HandCrafted Cedar Log and Timber Green Homes

European handcrafted "green" homes introduced in U.S. and featured in Western North Carolina.

Norwegian HandCrafted Cedar Homes has begun importing handcrafted cedar log and timber homes from Europe into the U.S., the company recently announced.

The company has been producing log and panelized homes in Europe for 15 years, and has been particularly active building vacation homes in Norway.

"Norwegian styling is defined by a balanced blend of natural materials, open architecture, and extraordinary attention to details, such as hand carved posts and window and door trims," says Norwegian HandCrafted Cedar Homes President Heinrich Martens. "We see a strong demand for these same features in the luxury home market here in the U.S.

"Norwegian HandCrafted Cedar Homes uses old-growth Siberian Cedar for the timbers and log walls in their homes. Trees are select cut under strict governmental supervision. Wall logs are all kiln-dried heartwood, and are flat cut on two sides to 10" thickness, then shaped by hand to fit together using a chinkless joint and ox-head corners.

Other materials included with their homes include European-style 'tilt and turn' windows and several green options, such as sod or tile roofs, and reclaimed oak flooring and pine paneling.One change that Norwegian HandCrafted Cedar Homes has made for the North American market is to adjust its floor plans —

European homes tend to have smaller bedrooms and baths. NHCH teamed up with noted custom wood home architectural experts MossCreek Designs to create a line of floor plans.

"MossCreek already has a unique and well-defined style that fits well with our product. Again, it's all in the styling and the details," says Martens.

Some of Moss Creek Designs include Bear Lake Reserve in Cashiers, NC, The River Rock Development in Cashiers, and the Sapphire Valley Country Club in Sapphire, NC

Please contact us for further details on building a green home rae@carolinapg.com or phone 828-226-8837

Green Building in 2008

Architects Report Increased Adoption of Green Building in 2008 Autodesk/AIA Green Index.

Autodesk and the American Institute of Architects have released the results of the 2008 Green Index, an annual survey that measures how AIA members are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement. This year’s index shows an increase in the implementation sustainable design practices from architects and building owners. It also shows a doubling in client demand for green buildings over the past year as well as positive shifts in architects’ attitudes toward their ability to impact climate change.

Download Full Report here

Looking to build a green home in North Carolina? Give us a call 828-226-8837

Benefits of Building Green-Western North Carolina

Clean ways to Insulate Building Green

Most individuals give little thought to what’s being consumed when they turn on their lights or fire up their furnace. Few workers pay attention to whether or not they’ve turned the air conditioning off when they leave their office building or whether they left the faucets dripping in the company washroom.

In a world where electricity is expected at the flick of a switch and where water rarely fails to flow from the bathtub or shower, the Green Building Resource Center estimates that in the U.S., buildings account for: 36% of total energy use 65% of electricity consumption 30% of greenhouse gas emissions 30% of raw materials use 30% of waste output (equal to 136 million tons annually) 12% of potable water consumption So many buildings. So much waste. And with the building boom continuing, despite present economic hardships, adherence to construction practices other than what’s become known as “green building” will surely continue to increase the proverbial “carbon footprint.”

Benefits of Green Construction

Thankfully, however, the idea of “building green” is gradually becoming much more than a trend. Builders and investors are recognizing that eco-friendly construction provides not only long-term positive environmental benefits but also immediate financial payoffs as well.Cities throughout the U.S. and the world are also slowly recognizing the necessity of green construction practices in the remodeling and renovating of older residential and commercial facilities, taking advantage of loans offered to them by various foundations, designated for the purpose of upgrading lighting and heating and cooling systems in aging buildings, where the most energy is consumed.



Such initiatives also prompt the need for healthier and more cost-efficient options in the world of building materials. Indeed, the United Nations Environmental Program says that the use of recycled building materials, like cotton fiber insulation, in addition to the installation of energy saving appliances and the maximization of natural lighting in a building, can reduce energy use energy use by 25 to 35 percent. In some best-case scenarios, they say, results have been as high as 80 percent.



The United States Green Building Council (USGBC), in a study conducted in 2003, estimated a savings of $50-$65 per square foot for well-constructed green buildings in the U.S. (see table below) during that year. The numbers continue to improve as more eco-friendly options become available, and those kinds of figures have finally begun to attract those who thought eco-friendly construction was just a bunch of hogwash.

Green Remodeling

While the remodeling of existing older buildings to make them more energy efficient is certainly a necessity, it doesn’t come without its hazards. Remember, older homes and commercial buildings probably contain all sorts of toxins, most notably asbestos. The miracle of the 20th century building industry, touted for its amazing heat- and fire-resistant properties, this hazardous mineral can be found in attics, wrapped around pipes and furnaces, and even in walls, floors, and ceilings, especially in buildings constructed prior to 1980.

Once the asbestos is addressed and then removed by a licensed professional and disposed of properly, green insulation options should be given serious consideration. The Department of Energy says heating and cooling accounts for 50-70 percent of the energy used in the average American home so finding sound and healthy insulation options are a necessity. Today, these options can save natural resources as well. Eco-friendly insulations are often made of recycled materials and include cellulose (old shredded newspapers treated for fire resistance), cotton fiber (usually made of recycled batted denim), and spray polyurethane foam.Statistics show that the foam, for example, can cut energy costs by about 35 percent annually, according to studies done by manufacturers. The other projects claim similar figures. And because these are recycled materials, less waste is going to the nation’s already crowded landfills.

Formal listing of Insulation Alternatives

Cotton fiber – This has become the favored insulation of many green builders or remodelers. Made of recycled batted material, such as denim, this fiber insulation is then treated with a chemical to make it fireproof. However, cotton fiber insulation is non-toxic and produces no off-gasses, making it a healthy choice.

