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Here are 65 projects you can do – many of them yourself and at low cost – that will make a difference in your living expenses, health, and comfort – and help the environment. Expert advice helps you zero in on the most do-able, highest payback green projects for your home.
Everyone is talking about "green" living - and for good reasons - high fuel costs, water shortages, illness from poor air quality, and a stressed environment.
Many people think green improvements are either basic and obvious, like compact fluorescent lightbulbs - or complex and costly, like covering the roof with solar panels. In fact, there is a wide range of green opportunities, from a new furnace or solar system to low-cost measures such as:
- A $50 programmable thermostat that can save hundreds of dollars over a year's time.
- A $3 faucet aerator that can save almost 1,000 gallons of water a year.
- A $15 paint additive that helps insulate your walls.
- A zero-cost measure that could save you $900 on a new water heater.
The author, a green building expert who has appeared on the Discovery Channel's Planet Green Network, outlines what each project involves, what it costs, and the benefits for you and your home.
Projects include:
- Flooring, paint, cabinetry, and countertops.
- Windows and doors .
- Insulation and weather-stripping.
- Roofing and siding.
- High-efficiency heating and cooling systems.
- Radon testing.
- Efficient lighting, appliances and plumbing fixtures – including Energy Star and WaterSense models.
- Solar electric and water heating systems.
- Plusses and minuses of wood and pellet stoves and fireplace inserts, and green choices for patios, decks, walkways, driveways, pools, landscaping . . . and much more.
Greening your home offers benefits too important to miss:
- Protecting your family's health and safety by limiting toxic substances in your home.
- Reducing your energy costs and use of natural resources.
- Choosing the right materials and products for remodeling or building a new home.
- Hundreds of green improvement tips, some costing less than $5 – or nothing at all except a few minutes of your time.
- Professional, realistic cost estimates from RS Means, the nation's leading construction cost authority, to help you plan, budget, and prioritize.
- Tips to improve air quality, making life better for anyone with allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities.
- Pointers on increasing a home's value with green improvements that command higher selling prices in a tight real estate market.
- More than 100 "Go Green" tips – super-quick, easy, often low- or no-cost things you can do right now to make your home and lifestyle greener.
- Guidance for building a new home or addition – and practical advice on the best green products.
From the Introduction
Green Home Improvement describes 65 projects that will help you green your home - and your life. These projects will help make your home healthier, safer, and more resource-efficient. They can also save you potentially huge amounts on your fuel bills and could even add to your home's sales appeal - and boost the selling price - when you're ready to put it on the market.
This book describes how much skill and work it will take to carry out each of these improvements, and also what you'll gain by doing them. Although some of the projects in this book are best performed by professionals, many others can be carried out by homeowners with a little time and basic tools.
How the Book Is Organized
The bulk of the book consists of 65 green home improvement projects.
The green improvement projects in Part One are grouped by category, starting with healthy, environmentally friendly flooring, walls, countertops, cabinetry, and paint, then moving on to numerous projects that will save energy and water and make your home healthier in other ways.
These projects are followed by green roofing and siding, windows and doors, and a variety of outdoor and landscape projects - including lighting, paving, pools, fences and decks, and much more.
Each project begins with an environmental, comfort and health, savings, and level-of-difficulty rating - on a scale of 1 to 3 (shown in leaf icons in a box at the start of each project). These ratings indicate how each project ranks with respect to the benefits you'll receive, as well as the skill it takes.
The project discussions include:
- Rationale - ways in which the project may be worthwhile for you, your family, and the Earth.
- Materials and technologies - how a green product or material is made, advantages it offers, options you'll want to consider, and places to purchase it.
- Pros and cons of materials and techniques - taking into account costs, health, comfort, and environmental impacts.
- Installation - where pertinent, a step-by-step description of what is involved in carrying out the project - how difficult the work is, and whether it should be performed by a professional.
- Shopping tips and what to watch out for - advice to help you when purchasing or installing green products - or hiring someone to do the job for you.
- What Will It Cost? and What Will You Save? - an overview of project costs and resulting savings. This section includes considerations that affect the price, potential savings (for example, how much you could save on utility bills and replacement costs), and also national average cost estimates for projects that are typically done by professionals.
- Go Green! Tips - quick, easy things you can do right away without special tools or skills - to save money, create a healthier, more comfortable home, and help the environment.
Part Two offers guidelines on building a new green home - from selecting and protecting the site for your home, to green design and materials, to construction methods.
The last part of the book contains some basic safety tips and helpful resources, including books, magazines, websites, and green building materials retailers to help you locate products that may not be available at local home improvement centers, lumberyards, or hardware stores. This section also includes a glossary of green building terms, from aerators to whole-house fans.
About the Author
Dan Chiras PhD has published 24 books and hundreds of articles on green design and construction. He teaches at universities and advises homeowners, architects, and builders throughout the country. Dan has carried out many of this books projects in his own green home, which has been featured in numerous magazines and on NBC Nightly News.
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