Love the sun and warmth that skylights provide, but wonder what part they play in an energy efficient home?

Skylights can provide you with some energy saving benefits, but there are many things to consider in avoiding some common skylight slip-ups.

Skylights allow sunlight into our living spaces from above without compromising privacy. In delivering abundant daylighting, skylights can reduce energy consumption used for lighting, particularly in interior rooms that do not have direct access to exterior windows.

So, which features should you look for to enjoy the benefits and minimize any negative side effects that skylights can have? Consider the following when evaluating skylights to ensure that they are a bright feature in your home.

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LEED has made quite an impact in the green building world and more buildings are beginning to receive recognition for their designs. But how does LEED determine which buildings get to don the highly recognized plaque? They use a consensus-based point system that determines a building’s level of sustainability and ranks it accordingly.

LEED’s ranking system may not be an exact measure of sustainability, but it provides the structure necessary to evaluate the construction and operation of a building and its environmental impacts. The ranking system is built from six categories that are used to evaluate a design. Each category has a maximum amount of points that can be earned. Below is a description of these categories:
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Last week I took a tour of NEXUS, Boston’s Green Building Resource Center. An very knowledgeable employee of NEXUS, Shoshana Friedman, showed me around their new space on 38 Chauncy Street in Boston.

NEXUS is more or less the epicenter of green building resources for Boston, MA. It has a product showroom, a material and resource library, space for events, and provide a place for people studying for LEED certification. You can also take a tour of the building from their friendly staff!

I was curious if other similar green building centers exist. They’re a little hard to find—a quick search I did turned up one in Atlanta and one in Santa Monica (which is actually co-sponsored by Global Green USA). Let us know if your searches turn up other green building centers in different parts of the country.

In addition to serving as an educational resource to the building community, NEXUS is a working example of green products in use. They are currently in the process of being LEED certified under the Commercial Interior (CI) bracket. Here are a few “green” features that I found interesting:

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When the U.S. Green Building Council was founded in 1993 it didn’t appear that it would be just an environmental movement. The Council (known as USGBC) sought a marketable approach to green building as a way to transform the built environment.

Out of this idea came the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, launched in 2000.

According to Richard Fedrizzi, who became USGBC’s CEO in 2003, LEED was meant to “transform the marketplace towards sustainable building.”

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Architect, Sarah Susanka, has helped reduced the popularity of McMansions by introducing a quainter lifestyle, beginning with our homes.

Her book, ‘The Not So Big House,’ embraces the idea that less is more and that luxury does not have to mean excess. So what does this have to do with green and energy efficient homes? How can a smaller home work for you?

A small, modest home means less heat, less air-conditioning, and less lighting. A home with fewer square feet is more efficient because a smaller amount of energy is needed to run the A/C, provide hot water, and perform other energy consuming activities.

So what can we do to make the most of the space we have?

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Green homes can look modern and sleek, but what if you want a more traditional looking home? Like a craftsmen or a cape. Holistic Homes is building four green and energy efficient craftsman style homes in Woodstown, New Jersey that are big on style and luxury and small on cost and energy.

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Windows are important to the overall design of a home. They come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and styles in order to give our home the look we want. Windows also provide us with sunlight and beautiful views. But if you are planning on building a green or energy efficient home windows are also essential to the efficiency of the design. Is it possible to have the both of best worlds?

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A room used exclusively for taking off shoes and throwing down belongings is great during inclement weather or for a home with kids, but a mudroom is more than just practical. Mudrooms have also proven to be part of a healthy, green home. What is it about this entry room that makes our homes healthier and more efficient?

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