The Resourceful Renovator: A Gallery of Ideas for Reusing Building Materials

The Resourceful Renovator: A Gallery of Ideas for Reusing Building Materials Review

Great ideas for using building elements from salvage shops and/or flea markets to add interest and architectural beauty to your home

The Self-Sufficient Home: Going Green and Saving Money

The Self-Sufficient Home: Going Green and Saving Money Review

This book shows how to cut heating and cooling costs, utilize solar energy, construct non-flush toilets and solar showers, collect rainwater, and apply permaculture techniques. Hundreds of photographs and diagrams illustrate ways to use natural resources and embrace self-reliance. From embracing solar energy and wind power to using fluorescent bulbs and growing backyard vegetable gardens, there are endless ways to live a more ecological and economical lifestyle. Sustainable living advice from self-reliance expert Christopher Nyerges, editor of "Wilderness Way" magazine.

Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies®

Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies® Review

Want to build responsibly, reduce waste, and help preserve the environment? Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies is your friendly, step-by-step guide to every facet of this Earth-friendly method of construction. Building a home—even a green home—uses plenty of resources and energy. This practical, hands-on book shows you how to build or remodel conscientiously, whether your dream home is a simple remodel or a brand-new multimillion-dollar mansion.

You’ll start by identifying green materials and sizing up potential systems and construction sites. You’ll weigh the pros and cons of popular green building methods and identify opportunities for saving money in the long run. Need to find some green professionals to assist you in your venture? We’ll help you do that, too. This book will also help you discover how to:

• Understand the lifecycle of building materials
• Choose the right system for your green building project
• Put together a green team
• Work within your budget
• Use green building methods and sustainable systems
• Speed construction and reduce energy use and waste
• Refinish old fixtures and materials
• Beware of asbestos and lead-paint hazards
• Avoid costly mistakes

Complete with lists of ten green things to do on every project and ten things you can do right now in your home in order to go green, Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies is your one-stop guide to planning and building the home you’ve always wanted.

Eco-Renovation: The Ecological Home Improvement Guide (The Real Goods Independent Living Books)

Eco-Renovation: The Ecological Home Improvement Guide (The Real Goods Independent Living Books) Review

Eco-Renovation is the first book specifically aimed at homeowners who want to make their houses as "green" as possible. It will show the reader how to reduce energy bills and select resource-efficient building materials.

A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office: Navigating the Maze of Solar Options, Incentives, and Installers

A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office: Navigating the Maze of Solar Options, Incentives, and Installers Review

A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office: Navigating the Maze of Solar Options, Incentives, and Installers Feature

• ISBN13: 9781603582612
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Solar power, once a fringe effort limited to DIY enthusiasts, is now fast becoming mainstream. Many home and business owners are curious about solar electric and solar thermal systems, and wonder how to go about getting a clean energy generation system of their own. The vast majority will hire a professional installer to do the job. But what should they be asking of these installers? What system makes the most sense for their home or office: solar electric, solar hot water, solar heating, or some combination of these?

A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office explains the options so that property owners can make the right choices both for their energy needs and their financial security. Understanding how solar power systems work will enable readers to be informed customers when dealing with professional installers-the book also provides advice on how to select a qualified installer and understand the expanding variety of tax credits and other incentives that are popping up around the country.

The market for solar systems has been growing at an exponential rate and strong tax credits ensure continued growth even in a sluggish economy. Many of those who would like to catch this undeniable wave of the future are held back by widespread confusion. A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office clears the air, allowing property owners to move forward with confidence to make their homes and offices more comfortable, environmentally sound, and secure against wild swings in energy prices.

Designing Your Natural Home

Designing Your Natural Home Review

One of the pioneers of incorporating the green movement into home design, David Pearson now offers a complete guide for creating an eco-home. Informative, clear, and with factual advice, tips, and beautiful color photos, Designing Your Natural Home takes readers through each step of the process, from defining the scope of the project to choosing materials and building methods to decorating the new abode.

Along with practical, how-to information, photo essays present inspiring and stylish examples of natural design. The ten innovative homes featured in this book exemplify different solutions for every situation and budget, from apartments to sprawling dwellings. Readers will learn how to make the most of small spaces, find a builder, draw up plans, purchase low energy appliances, and much more.

Whether they're renovating an existing space, expanding a house, or starting from scratch, readers will be inspired to create the natural home of their dreams with this indispensable guide and source for fresh ideas.

