The degree to which air is free of undesirable health-related and unwanted visible features (dirt, smog). This information is mostly acquired for specific harmful matter in the air, including bioterrorism agents.(1)  There are also concerns with indoor air quality, within our homes and offices.  These concerns have to do with toxic agents used for cleaning (household cleaners, dry cleaned clothes) and natural sources (radon, poor air exchange).

This is also a problem when we discuss sustainability and sustainable home designs because of their inherent nature in producing more sealed home and business ‘envelopes’ where air does not leak as much.  In some cases, exhaust fans and means of exchanging indoor air with fresh outdoor air is necessary.

What is air pollution?

Generally any substance that people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the environment is considered air pollution. (2)

Carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) is the main pollutant associated with global warming when it is associated with cars, airplanes, power plants and other human activities associated with burning fossil fuels (gasoline and natural gas).

Ozone occurring at ground level is caused when nitrous oxides and hydrocarbons react with sunlight.  In the upper levels of the atmosphere, it is beneficial and protects humans from UV radiation.

Methane gas (also a greenhouse gas) is the gas emitted by livestock or swamps and contributes to air pollution.

Sulfur dioxide is a component of smog, and associated with acid rain.

Particulate matter includes small and large particles suspended in the air that enter into people’s lungs. These are produced by construction, rock quarries, tractors working in fields, gas powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, power plants, and the burning of wood.

Who is affected by air pollution?

Those people who are mostly affected by air pollution are those with lung compromise (lung cancer, COPD, asthma and heart disease) and young children, whose lungs are not fully formed.  People that exercise outdoors need to take special precaution due to deeper inhalation of the air they breathe.

What can be done to minimize the affects of air pollution?

Become familiar with websites that give current information to your area.  Newspapers sometimes list this information, although the better bet is your online source.  One such site is:  Air Quality in My City. On days with moderate or high indices, indoor activity is advised.

Air Quality Index
(AQI) Values) Levels of Health Concern Colors
When the AQI is in this range: …air quality conditions are: ..as symbolized by this color:
0-50 Good Green
51-100 Moderate Yellow
101-150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups Orange
151 to 200 Unhealthy Red
201 to 300 Very Unhealthy Purple
301 to 500 Hazardous Maroon

Each category corresponds to a different level of health concern. The six levels of health concern and what they mean are:

* “Good” AQI is 0 – 50. Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.
* “Moderate” AQI is 51 – 100. Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people. For example, people who are unusually sensitive to ozone may experience respiratory symptoms.
* “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” AQI is 101 – 150. Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone, whereas persons with heart and lung disease, older adults and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air. .
* “Unhealthy” AQI is 151 – 200. Everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive groups may experience more serious effects. .
* “Very Unhealthy” AQI is 201 – 300. This would trigger a health alert signifying that everyone may experience more serious health effects.
* “Hazardous” AQI greater than 300. This would trigger a health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.

Air Quality Index Chart and Description

In my area (Phoenix), a few things have been done to help with air pollution solutions.  We have implemented carpool lanes, and are in the process of building a light rail system to discourage folks from driving alone in their cars.  A few years back people who invested in hybrid or electric vehicles were receiving rebates and rewards from the federal government.

Here is the 'brown cloud' that hovers over Phoenix caused by air particulate matter.

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Back in 2000, then Governor Jane Hull formed the Governor’s Brown Cloud Summit, where she gathered local politicians and business people to study the issue for 10 months.  They concluded that the community collectively held the most power, and encouraged the businesses to make mindful decisions.

Although air pollution can worsen already compromised health and lung conditions and bring on asthma in children, the affects are quickly improved with better air quality.

When it comes to sustainable design or architecture, there are many factors to consider.  For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing our attention on the design needs and challenges for desert dwellings, specifically, the southwestern United States.  There are some specific eco-friendly home designs, ideas and techniques that can help a home reduce its energy use and maximize the natural elements from where it is constructed.  In addition, there are building costs to consider in building such a home.  We’ll explore these points in more detail here.

Before we get into the specifics of desert-adapted sustainable home design, let’s take a minute to discuss what this principle even means.  Essentially, the term sustainable is a term that means living in a way that is beneficial for BOTH us AND the planet.  It is best described by the idea of living in a way that produces less waste than the environment can absorb – indefinitely – keeping your carbon footprint to as close to zero as possible.  This assists not only with pollution and air quality but with other natural resources.

