For beginners and owner-builders, green building is a sustainable construction method that has a low impact on the environment. Green buildings usually incorporate LEED standard construction requirements in order to become certified; however, a homeowner can be an "owner builder" and construct their own home without the need of hiring a General Contractor in many cases. The energy efficiency of a home, when designed well, can be as much as 90% efficient, cutting utility bills to an extreme. A tiny house or small "core house" (with all the living essentials--kitchen, bath, living/sleeping area) can be designed into the floorplan wall system so the owner-builder can add on extra bedrooms later on. Energy efficient homes that are truly sustainable incorporate superinsulation and thermal mass along with passive solar home design, and this book explains how to do that. This book offers a passive solar home companion e-book (v1) that can be downloaded free from the author's website.

TABLE OF CONTENTS (chapters, some sections, page numbers):

INTRODUCTION 2

Designing Our Homes for the Earth: Why Pay Attention to Climate Change

No Waste and Permaculture

Green Energy

Net Zero/Net Positive

The Purpose of This Book

Passive House / Passivehaus

Best Passive Solar Homes

GREEN BUILDING BASICS 35

What is Green Building?

Life Cycle Assessment

Cost

Site

Design

Environmental impact

Water Efficiency

Energy efficiency

Core-House

Construction

Maintenance

Operation

Renovations

Deconstruction

Habitat for Humanity Deconstruction Services

Deconstruction vs Demolition

How Green Home Deconstruction is Essential

GREEN BUILDING CODES 94

Why LEED?

LEED Certification

To Certify or Not to Certify?

Design for the Future

ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS

ALTERNATIVE CONSTRUCTION GREEN MATERIALS 152

PASSIVE SOLAR HOUSE DESIGN 190

Passive solar vs conventional home

Solar Design

Passive House

Passive House vs. Conventional Home

Storing Energy vs Reducing Loss

The 90% Efficient Passive Solar House

PASSIVE SOLAR STRAW BALE HOUSE DESIGN 208

The Beginning

Build Inexpensively, Not Cheap

Straw Bale Home Design

OWNER-BUILT STARTER HOME 224

Greening a Used Home

PLAN TO BUILD 238

Land

Practical and Legal

Site Assessment

Financing

Utilities / Services

Sewage

Electricity

Water

Cable / Internet

Phone

Gas

Professional Help

Learning Tips from Professionals

Floor Plan & Features

Floor Plan Considerations

Design Features

Second Book in this Set

Free Companion e-book

GREEN LIVING TIPS 262