Top Spot For Green Building Ideas

It is almost July and the housing starts have not seen much improvement. This should be the peak of the season but it is just not happening. Economic forecasters are now saying that the U.S. housing market is not going to see much of a rebound in 2009 and a very slow increase over the next couple of years. This is mostly due to the lack of customer confidence in the economy turning around. Many people have worries of possibly being laid off from their job; the sense of job security is very low. Homeowners that would like to build, have little confidence that they could sell their existing home. Finally the concerns of the latest interest rate increases have knocked many out of the market.

With all of these mounding issues it is evident that the new home construction industry is going to continue to suffer for several years. Many have thought that the Green Building focus would help bring the U.S. housing market out of the slumps, but there are just too many factors that are holding it down. So it does not look like Green will save the day.

The big concern that is not talked about in the many news articles is the fact that the U.S. is going to be faced with much higher priced material in the future. This might not make sense based on the low demand but a major change is happening in the supply chain that will have a dramatic effect on the price of materials.

First we have material supply yards closing at an alarming rate because they can not afford to remain open. Stock Building Supply has just completed a chapter 11 restructure with more than two thirds of its locations closing. BMC West is just going into chapter 11 and many small family owned yards are closing or going bankrupt. This is happening in lumber, windows, doors, roofing, drywall, electrical and plumbing yards across the country.  The wholesale companies are facing the same problems. But this even goes to mills and manufacturing facilities.

The prices of many of home building products are based on supply and demand. The demand is low and the supply is getting lower. The prices of many products so low the mills or manufacturers can not make any money, so they have stopped production. When this market decides to turn around then prices will go through the roof, there will just not be enough supply to keep up with even the smallest increase in demand. This process will make it even harder for people to afford to start a home and slow the recovery of new housing starts.

So the next several years will be a difficult one for anyone in the housing industry.

June 15, 2009 - Leaders in the movement toward sustainability in housing and other industries told last month’s NAHB Green Building Conference in Dallas that the marketplace is in a period of transition and that home builders should be gearing up to fill demand for energy- and resource-efficient homes.

If builders don’t change on their own, they said, it is likely that the government will come in and force them to build sustainably.
To read the complete article visit NAHB or Click Here
Green Building Signals Big Changes Ahead for Housing

You go to the store several times a week and you are usually asked “paper or plastic” or you may even be the devout green, environmentally conscious person that brings your own, but what is the greenest grocery bag solution? Well depending on who is talking they all are green, but let’s look a little deeper and just see who is the greenest of them all.

First we need to establish that life cycle plays a big role in determining green in any product. Normally the longer the life cycle the greener the product, but not if that life cycle is being counted in the land fill. That life-cycle analysis follows each bag from raw material through production and distribution and to the consumer’s hands. It also takes into account whether it’s reused, recycled or thrown in the garbage.

Let’s first look at the manufacturing of each bag and learn more about this process.

Reusable fabrics are normally made from cotton, to most this is a renewable product, but what are the environmental issue in cotton farming. The farming process uses large quantities of fossil fuels in the machinery. Cotton growers use more than 10 percent of the world’s pesticides and nearly 25 percent of the world’s insecticides. Cotton is normally woven outside the U.S. because of labor rates, so again more fossil fuel in shipping.

Paper also uses significant fossil fuels in their process, from logging, hauling and pulping the trees. The paper industry has come miles in trying to be more environmentally focused. From 1975 to 2006 American Forest and Paper Association members decreased the volume of discharged water by 53 percent. During the same period they reduced their emissions by 62 percent. But many argue that paper is biodegradable and plastic is not, we will get to that in a moment.

Plastic bags are made from ethane gas pulled out of abundant and clean natural gas. Many claim this may be cleaner than paper. The EPA reports that making paper bags generates 70 percent more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than making plastic bags. Paper also uses more energy and generates more solid waste. Two thousand plastic bags weigh 30 pounds. Two thousand paper bags weigh 280 pounds. Now take the storage space, shipping and handling into account and it looks like plastic has the upper hand.

Now let’s add in the waste and recycle factor. The argument is that plastic never biodegrades and paper does. This is a true statement in some respect but our land fills are not designed to biodegrade. There’s no oxygen and no light which is needed to create the biodegrading process. There’s no degradation of materials in a landfill, it only takes up space. People don’t want the stink from things rotting in land fills; they are designed so that nothing rots.

As far as recycling, according to the American Chemistry Council, it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it does to recycle a pound of paper. But what most people get stuck on is the mount of litter. If a paper bag is thrown by the side of the road it biodegrades fairly quickly compared to the plastic bag that hangs around for a long time. So to many environmentalists it is difficult to think that plastic may be a greener product.

So who is really the winner in this debate?