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On GreenHomeBuilding.com¹ there is a nice resource list of books to become more educated on this topic as it relates to home design and building construction, as well as 13 principles to help guide your design to be more in line with a sustainable plan.

Some of the ideas like “think small, heat with the sun, keep your cool, use renewable energy, conserve water and using local and natural materials” are all points that we’ll address in this article.  Let’s address these points and elaborate where needed to make the case more clearly for why eco-friendly homes with sustainable design is the way to build now and for the future.

Small Home Design

The notion of building a home that is small doesn’t mean too small, it means just right.  Think of it like building for Goldilocks.  A sustainably built home is just the right size for the occupants and their lifestyle.  Homes that are excessively large waste not only natural resources and energy in terms of heating and cooling them, but also in the

You can see this very beautiful and functional kitchen, all materials were sustainable products.

materials used to build them.  We’ll discuss this a bit further below in the section on using local and natural materials.

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Modestly sized homes also allow the natural environment enough space to grow and thrive and support the local wildlife.  In areas of forest or desert land, this means less disruption of the natural environment and a more peaceful co-existence of humans and animals.  Attacks on both humans and pets have been shown to occur more frequently as natural habitat is destroyed.

Passive Solar Heating

This is a more decorative way of achieving the passive solar heating wall. Others are concrete block or masonry materials.

Heating with the sun is also more commonly known as passive heating or passive solar design.  In this design principle, one would orient the home so that it can take advantage of the sun’s natural heating abilities to heat one’s home.  It is also an important idea because of how the energy use will be affected by the interior temperature of the home.

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Likewise, cooling with the use of orientation and landscape design are key ways to address heating and cooling issues.  This is a great method as it relies on no moving parts (apart from any operable windows or fans that may be used to help circulate air) or electrical or mechanical devices.

On SustainableSources.com² , they discuss the best way to do this is to have the south facing wall of the home be used to ‘trap’ the heat from the sun.  This wall can be made of a masonry material or other material that can be used as a thermal mass.  This will allow the sun to heat it during the day and then have it radiated into the home when the sun goes down.

In the desert, architecture needs to address this south facing feature.  You would not want your home to have a large south-facing design unless you plan appropriately with trees or window overhangs, a patio or other way of blocking the intense summer sun from heating the interior of your home.  Window eaves can be built to extend enough to block the sun’s rays from entering in the summer and still get some heating benefits in the winter.  This can be accomplished by taking advantage of the height or arc of the sun as it moves through the sky in different seasons.  In the summer, the sun is ‘high’ in the sky, so a canopy or eave can block it if it is just the right length or angle.  Similarly, in the winter, the sun is ‘low’ in the sky and can shine into those same windows bringing warmth.  Proper landscape design will give you shade from native species of trees or shrubs.  Also, xeriscaping will ensure that you don’t use excessive water, we’ll discuss this point in the appropriate section below as well.

Keeping Cool

Some of the most effective ways of keeping cool in the desert are to build with orientation and shade in mind.  If you do this, you will ensure that your air conditioning unit will not need to work as hard, saving both energy and money in the process.  You can also keep the efficiency up and the workload down by building in a unique way that not many builders do, currently (2011).

This is to build the attic space as a semi-air conditioned room.  The underside of the roof decking can be insulated providing you with an attic space that is much cooler than a traditional one.  Since most duct work is located in the attic, it means that the cold air inside the ducts have to be battling the heat in the attic as it moves through to your rooms.  This causes a big cooling loss and requires your unit to work harder and longer to provide a comfortable temperature.  Having a cooler attic (by as much as 40-60 degrees) can mean significant energy savings, financial savings and longevity for your unit.

Renewable Energy

Solar power is a currently viable renewable energy solution.

Renewable energy systems are those that can be provided by nature in the course of her life.  In other words, styles of energy production, like solar and wind are natural ways to produce energy.

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Solar power can be provided by solar panels located on top of your home, a solar panel patio cover or a solar panel array on some property space.  Wind energy can also be harvested to help power your home. In the desert, with as many days of sun as we get, solar power is really a perfect choice.  Geothermal heating and cooling systems are another way that you can benefit from the core temperature stability of the Earth (50-55 degrees F) to heat and cool your home.

Conserving Water

As mentioned, saving water is one of those facts that simply cannot be overemphasized in the desert.  Landscaping must utilize the native plants and vegetation that is suited to thrive in arid and hot conditions.  These shrubs, trees, flowers and cacti can provide both aesthetic and functional properties to your overall landscape picture.

