Sustainable Home Catalyst

Green Homes VS Sustainable Homes – SHC008


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For the past several decades a movement has been slowly growing. This movement is toward taking better care of our planet, toward not depleting its many natural resources and not poisoning its delicate ecosystem through the chemicals we use or garbage we produce. Efforts to protect earth by the way we live and work have often been called “being environmentally friendly.”  Another term often used is “being green.”



Many have applied this movement of being green to the homes we live in. They apply these green principles in 2 main areas:



Using materials that do not deplete natural resources and are not harmful to the earth during their useful life or when they are disposed of.Designing a home that does not require as much energy to operate and be comfortable in and also utilizes the sun to provide energy through solar electricity and passive or active solar heating.



Homes that apply these principles to be more environmentally friendly are often referred to as green homes.



Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash



Due to the fact that green homes help preserve and sustain the earth’s ecosystem compared to standard homes they have also earned the title of being sustainable homes. Thus the term sustainable home is a reference to how the home sustains our planet as opposed to destroying it through it’s construction and use.



I personally like to take the term sustainable home a bit further though.



The definition of sustainability describes the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.



While the initial intent of referring to green homes as sustainable homes refers to the home being sustainable to the natural environment, green homes are sustainable in many more ways.



How are Green Homes Sustainable?



Green homes can be sustainable to your health, your finances, and your lifestyle.



Sustainable to Your Health



How often do you get sick or just not feel good when you are. at home?



Have you ever wondered if there might be something in the air or materials in your home that might be bad for your health?



Most older homes and even many new homes are not built very “airtight” which means that air can leak uncontrolled through the exterior walls, roof, and even the foundation. This most often occurs around windows, exterior doors, lights, switches, and plugs.



Many older homes were built to account for this air leakage as a source of fresh air into the home. This air however can pick up dust, chemicals, and even organisms that may be present in the materials it passes through and can bring those contaminants into your home.



In the past few decades homes have been built tighter and tighter to lesson this uncontrolled air leakage in an effort to reduce heating and cooling costs. This has reduced the amount of contaminated air entering into homes but a result of this in some cases is that there is insufficient fresh air brought into the home.



This fresh air is needed to account for pollutants that we create from activities such as breathing, cooking, using air fresheners (though they may smell nice they aren’t usually the best thing to breathe in), using cleaners, using cosmetics, and from other activities as well.



Other sources of fresh air in a home are from the fresh air intake of our furnace (which if you don’t have central air conditioning doesn’t run much in warmer months) or from opening windows (which most of us don’t do much in colder months).



The quality of air from your furnace and through your windows needs to be considered as wel...
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Sustainable Home CatalystBy Ben Hildebrandt