from your machine for 5 to 15 minutes. Those who use Macintosh computers look for the setting in your Control Panels called "Energy Saver" and set it accordingly. When you're done using your computer, turn it off (see next tip). Do not leave it in sleep mode overnight as it is still drawing a small amount of power.

Plug "leaking energy" in electronics. Many new TVs, VCRs, chargers, computer peripherals and other electronics use electricity even when they are switched "off." Although these "standby losses" are only a few watts each, they add up to more than 50 watts in a typical home that is consumed all the time. If possible, unplug electronic devices and chargers that have a block-shaped transformer on the plug when they are not in use. For computer scanners, printers and other devices that are plugged into a power strip, simply switch off the power strip after shutting down your computer. The best way to minimize these losses of electricity is to purchase ENERGY STAR® products.
 

As I was looking on the web for some information about bottled water, I stumbled on to this article. I feel that there is a bit more to building a green project, than products or services. I believe its a “Life Style.”  Wanting to do our part as individuals, check out this article below, and you will see why!  It might just make you think twice about “Bottled Water.”

Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.

Ban The Bottle

Though the sale and consumption of bottled water is still on the rise, certain policy makers and activists have taken steps to reduce it. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in June that bars city government from using city money to supply municipal workers with bottled water, and New York City, where residents consume nearly 28 gallons of bottled water each year, launched an ad campaign encouraging residents and tourists to forego the bottled beverage for the city’s tap, long considered some of the best water in the country. Even upscale eateries in Boston, New York and San Francisco have taken bottled water off the menu, offering filtered tap instead.
Improve Your Health
Not only does bottled water contribute to excessive waste, but it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. “The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that’s just not true,” says Victoria Kaplan, senior organizer with Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit that recently launched a Take Back the Tap campaign to get consumers to ditch bottled water. “As much as 40 percent of bottled water started out as the same tap water that we get at home,” she adds. A 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study found that, with required quarterly testing, tap water may even be of a higher quality than bottled, which is only tested annually.

Water aside, the plastic used in single use bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, as they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a possible human carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disruptor. Also, because the plastic is porous you’ll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.

Noting that the federal share of funding for water systems has declined from 78 percent in 1973 to 3 percent today, Kaplan urges consumers to “support public policies that promote safe, affordable, public tap water for future generations.” Visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org and take the pledge to take back the tap, promising to choose tap water over bottled whenever possible and to support policies that promote clean public tap water for everybody. And meanwhile, invest in a safe, reusable bottle.

http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/tapped-out/1

 If you're going to hike in the snow, you'll probably want to wear your wool socks. Not only do they insulate your toes from the cold, but your socks will still do a good job if a little snow or slush gets into your boots. That same principle applies for insulating wall cavities in places where sheep's wool is plentifully available.
But a new technology promises to make lamb's wool an even more practical choice for the building industry, as U.S. manufacturer SayrCo prepares to introduce WEKA semi-rigid insulation panels to market. The product is essentially a wool-based interior sheetrock with some serious R-value and other environmental benefits…Think of it as ‘sheeprock.'……….
The manufacturing process is rather simple and low-tech. Freshly shorn wool is thoroughly chopped, washed, and then mixed into a binder that includes quicklime and other natural ingredients designed to fortify the wool's natural fire, mold, and vermin resistance. The resulting slurry is then pressed into 4' x 8' or 4' x 12' sheets, air dried, and covered on both sides with the same type of heavy paper used in gypsum board.
The lightweight WEKA panels have an R-value of 6.5, and they can be mounted 3 deep on the indoor side of exterior walls to produce an R-19.5 assembly without stuffing any additional insulation into the cavities. As a result, builders can use 2 x 4 rather than 2 x 6 studs, and also eliminate the thermal bridging that is typical when conventional batts are used.
Installing WEKA panels is no more complicated than installing drywall. The panels use the same tape, mud, fasteners, and adhesives as conventional sheetrock while providing drywall and insulation in a single step.

Energy and costs savings through insulation

The WEKA panel is replacing conventional insulation and drywalls with one single rigid sheep's wool panel.
This results in reduced material and installation costs.
Up to 44% of a homeowners utility bills are due to heating and cooling costs, this panel can reduce your operating costs by more than 60%.

Natural Characteristics and Benefits of Wool

Wool is improving in-door air quality by absorbing certain air contaminants. Wool can absorb large quantities of formaldehyde (commonly present in buildings). Furthermore, wool can absorb and release moisture without degradation or significant loss of thermal resistance (up to 40% of its own weight). The insulation panels are made of sheep wool that has been treated with a natural stabilizing solution to provide pest and fungal resistance. The panels are efficient in preventing the formation of mold and can reduce existing mold through high alkalinity and by simply absorbing the humidity or condensate in air conditioned rooms. The high pH of 11 is stopping the growth of mold.

