Green Homes

Last Sunday, I wrote about The Resort Effect and noted that

...creating a resort at home becomes more attractive as transportation costs climb.

Pure Contemporary in Behind the Curtains has an article about GE,
A blueprint for building green homes called ecomagination Homebuilder Program.

This new program helps residential developers and builders design homes that are not only comfortable, but that are more efficient in their energy consumption and indoor water consumption than industry–accepted average new homes.

[...]

In the last two years, natural gas costs have risen 42 percent and electricity costs have risen 17 percent, according to a report in Energy Source, March 2007.

Homebuyers are choosing energy efficient homes and look at some of the things provided:

• an interactive wall panel that provides current and historical feedback on electricity and water consumption.
• appliances that pair innovative energy efficiency with groundbreaking features and cutting–edge design.
• indoor and outdoor lighting that consumes up to 75% less electricity than standard incandescent lighting.
• if the home is equipped with solar power, this system is designed to produce power year after year and typically meets 20–30% of a home's electricity needs and works in conjunction with the local utility to provide complete service.

We complain about high energy costs and our leaders declare goals of ending our energy dependency, however, those higher costs are spurring development of new products to ease our energy consumption and giving us greater control over our environments. All that R&D would not have found a market if energy prices stayed low. Some predict a future of $100 to $200 oil.

I'm not worried. I look forward to electric cars and zero point energy.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

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GreenHomes
Bev & Mike