We Can All Live Green: Simple Steps to Save Money, Stay Healthy, and Support the Planet

We Can All Live Green: Simple Steps to Save Money, Stay Healthy, and Support the Planet Review

We Can All Live Green: Simple Steps to Save Money, Stay Healthy, and Support the Planet Feature

• ISBN13: 9780980028829
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

This is the green book for Americans who'd like to be shown why and how "going green" makes economic sense. With simple tips, a friendly voice, and step-by-step practical information, the book offers smart consumer choices that benefit health, pocketbook, and the environment. A gift book, its pages have high visual interest, with sidebars, "in a nutshell" factoids, action items, and buyer's guides. Appendices include product source lists, green lifestyle websites, and a science and environment section for 101-style background information.

Homes for a Changing Climate

Homes for a Changing Climate Review

Climate change is inescapable. Even if the whole world stopped pumping carbon dioxide into the sky today, at least forty years of climate change are ahead of us, thanks to the long time lag within the Earthís ecosystem. As the century progresses, extremes will become more common: heat-waves, drought, storms and floods will test the design of our buildings and the resilience of our communities. We also face the slow rise of sea levels and the secondary impacts of climate change, especially on energy and food security. Britain has a mild, temperate climate and occasional weather extremes tend to have serious impacts because we are simply not prepared for them. Yet across the world, communities have been living with such extremes for millennia. If we have the imagination to learn from others and rethink the ways we build and live together, we can face this unsettling future with confidence. Homes for a Changing Climate celebrates this collective wisdom, exploring traditional and contemporary responses to the challenges of climate and illustrating the many ways in which houses can be designed, built and adapted to cope with these challenges. Examples are drawn from across Europe ñ from the dry volcano of Thera to the 100mph winds of the Western Isles ñ and from cutting edge eco-building projects in Britain.Combining inspiring case studies, striking photography and practical advice, Homes for a Changing Climate is a book of imagination and hope in difficult times.

Hey Mr. Green: Sierra Magazine's Answer Guy Tackles Your Toughest Green Living Questions

Hey Mr. Green: Sierra Magazine's Answer Guy Tackles Your Toughest Green Living Questions Review

When is the right time to replace an old refrigerator? Is it okay to knit a sweater with acrylic yarn? Is it more environmentally correct to buy beer in bottles or cans? For the last several years, Bob Schildgen’s popular “Hey Mr. Green” column has tackled real-world questions from real people. Readers trust his answers, which are backed by Sierra Club’s research, but they also enjoy his realism and irreverent humor. This book distills the best of the column into one enormously useful and entertaining resource. It’s organized by subject — household issues, food and drink, transportation, reuse and recycling, and “big picture” environmental questions — making it easy to find answers to common questions. Whether puzzling over the intricacies of product life cycles or taking a reader to task for blasting his air conditioner, Hey Mr. Green is an indispensable, opinionated, and authoritative guide to minding one’s environmental footprint.

The Green Book of Household Hints: Keeping an Efficient and Ecologically Sound Home

The Green Book of Household Hints: Keeping an Efficient and Ecologically Sound Home Review

More than 1,000 ecologically sound tips for efficient housekeeping

The Green Book of Household Hints is an indispensable guide for today's busy homeowner. In this single, convenient volume are hundreds of useful tips on everything from avocados (unripe) to zippers (stuck). There is advice on:

• Appliance upkeep
• Bottled water
• Draft-proofing
• First aid
• Garbage disposal
• Home computers
• Household repairs
• Internet safety for kids
• Laundry
• Painting and decorating
• Pet care
• Stain removal

Whether it's a simple problem such as a squeaky door or a more complex matter such as household pets, The Green Book of Household Hints focuses on advice that really works. Complete with alphabetically arranged entries and a full index, The Green Book of Household Hints is a practical, time-saving guide that no modern home should be without.

Here are just a few valuable hints:

• Avoid placing an air conditioner where the sun beats down on it.
• Deodorize a dog by rubbing baking soda into its coat, then brushing it off.
• Water conducts electricity. If your basement floods, cautiously venture with rubber boots and shut off the power with a wooden spoon.
• Candles will last longer if you snip the wick close to the top.
• Put cornstarch on greasy carpet spills. After l hour, brush clean.
• Use dental floss to truss a turkey. It holds better than string.
• Use a dehumidifier in your basement. The house will be cooler, drier, and your air-conditioning bills will be lower.
• To lay floor tiles, start at the room's center and work toward the walls.
• Don't clean your computer monitor with glass cleaner while it is "on."
• Dry-clean both parts of a suit at the same time. Color changes will match.
• In a fire, if a door feels hot, don't open it. Escape by a window.