 Environmental advantages

According to Christian Tasser, the developer of WEKA, a similar product has been used in Italy for 10 years, and it has proven thoroughly stable and free of any issues. From that experience, Tasser can point to an important IAQ benefit: stabilized sheep's wool can absorb up to 40 percent of its own weight in humidity and water content, and then release it when conditions dry out. “It takes the humidity out of the room, and at the same time it neutralizes any kind of unwanted fungi or pests,” he said. “The wool also controls any air contaminants such as formaldehyde by drawing it into the wool, and it stays there.”
In addition, Mike Peterpaul of SayrCo aims for high environmental standards on the manufacturing side. “We're working with sheep farms within a 100 mile radius of our plant,” he said. “The energy footprint to manufacture the product is very, very low. The wool is naturally dried after it's washed, the water will be recaptured, plus the whole process has a very low carbon footprint,” he said.
Peterpaul expects to start shipping WEKA in quantity by August or September, 2010. He is looking to launch it through a network of 100-200 green oriented distributors. SayrCo intends to support the rollout with local advertising that draws builders, contractors, and consumers directly to those dealers.

Low Carbon Footprint

WEKA panels require no thermal treatment or chemical processes, which minimizes the energy input during the production of the panels. The WEKA panel is fully recyclable after the lifetime of the building.

LEED Points:

 -Thermal Comfort (2pt)

-Rapidly renewable material (1pt)

-Innovation and design process: light, recyclabe (5 pt)

-Optimize energy performance (2pt)

-Use of local materials 500 miles: FOB Athens,PA (2pts)

For generations, homeowners and business owners alike have used brick by brick masonry veneers to protect and beautify their buildings exteriors.  However, with the rising costs of raw materials and experienced labor, the extra costs involved with extended footings for brick ledges, scaffolding, cleanup, etc…, this is no longer a luxury most can afford.   Until now…

Performance Brick is a panelized product composed of up to 60% recycled gypsum; reinforced with high-density polymers. Molded with a no-repeat pattern; providing the natural surface texture of conventional handmade brick.

Performance Brick is the next generation in brick veneer. It is easy to install and can be installed 4 times faster than conventional brick. And with our “Fast-Track,” technology, Performance Brick can be installed year round in almost any climate with no specialized trade tools. Fast Track technology allows the panels to be screw-installed, followed by mortar application. Performance Brick Panels need no brick ledge or wider foundation for support and are suitable for both new construction and remodeling.The brick panels are water resistant, mold resistant and fire resistant. This is truly a product that has to be seen to be believed.

The fire-resistant bricks also resist mold, algae, insects, and UV rays. The non-porous panels are suitable for interior and exterior applications. The product offers a 50-year limited lifetime warranty. Performance Brick contains 60 percent recycled material, and is eligible for LEED or NAHB-Green credits.

For more information: www.performancebuildingproducts.net

Structural Insulated Sheathing(SIS),Developed by Dow to help make building energy efficient homes easier for builders, STYROFOAM SIS™ is a 3-in-1 solution that provides R3-R5.5 insulating value, meets or exceeds structural codes, and is one-third the weight of OSB*. Because OSB and housewrap are not needed, STYROFOAM SIS™ reduces the number of trips around the house and saves on installation time and labor costs. The innovative STYROFOAM SIS™ Brand Structural Insulated Sheathing from Dow combines three functions in one product:

1.     Structural lateral bracing and transverse loads

2.     Significant insulation performance

3.     Water-resistive barrier

In addition to providing the racking shear needed for exterior walls, STYROFOAM SIS™ blankets both the wall cavities and the studs to shield against thermal bridging which minimizes heating and cooling loss due to air infiltration. STYROFOAM SIS™ also helps move the dew point from inside the wall cavity (where mold and mildew can accumulate and go undetected) to outside of the wall cavity where it belongs, and, when taped at the seams and joints, STYROFOAM SIS™ meets code for water-resistive barrier.

Builders are incorporating STYROFOAM SIS™ into "green" package options for their customers as a point of differentiation.  Made of up to 80 percent post-consumer recycled content by weight, STYROFOAM SIS™ is also ENERGY STAR-qualified and can save homeowners between $200- $500 per year*** in energy bills. The reduction in home energy usage helps reduce carbon emissions and may enable the use of a smaller HVAC unit, which could earn credits in the USGBC’s LEED program or NAHB’s National Green Building program. 

The thermal performance advantages of STYROFOAM SIS™ can also help builders earn the $2,000 U.S. Energy Tax Credit for energy efficient homes built in 2009. STYROFOAM SIS™ provides a high R-value (R-3.0 at 0.5" or R-5.5 at 1.0") without having to extend window and door jambs, and is cost-competitive with wood sheathing and house wrap in many instances, so builders can promote the benefits of insulation with little to no added expense.

STYROFOAM SIS™ Brand Structural Insulated Sheathing has won an MVP Award for "Most Valuable Product 2009" from Building Products  magazine, a Hanley Wood publication. STYROFOAM SIS™ was selected as a winner of this coveted award by a panel of judges comprised of builders, remodelers, architects and developers who evaluated product submissions based on their ability to reduce installation time, callbacks, or labor costs, and other factors that bring "value" to building professionals.

Click the link below to calculate energy savings for your home:http://building.dow.com/na/en/tools/calculators/usres_disclaimer_new.htm

 For all the information on this product go to: www.dowsis.com