Xeriscaping is a term that is used to best describe what plants will work best.  When first planted, you will need to water more thoroughly and regularly.  Once established, many native plants require little, if any, water to grow and mature.  Mature trees, like the Palo Verde and Mesquite varieties can grow quite large and provide very adequate shading.  Sites like EnergySavers.gov³ give great information regarding the types of plants to use in your climate zone (the desert is hot-arid and requires special landscape features described here).  Shading an air conditioning unit can also increase its efficiency by up to 10%⁴.

Local and Natural Materials

Where possible, it is always best to use materials sourced as close to the project as possible.  This will ensure that you’re using materials that are adequately suited to the environment and it will greatly reduce the energy impact of having to transport and package the materials.  Labor costs will also be reduced, drastically.  There are other advantages of using natural materials that include more sustainable elements and less toxic problems.  Many man-made products have an off-gassing element about them.  Natural building materials could include things like bamboo, renewable and sustainably harvested woods, no VOC paints, clay plaster walls, rammed Earth, straw bales, and more.  Entire industries exist and have spawned from the development of green building and design.

What are the Costs of Sustainable Design?

This is a question that is probably more likely to stir debate than any other.  According to the Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG.com⁵)

“The main objectives of sustainable design are to avoid resource depletion of energy, water, and raw materials; prevent environmental degradation caused by facilities and infrastructure throughout their life cycle; and create built environments that are livable, comfortable, safe, and productive.”

So, the real question is, what ‘costs’ are we talking about? Costs in terms of building design and ecological principles – as they pertain to sustainable design – or bottom line, dollars and cents costs.

If we are talking about the first scenario, then it is obvious that a home built with sustainable elements and features ‘costs’ less in terms of damage to the environment in relation to its overall benefits to both inhabitant and planet.

However, in terms of financial costs, building green does typically cost anywhere between 5-20% more.  The majority of this extra cost is to be found in using alternative building materials or the extra labor necessary to ensure more properly fitted duct work, using high efficiency appliances and building materials that may cost more but can be found locally or will use less energy in the long run.

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Additionally, solar water heaters and tankless water heaters make for great alternatives to the conventional water heater but also cost more.

A typical, 2,000 square foot home of conventionally built materials may cost between $80-120 per square foot⁶ (average $100 psf).  For the same sustainably built home, it could cost roughly an average of $105-120 psf.  One other main problem with calculating specific cost differences has to do with the up-front vs. life-cycle cost of these types of buildings.  Many of the sustainable features and design elements; like energy systems, appliances, lighting and building materials cost more initially, but are much less overall if computed on a lifetime basis.  To truly appreciate what sustainable home designs can do for both the health of the occupants and that of the planet can also only be appreciated in terms of a life cycle as well.  Live well!

It isn’t that harnessing the power of the wind is anything new.  After all, sailboats and windmills have been utilizing this natural resource for many hundreds of years.  While the wind that is used in these cases is more of a function of converting that mechanical energy of the wind into direct mechanical energy of moving a shaft to do work, there are some lessons to learn.  The first lesson is that we can actually harness usable energy in a sustainable way.  This is, unfortunately, still a concept that is in its infancy.  We’ve known these things for eons, but the technology or desire to implement such technologies has just never been there.

Well, the time is now.  We still continue to develop newer and greater means of being able to tap into Mother Earth’s energy in a way that is a win-win for us and for her.  More recently, much effort is beginning to emerge to show exactly what is possible.  There are many forms of how to access this wind energy.  You’ve probably seen the wind farms in the hills of southern California.  These have been ongoing for decades.  In other places of Europe, wind power is utilized as a much greater percentage of energy demand.  Do they have more wind?  The quick answer is no.  What they do have in many places of Europe is a greater ‘climate of sustainability’.  This isn’t an excuse, just something to consider.

In order for wind power and other alternative energy means to become popular in our country, it is going to have to impact our spending.  This is just the simple nature of how our economy functions.   Having your back pocket affected by the changes in energy prices is one great motivator.  While there are some brave and pioneering homeowners willing to break ground with things like solar water heaters and geothermal energy, there are many more who don’t have the financial means to invest in such systems or the environmental consciousness to care.

