Great piece in the Chron today on a new twist in green/sustainable home building; free and low cost architectural drawings available for down load online. A few different companies are cited in the article; and one, FreeGreen offers not just open sourse style plans but green features as well. Free Green also has tons of tools to help you tweak your dream and see how many dollars it would set you back. Drawings for your home or addition can cost big bucks, so it is nice to see alternatives like these on the web.
I am a big fan of FSC Certified wood and wood products. The Forest Stewardship Council oversees the management and production of wood, ensures that forests are not clear cut, that the rights of indigenous people are respected, that proper forest management protocols are observed, and that the wood that you buy has not been swapped out with other, poorly sourced product. The FSC has a chain of custody process that is in my opinion a model for other sustainable building materials.
Here are some highlights(Taken from the FSC Site):
More than 100 million ha forest worldwide were certified to FSC standards in April 2008, distributed over 79 countries.
FSC certified forests represent the equivalent of 7% of the world’s productive forests.
FSC is the fastest growing forest certification system in the world (UN FAO, 2007)
With over 7’500 certificates, the number of companies along the forest product supply chain committing to FSC certification peaked at 40% in 2007.
The value of FSC labeled sales is estimated at over 20 billion USD.
Great video from the other side….long on fear mongering, totally devoid of facts. It is this sort of spooky music, fast scene changing video that really does influence people, far more than, say, research. The NY Times has an interesting write up today of an “International Conference on Climate Change” not to be confused with the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” that one the Nobel Prize for its definative conclusion that Global warming IS a threat.
My Architect Andre forward this link to me, it has a good outline of the new tax credits available to people who invest sustainably in their homes. These are Federal Tax credits, so they should be good anywhere in the US, but of course talk to your tax person. Many thanks to President Obama for his leadership on this.www.energycode.com
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