Green Houses

“Green Houses” are “earth friendly”, meaning they are healthy to live in, inexpensive to operate, and cause minimal damage to the environment. A new construction science is developing around the concept of building “green houses”. Books on the topic are becoming plentiful.

In his book, “Your Green Home, A guide to planning a healthy, environmentally friendly new home” the author, Alex Wilson., helps the soon-to-be green homeowner work with an architect or builder to construct environmentally-friendly structures. He specifically covers topics such as renewable energy systems, water efficiency, materials selection, and the environmental quality of the interior.

“Building Green” by Clarke Snell is a guide to alternative building methods such as earth plaster, straw bale, cordwood, corncob, and living roofs. According to the author, the structure must match the climate, the site, and the needs of those who will be living in it. Throughout this hefty book, the author discusses the need for homes to minimize their impact on the surrounding, to insure resource efficiency, to be built of long-lasting materials, not be toxic to the inhabitants, and be a source of beauty to both the owner as well as the passerby.

“The Passive Solar Home, the Complete Guide to Heating and Cooling your Home” by James Kachadorian includes a CD-ROM with solar design software. As with the solar-home planning books of the early 1970’s, this book too, emphasizes the need for solar heat-collecting slabs within the building.

Other new books owned by the Library on home building include: “Be Your Own House Contractor and Save 25% Without Lifting a Hammer” by Carl Heldmann, and “The Essential Guide to Foundations, Including Sitework, Footings, Waterproofing and More” by the editors of the Journal of Light Construction.

Today, August 5th is the next-to-the last day of our annual Columbus Day’s book sale. The selection has been great and range from western paperbacks, children’s books, and collectible books. We have a surprising number of vhs motion pictures. Apparently, our donors are moving their home collections from vhs to dvd. There are some great bargins here for those whose vhs players still work. All day on Monday, August 6th, books and other items will be sold for a buck-a-bag. You can’t beat that price for disposable vacation reading books.