As we opened this article, we talked about how the wind powers a shaft to do mechanical work.  In a newer wind powered world, the wind causes a turbine to spin, which causes energy to be produced. This energy can then be stored, transmitted through the grid, or used on site for various functions.  In this ‘on site’ application, you would be creating at least one aspect of a sustainable business operation.

While it requires more land to host a ‘wind farm’ a homeowner could still benefit or participate by electing to utilize wind power as some percentage of their energy.  This way, they could pay whatever rates would be set for their traditional ‘grid power’ and then a different rate for the wind energy.  Over time, the cost of the energy derived from the wind should come down as the initial expenses decrease.  Maintenance and upkeep or replacement costs would always take up some portion, but we can see how this sustainable resource could be implemented at least on some level until further technological advancements make wind power even more accessible directly by the homeowner.

The most popular ideas regarding wind power seem to center around placement of units in the ocean.  Some of these are set in large concrete pillars in the ocean floor off coastal waters.  These present issues with regard to construction, maintenance and portability.  Newer ideas involve having these wind turbines set on floating platforms.  They are much more easily positioned, don’t require concrete footings (which is a large cost savings in terms of materials and construction), and are even more efficient, in terms of converting the wind energy to usable electrical energy.  This whole efficiency dilemma is one that is faced with solar energy as well.

Overall, we are at a time when there are available means to make a big step forward in terms of how we use the natural sources of energy available to us.  Whether we choose to take the steps now to put in the necessary infrastructure that will help serve the inevitable demand is something that only our political system has the means to tackle.  This means that we need to choose our energy wisely because it is how we spend our money that speaks most loudly to our political leaders.

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On the other hand, talk about saving money and all of a sudden more ears start to perk up.  If the money that can be saved is something that people are willing and (easily) able to do, then it is more likely to happen.  Unfortunately, we are just more motivated by our back pockets than an environmental consciousness at this point.  It is not only here in the U.S. that we face this dilemma either.  In developing countries where resources have been sparse for years, growth gives them the glimpse of a greater freedom.  If this comes at a cost in terms of energy production or environmental impact, the environment is sure to suffer at the expense of upward mobility in living standards.

It’s hard to lay blame.  We have enjoyed our own run with the fossil fuels and other petroleum-based world views for quite some time.  Now, we see that there are better ways to use and manage our natural resources.  One such place we can turn as homeowners to make a difference is in the way that we heat and cool our homes.  We’ve talked about how solar energy and wind power can both be used as ways of decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels as our only sources of energy, now we are going to turn our attention inwards – into the Earth.

How Does Geothermal Heating and Cooling Work?

To answer this, we’ll need to do a quick review of science.  Briefly, the way these systems work is by exchanging the heat of the water inside the tubes that are dug into the ground, from 50-250 feet deep.  The stable temperature of the Earth is what gives us the ability to do this.  At this depth, the temperature stays at 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  This means that, when you want to warm the air in your home, you would exchange the cold air with this ‘warmth’ from the Earth.  And, if you want to cool your home, you would use the tubes of water to reach down and cool the warmer air with this ‘cold’ temperature from the Earth’s ‘crust’.

For a detailed description of this method, you can visit GeoExchange or Reddawn.  Basically, what we wish to emphasize here is the very fact that it is possible to heat and cool your home using only the Earth as the source.  Geothermal systems for use in residential applications can save you anywhere from $750-2,000 per year over traditional heating and cooling units.  This can help recover your initial higher costs of purchasing a geothermal unit to between 3 and 5 years in most cases.  There are only maintenance issues and the small amount of electricity that is required to run the unit itself.  However, you can also capture some of the superheated water not used to heat your air for hot water, so there is an additional savings there.  There are some larger applications of this geothermal energy systems in commercial settings as well.  Universities and large corporations in suitable locations, could benefit with huge savings in terms of yearly costs for energy production.  This could mean greater bottom lines, as well as good public relations.

It is only a matter of time before we start to see these types of alternative energy systems being used more and more in the mainstream.  It has been estimated that only about 1% of U.S. households employ this technology.  We are experiencing what some call an artificially low cost of energy because of how we subsidize and incentivize many aspects of the industry.  When such subsidies are lifted or naturally disappear because of market forces, only then will we truly appreciate the true cost of energy.  There have been attempts by the government to give tax incentives to purchase these types of alternative energy units which has led some to find the financial means to be able to afford them.

