Green Elements in Our Design Materials Green Elements in Our Design

Straw Bale Insulation Used to insulate both the interior exterior walls of the building. The straw acts as a very good heat insulator in the cold winter months. Straw is very inexpensive and not at all harmful to the environment

Green House Uses Solar Energy by directing the suns rays inward where it is converted into thermal energy to heat the room, and be absorbed by the plants in order for them to conduct photosynthesis.

Fly Ash Concrete Bricks/ Poured Foundation Fly Ash Concrete is made from the byproduct ash created when burning coal in power plants throughout the U.S. It is an inexpensive, green, and readily available alternative to powdered cement mix. The Fly Ash Concrete can be both poured for the foundation and stacked as bricks for the walls. The average cost is only $3.50 a square foot.

Solar Panels Used to generate the electricity for the building, by only using the sun’s rays is 100% eco-friendly They do tend to be expensive, but they pay for themselves in 15 -20 years of energy savings

Dual Flush Toilet and Low flow Sink Both conserve water, the sink by adding more air to the water stream, and the toilet by giving you two modes of flush for solid and liquid waste. The liquid waste flush uses 1/16 of the average amount of water in one flush of a regular toilet. Both are not unreasonably expensive, being right around the price of their average wasteful counterparts found in most bathrooms.

Rain Barrel Used to collect rain water from the gutters to water the plants in the greenhouse, and exterior flower beds. Cost: $100

Solar Thermal Plant Solar thermal systems transform energy from the sun into thermal energy. Which then can be used directly or to heat water and produce steam to create electricity.

Solar Thermal Advantages Using solar thermal energy has no fuel cost unlike most other sources of renewable energy. Has no pollution or global warming affects. A big advantage for this is that it can provide cheaper power production for you. Provides 'green' creditability.

Solar Thermal Disavantages There’s a water issue using solar thermal plant because using them requires a lot of water. They can only be built in areas with high amounts of solar radiation. It takes approximately 5-7 years to develop solar power plant. The use of massive arrays of mirrors has been noted to be killing wildlife.