Well it really comes down to life cycles and the recycle mentality. If every person on this planet would recycle every plastic bag then plastic would be the winner. But we know this is not going to happen. Many agree that the reusable cotton grocery bag is the right way to go, if it’s reused over and over, and not left in the trunk of your car.

But one of the greenest approaches not mentioned very often is to buy in bulk and make fewer trips to the store. Go to Costco and you will not be asked “paper or plastic”, you just get it loaded back into your cart. This may be the greenest approach of all.

But in the debate between the three contenders, most would still agree that the reusable bag is the best for the environment, because of its life cycle. Many options are available in reusable bags, do don’t just settle for the drab eco bag. You can find designer grocery bags from Tucker Bags.

The housing market is in the worst condition it has been in for decades. What is going to turn this back around? From subcontractors, general contractors, laborers, suppliers, manufacturing companies to real estate, every part of this industry is suffering. 100 year old companies going bankrupt and so far no end in site. But many believe the green movement in the housing industry may turn the market around.

Here is an article posted in EcoHome called Green Home Builders Facing New Economic Reality

Home Builders are moving to Green with hopes to capture a small piece of this growing business. This is helping some but will it really help the overall situation and get this housing market out of this terrible spot.

The future of residential building is uncertain for now, but most green pros say they are confident that once the market bottoms out, eco-friendly home building will help lead the industry out of its economic doldrums.

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From National Home Builder Association website
Green Building Growing At A Surprising Rate, NAHB Says

Consumers can find a Certified Green Professional, a local green building program and a gallery of certified green homes at www.nahbgreen.org.

The Park City Area Home Builders Association is leading the way with Green Building, within the State of Utah, with a new group called Build Green Utah.

Build Green Utah is leading the state in building homes for the future. As an active program of a Home Builders Association, Build Green Utah is a member-driven organization comprised of proactive builders, architects, and associates that are investing in an environmentally sound, socially supportive, and economically healthy future through a conscientious building industry.

Build Green Utah :

• Provides a standard, recognized third party certification process for green homes in Utah.
• Communicates the ease of integration and the aesthetic value of green building practices.
• Promotes green building and its benefits through builder and consumer education, as well as through collaboration with local governments.
• Ensures the future welfare of our environment, economy and community through a conscious, ethical approach to building.
• Raises awareness and educates the general public about the advantages of green building.
• Strengthens the green building community as a whole, by building a dynamic network of members working toward common goals.

Many more local home builder associations plan on follow a similar program.

A movement is taking place in an old methodology. Prefab or modular homes seem to be taking a very popular spot light in the green arena. This is not the old modular homes that most people think of, where the home is a square box split in half and resemble a double wide trailer home. These new breed of modular homes are quite stylish and green friendly.

There are a few things that make these green modular homes appealing. The basic principle of modular homes is to build in a controlled environment and utilization of material. Several companies are creating boxes of particular components like kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms. These boxes are like building blocks that are assembled in many different configurations to create the home. This process can speed up the construction of the home.

What make a modular home to be considered green? Well if we look at what green building is all about we may understand even more. The primary goal is to reduce environmental impact and create a healthy living environment. Modular homes reduce the impact on the land, reduce waste of material and make many green products more economical buy using bulk purchase. Transportation is one huge factor, with fewer deliveries to the jobsite.

A great article on this process and the reasons for using modular homes can be found at Low Impact Living, in an article called Green Prefab Homes-Prefabulous!, Written by Jason Pelletier. They have covered this process very well and explain modular living in further detail.

Is there a future for prefab homes? Well if anyone that follows the financial news or the stock market will now how successful Warren Buffet has been. So what does Warren Buffet have to do with Prefab Homes? In an article posted May 8, 2009 in Environmental News Network, Warren Buffet is investing in Green Prefab Homes. Now everyone knows that anything Mr. Buffet touches seems to turn to gold. A Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary called Clayton Homes has just launched a green prefab home called I-Home. To read more about this go to Warren Buffet Company Debuts Line of Green Prefab Homes, By Jason Pelletier.

Not every home buyer is going to have an interest in prefab or modular homes but this may be the next big Green movement in the building industry. There are several companies that are giving the modular or pods a big push. The smaller size also makes it fit in the square foot per bedroom scale in all green certifications. The cost is ranging from $100 - $170 a square foot without land or site prep.

In the old space movies it showed people living in pods in space, well we are not quite there but we are living in pods on earth, just another step into the future of housing.

Wolseley today announces that it has sold 100% of the shares of Stock Building Supply Holdings LLC (“Stock”) to a joint venture company (“NewCo”) in exchange for 49% of the common equity of NewCo and nominal consideration. The Gores Group, an American investor, will own a majority interest in NewCo and has also committed to making further investments in the business.

Read announcement from Wolsely http://www.wolseley.com

Read Anouncement from Stock Building Supply http://www.stocksupply.com