In fact, if we wait that long, then we will once again be forced to choose something like geothermal energy based on financial reasons alone.  If more commercial applications could be viewed as successful and widespread, more companies would be willing to invest and the costs would come down and trickle into the residential market as well.  With more and more individual homes willing and able to participate in obtaining the benefits of geothermal heating and cooling, we would be that much closer to our goal of a sustainable world.

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In terms of products for your home, there are some things that we like better than others, but this is more of a personal standpoint than a ‘deal-breaker’ type of issue.  In other words, any time you are doing your part to contribute in a way that conserves energy, water or other natural resources and helps you to live more lightly on the planet, you are doing it ‘right’.  So, as we get into this discussion of solar water heaters, keep this in mind.

What is the main distinction between a solar water heater and a traditionally powered one?  Depending upon the type of fuel your water heater uses for heating:  electrical or gas powered, you may find little difference.  In other words, a traditional system has a large tank of water, let’s say 80 gallons.  Water requires a significant amount of energy to heat (and cool for that matter) because of its natural properties.  Incidentally, this is why geothermal heating and cooling systems work, but that is for yet another article.  So, what you have is a large pot of water that needs to be heated to some (set) temperature.  You can control just how hot you want that water to stay, but that is about all with a traditional unit.  You can turn it to ‘vacation’ mode on newer units so that it doesn’t continuously heat water while you are away.  This does save energy and is an advancement over previous models.  However, you are still left with this large amount of water to heat inside the tank.

Up until quite recently, there were major issues with solar’s efficiency.  To be frank, there still are.  There are also issues with storage of power.  Battery back-up technology is also improving.  The ideal situation is a place where there is great efficiency of the conversion of solar energy to electrical energy and consistent and reliable energy storage capacity.  One could combine the best of both worlds and use solar energy to power an electrically-powered tankless heater.  Whether or not your solar system would be large enough to handle the demand is not known.  As technologies improve, this will be an area where sustainable design could be doubly beneficial in our homes.  If you’re looking for a way to save energy and don’t like the tankless option, then feel comfortable choosing a solar water heater.

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Basically, as the name implies, tankless water heaters are just that.  They are systems that heat your water without having to store a huge amount of it in a mini-silo-like container in some area of your basement or garage or other area of your home.  From a sheer catastrophe standpoint, the traditional water heater is a bad idea.  In concept, it works great and is still used in far, far more homes than any other system.  Hopefully, this will change as more and more people are turned on to the benefits.  Some of these include energy savings and water conservation.  That is what we will be getting into now.

Tankless Water Heaters and Conservation Benefits

The main reasons why tankless water heaters are good from an environmental impact are their energy and water conserving qualities.  With a traditional system, what happens is that you have to store dozens of gallons of water in a large container and continuously heat it with either electricity or gas, in order for it to remain hot for use when you need it.  You can control the ‘resting’ temperature of the water to something that uses less energy than having to be scalding hot, but this is only a minor savings when compared to an on-demand hot water heater.  The tankless version saves energy by not having to continuously heat a large amount of water to maintain its temperature.   Water requires a lot of energy to heat and cool.  Solar water heaters can help with this aspect of conservation, but still lack in the water saving benefits discussed next.

Water conservation is another key benefit of the tankless system.  Without having to store water and then run it until it is hot enough to shower or wash dishes with, you will have near instantaneous hot water.  You can also get under-sink mount smaller reservoirs that can keep a small amount of hot water ready for immediate use.  The tankless heaters work with either electricity or gas as well.

However, the difference lies in how the water is heated.  The tankless styles have small tubes that run through the unit that is about the size of a medium to large backpack.  These tubes are heated with coils or the gas and create hot water very quickly in the confined space of the tubes.  One drawback that has been addressed in tankless designs and something that can be overcome with another unit is that of overloaded demand.  In other words, a tankless system has been knocked for having a harder time with many users attempting to need water at once.  Rather than draining a large container, the tankless system has had difficulties in the past of keeping up with demand.

You can get a tankless water heater in the range of $500-800 USD and have it installed by a plumber in no time at all.  If you are fairly handy, you can even tackle the project yourself.  If the government even thought it was a good idea to give tax breaks and credits for energy and water conserving appliances, it must be good, right?  All kidding aside, credits or not, you will be better off for having invested in a tankless water heater.