Adobe Homes for All Climates: Simple, Affordable, and Earthquake-Resistant Natural Building Techniques

Adobe Homes for All Climates: Simple, Affordable, and Earthquake-Resistant Natural Building Techniques Review

Adobe Homes for All Climates: Simple, Affordable, and Earthquake-Resistant Natural Building Techniques Feature

• ISBN13: 9781603582575
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

The lay-up of adobe bricks is an easy, forgiving way to achieve a solid masonry-wall system. Contrary to stereotypes, adobe is perfectly adaptable for use in cold, wet climates as well as hot and dry ones, and for areas prone to earthquakes. With its efficient use of energy, natural resources for construction, and minimal effort for long-term maintenance, it's clear that the humble adobe brick is an ideal option for constructing eco-friendly structures throughout the world.

The book is ideal both for first-time do-it-yourselfers and for experienced adobe builders seeking to improve their craft. Drawing on the experience of more than fifty major adobe projects since 1993, Adobe Homes for all Climates describes Adobe Building Systems' patented reinforcement and scaffolding systems, showing readers how to construct adobe homes more easily and safely, and with superior strength, durability, structural integrity, and aesthetic appeal, as compared to earthen homes of the past.

All aspects of adobe construction are covered, including making and laying adobe bricks, installing lintels and arches, conduits and pipes, doors and windows, top plates and bondbeams, ideal wall dimensions, adobe finishes, and other adobe construction components, such as the inexpensive use of scaffolding. These methods will produce a premium product that will meet and often exceed inspection standards.

Equipped with this manual, you will be able to obtain a building permit, make adobe bricks swiftly, and confidently lay them up. You will be able to beautifully finish your adobe walls with earth plasters creating stunning colors and outstanding light effects and create a beautiful, energy-efficient home that will last for generations to come.

Homes for a Changing Climate: Adapting Our Homes and Communities to Cope with the Climate of the 21st Century

Homes for a Changing Climate: Adapting Our Homes and Communities to Cope with the Climate of the 21st Century Review

Climate change is inescapable. Even if the whole world stopped pumping carbon dioxide into the sky today, at least forty years of climate change are ahead of us, thanks to the long time lag within the Earth's ecosystem. As the century progresses, extremes will become more common: heat waves, drought, storms, and floods will test the design of our buildings and the resilience of our communities. We also face the slow rise of sea levels and the secondary impacts of climate change, especially on energy and food security.

Across the world, communities have been living with such extremes for millennia. If we have the imagination to learn from others and rethink the ways we build and live together, we can face this unsettling future with confidence.

Homes for a Changing Climate celebrates this collective wisdom, exploring traditional and contemporary responses to the challenges of climate and illustrating the many ways in which houses can be designed, built, and adapted to cope with these challenges. Combining inspiring case studies, striking photography, and practical advice, Homes for a Changing Climate is a book of imagination and hope in difficult times.

The Effective Small Home

The Effective Small Home Review

This is a facsimile reprint of the original book by Lilian Bayliss Green, rebuilt using the latest technology. There are no poor, missing or blurred pages and all photographic images have been professionally restored. At Yokai Publishing we believe that by restoring this title to print it will live on for generations to come.

The Northwest Green Home Primer

The Northwest Green Home Primer Review

The essential, real-world, green home manual.

Everyone can make green home decisions on a budget with this inspiring, informationpacked guide. Whether you are building, remodeling, buying, or just curious, here are real-world strategies for getting the greenest results from your budget, with hundreds of ideas for a home that is built to last, comfortable and healthy, money- and time-saving in the long term, and kind to the planet. From your home's exterior to its operating systems within, from siting to interior design, this is the basic training that has given many the confidence to proceed. Award-winning sustainable design and building consultant and teacher Kathleen O'Brien and architectural designer and sustainability consultant Kathleen Smith offer their "top picks" for each phase. They've also each faced their own green home challenges in a single-family house and a duplex, and other case studies show affordable energy-efficient green homes both old and new. Brimming with ideas, clear and logical, with tips, checklists, and resources for green home planning, construction, remodeling, and maintenance, extensively illustrated with photos and diagrams, this is the essential green home manual for novice and professional alike.