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Gardening is one of those areas where it is possible to capture children’s interests and help them learn where their food and other plants come from.  Not everyone can live on a farm.  Not everyone wants to either.  But, there are ways of having soil that every farmer and avid gardener lives for.  This soil has just the right amount of nitrogen, potassium, oxygen and all the other good minerals and microorganisms that make vegetables thrive.  This dark, rich brown dirt is a combination of natural forces that breaks down what comes from the surrounding rain, other plant waste products and small organisms that naturally occur in the soil.  You can get this same ‘black gold’ dirt by composting at your home as well.

Compost is really simple to do, saves items from filling in a landfill or having to be filtered from the water supply and can save you money on having to buy potting soil as well.  It is an all around great use of kitchen and yard waste.  You could think of it as an outdoor recycling program for things other than plastic, steel, aluminum, and glass.  You can’t include paper in this group because you CAN actually use paper in your compost bin.  Old newspaper can be shredded up and used as a great addition to your compost mix.

If you have a small patio garden or even raised planting beds, your compost can provide you with more than enough soil additive to keep your plants thriving.  In order to make your compost mix ‘work’ you’ll need to pay attention to having the right mix of moisture, brown waste and green waste.  Newspaper and other brown waste can be used to keep the moisture level just right.  Brown waste is things like dead leaves, grass clippings, and other similar yard waste products.  The green waste is from things like vegetable ‘table scraps’.  You can use the parts from your vegetables that you don’t eat (like the ends of onions and the peels of various fruits) and ‘feed’ them to your compost pile or bin.

Many cities actually have either free or inexpensive compost bins that they will provide to you.  If you want to get some more elaborate ones that are able to turn or rotate on wheels and such, you’ll need to invest in one of those yourself.  Once you get the hang of it, it is fairly simple to maintain.  As discussed, the real trick is in keeping the right mix of green, brown and moisture.  If your compost begins to get too dry, the natural decomposition and breakdown will not occur.  This will invite other critters and bugs to the pile.  If it is too moist, then you’ll get a sloppy mess with no breakdown either.  Think of it just like Goldilocks’ porridge and keep the mix just right.  This will cause your compost to produce heat as a natural by-product of the mix decomposing and will kill off any unwanted microorganisms.  Also, with the right mix and temperature, your coveted rich, brown soil will be ready for use in a matter of months.  As you keep adding stuff to the top of your pile, you can keep it going so that you almost never run out of compost.

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At the very core of many issues regarding energy use is personal choice and consumption factors.  We are simply too spoiled and comfortable in the West to address many of the issues head on.  In the United States, gasoline prices are considerably less than most countries in Europe.  The only place where gas may be less expensive is in the places from where it is refined and shipped.  This is true, especially of places in the middle-East, where a gallon of gas can be measured in cents, not dollars.  Could you imagine if gas was that cheap here?  We would probably not even be having this discussion and that is the problem.  You see, if we only use financial reasons for why we change behavior, then we are at the whim of market forces and not good conscience and a harmonious environmental outlooks.  To some, this is okay.  To others, they recognize the trap of this and see that we are just going to keep ourselves stuck in the rut.

In our homes, just like with our cars, if we are only motivated to change behavior because of financial reasons, the shift will likely be much slower if at all.  Energy costs do drive behavior.  This can be a good thing.  In a free economy – and a perfect world – these things will work themselves out.  If you can find an alternative that meets your needs better, you will go with it.  This can be in terms of price or quality or what ever other parameter you may be using.

This was certainly the case with solar energy in our country for years and still is to some degree.  You didn’t see the desire for individuals to purchase solar energy equipment, panels and such until the prices came down and the technology improved to make a return on investment likely in a reasonable time frame.  This isn’t a problem, just a reality.  It was not a group of environmentally conscious people that led the charge.  It might have been supported by them, but it was entrepreneurs and inventors who came up with better technology and the means to sell it that made it become more and more popular.  Of course, having our government and many local municipalities subsidize it didn’t hurt either.  This is just the point.  Solar energy finally became more competitive both in terms of price, performance and convenience.  This is the triple threat when it comes to getting us motivated to change our behavior here in the United States and other like-minded countries.

Have you seen similar trends here with wind energy?  Well, yes and no.  This is a bit more of a geographic issue.  Solar energy has geographic parameters as well, but they are a bit less so than the wind ‘zones’ in the United States.  While the southwest is clearly a great place to consider solar energy, there are other pockets around the country where solar is also a very viable solution.  Wind power can be great in areas where there is naturally occurring climatic reasons for such forces to be more prominent and consistent.  While the technology for wind power has also improved, it is not at the same level of exuberance as solar in many areas.  Both are sustainable energy sources, but solar seems to have achieved a little bit of an edge here.  There are other sources of alternative energy as well, like geothermal, tidal and landfill waste-gas.  These are all exciting areas which we can keep our eyes on.  They all follow the same principles of utilizing naturally occurring or pre-existing, in the case of the landfill-gas style, sources for producing energy.  This is what sustainability is all about.  By utilizing these other sources of energy, we may one day wean ourselves off of the petroleum-based and, literally fueled, economy that we currently have.  When this happens, we will likely see much less in the way of tensions between countries as well, because we will all be able to sustain ourselves.  While global world peace is a great target to shoot for, let’s just start with what we can do at home and work and go from there.

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As the term implies, the idea is that this sustainable home is one which can sustain itself within its larger environment.  We are all living inside larger and larger rings of environmental and universal rings.  Think of it in terms of one big compost pile.  In other words, the tiny microorganism that helps break down the waste products in the soil is also contributing to the food that is grown. This food is what you eat and what drives your life force and energy.  You, in turn, do some sort of work and contribute to another way to the global community.  Our efforts and by products are affecting the Earth and beyond.  It doesn’t matter to what extend you agree or disagree with political wrangling of facts and figures, the point is that we are all interconnected.  The homes in which we live are part of a larger living community and environment.

Rather than trying to isolate ourselves from this larger environment, what if we embraced where we were and lived in harmony with it?  This is not really as radical a concept as it may sound.  In fact, these concepts have been espoused for years by Native Americans and other Native peoples of various places in the world.  They have a greater appreciation for these concepts because they interact with their environment in such an intimate way.  The people that truly ‘live off the land’, as all human beings did at one time in our history, have a greater appreciation for the immediacy of their actions.  The further and further we isolate ourselves from the environment, whether that is through distance or technology, the less able we are to see the affects we are having.

This is a big problem, and maybe not in the way you might be thinking.  While there are certainly intelligent people arguing that humans are destroying the planet, it is our contention that it is more contributory than causative.  That is to say, while there are signs that we are currently in a warming trend on our planet, it is not definitively caused by humans.  We have gone through these cycles in the past and we will again in the future.  To assume that we have all of the conclusive evidence NOW is just too egotistical to begin making judgments on.  Don’t read this the wrong way.  After all, you are on SustainableHouseandHome.com.  It would be silly to think we don’t care about these matters.  Quite the contrary.

This site is dedicated to those principles that we believe will have the greatest impact to limit our footprints on this blue and green planet we co-inhabit.  That there is evidence that our past and current actions are contributing to the trend has been proven to our satisfaction.  The purpose and design of this site is geared toward you, the individual, inhabitant of a house you call home.  Whether or not your home could qualify for a “green building council” award is not the only matter we are concerned with.  Of greater importance is bringing awareness to the materials, products and ways of living that we each have that can minimize the destructive impact we are having on the planet.  We may not be able to reverse any trends that have been set in motion through the ages of time, but we can certainly not add more in the way of our past and current transgressions.  Together, one home at a time, we can make our local environment, then our global environment one connected and sustainable place to live.

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Before we go off in a tangent too far in that direction, let’s steer back to the discussion about low flow water fixtures.  The thing is, the reason that we are even having this discussion is because of the larger global challenges, but it is only because we have neglected these needs for too long.  It isn’t that the water shortage issue is one that we have never addressed, just one that makes more sense in light of our heightened interest in all things green as we move toward a more sustainable living planet.

These issues of saving water and saving natural resources should not be seen as political talking points but as real world issues that we should all be addressing in our homes.  Take energy for example.  Let’s just pretend that we really wanted something that was in the Middle East and we really needed it for our economy to function, would it be worth fighting wars over?  Would we be better off if we developed technologies that allowed us to drastically reduce our need for those important resources from overseas?  The same arguments can be made for water conservation.  These are global issues that are addressed first individually or locally.

A sustainable home functions by striking a balance between our constructed world and the natural world.  Anytime that we can make the man-made one create less of an impact on the natural one, we have made one more step in creating a more sustainable life.  So, think about this each time you flush your toilet or take shower.  If each time you flush the toilet, you use more water than is absolutely necessary to empty the bowl, that water needs to be processed much more heavily, requiring more energy and chemicals.  Long showers are not only annoying to the other people in your household, they are also annoying to the planet.  Having to make more fresh water is not an easy task.

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