Cellulose – Who would have believed that someday we’d be insulating our homes with recycled newsprint? Well, that’s exactly what cellulose is and it’s become one of the most popular new green insulating materials. Chemically treated to reduce mold and promote heat and fire resistance, figures show that cellulose can reduce air conditioning and heating bills up to about 20 percent each year.

Icynene – This water-based spray polyurethane foam keeps a home very tight, allowing little opportunity for things like mold to form. This healthy insulation also contains no polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), which are often found in spray foam insulation products. PBDEs can be quite toxic and are already banned in some states. Icynene also contains no hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which are believed to prompt global warming.

For an in depth analysis of Green Home Building Costs and Savings visit
USGBC Capital E Analysis, 2003.

If you are looking to Build Green in Western North Carolina and would like to speak to a professional, please contact us at: rae@carolinapg.com

Insulation Panels produced from Soybeans-Green Home Tips!

North Carolina embraces the Green movement for home building. As always we want to keep you informed of new technology and different ways to make your home a "Green Home"
Here's a new and inventive company that uses foam insulation made from Soybeans!

Davis Frame creates soybean-SIP company

Davis Frame Company has launched a new company to offer a new line of green SIPs that utilize foam made from soybeans.The new company's name is Energy Smart Insulated Panel System (eSIPS); the product uses closed cell foam produced from soybeans grown in the United States.

It's a green product on several levels: SIPs save home energy costs, soybeans are renewable, and transportation costs are lowered by using homegrown products.

Davis Frame listed the eSIPS benefits as:

• 
  eSIPS offers superior R values at competitive prices while addressing concerns for the environment.


• 
  Building with eSIPS can cut home energy consumption by up to 50 percent over conventional construction.


• 
  eSIPS make EnergyStar qualifications easier.

eSIPS can "stand alone" or be used with timber frame homes, post and beam construction, conventional construction, or as a panelized home.

The 1701 foam from BioBased Insulation used to make the panels is GREENGUARD Certified – meaning it safe for children, schools and hospitals.

eSIPS are builder ready in that the interior surface is pre-drilled and exposed for easy installation of mechanicals.

Contact information: http://www.energysips.com/

If you are looking to purchase a Green Home and don't want to hassle with building your own, we have a spectacular newly constructed Green Home for Sale in the Bald Rock Mountain Community, near Cashiers, NC. Please call for details and pricing information.

828-226-8837 or email to:rae@carolinapg.com

News on Sustainable Energy Development and Green Building

North Carolina has been embracing Green Building and Sustainable Energy for quite some time. I found a few news articles that may be of interest to you if you are considering building a green home or developing a green subdivision. The Cashiers and Highlands area of N.C. has such beauty, it only makes sense to preserve it in an environmentally friendly way.

Part of a Greater, Sustainable Whole Earth-friendly retaining wall alternative can support local sustainable development and address global environmental concerns.


SLDI Sponsored Summit: Sustainable Energy SolutionsOne of the major consumers of energy is space conditioning, which includes cooling, heating, and/or humidity control of buildings.

The U.S. Green Building Council, the authority that grants green design certification, says environmentally friendly construction, on average, reduces energy use 30 percent, carbon emissions 35 percent, water use 30 to 50 percent, and generated waste 50 to 90 percent. The commission's report also highlights the health benefits associated with green buildings, such as the effect of improved ventilation on indoor air quality, estimated at $58 billion a year.

I also found a great resource http://www.worldwatch.org/ for additional information related to Green Building and Energy Solotions.

If you are interested in building or purchasing a Green Home, or development in Western North Carolina please contact us for more information 828-226-8837 mailto:rae@carolinapg.com

What goes into building a Green Home?

Greenest of the green homes
by Rocky Landsverk

Doctor-entrepreneur puts together a green home to demonstrate it can be done
Suave Lobodzinski, a doctor and engineer, helped build the first artificial heart. He applied some of that same creativity when he built his new home in Mammoth Lakes, California.Lobodzinski is a professor of electrical and biomedical engineering at California State University-Long Beach and an adjunct professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

He’s putting his education and ingenuity to full use with an 8,000-square-foot log home that he hopes sets a new standard for green building. From lamb’s wool insulation to a radiant heating system he invented himself, Lobodzinski wants to demonstrate that it is possible to live in grand fashion and still be “green.” So he had Brian Moore of Brian Moore Log Homes help him build one of the greenest homes in the country.“People in the U.S. like to build the same way as they have for 50 years,” Lobodzinski says. “I wanted to challenge that, and I wanted to prove it to everyone that you could indeed build an energy-efficient house in Mammoth Lakes, which has about 300 sun-days a year.

This will be the very first energy-efficient house in Mammoth Lakes.“The log-home lifestyle embodies harmony with nature. People can improve the health of their home and reduce their impact on the environment with new design and construction techniques, giving them an even closer connection with the natural surroundings.”

What goes into a green home? Here are a few of the energy-saving highlights of the Lobodzinski/Brian Moore Log Homes green home:

• Geothermal heating and cooling
• Solar circuit for hot water (solar will provide 60-70 percent of the home’s hot-water needs, for domestic hot water and radiant in-floor heating)
• Ductless heating and ventilation system
• 95 percent efficient heat-exchanger system for radiant heat
• Propane fireplaces
• Tankless condensing boiler/water heater (95% efficient)
• EnergyStar appliances
• Double-log insulation (each log has two insulation gaskets with sheep’s wool in between)
• Low-E, insulated windows
• Exterior basement insulation (4 inches below grade) and 2-inches of extruded foam insulation above grade
• Exhaust fresh-air ventilation system with heat exchangers
• Solid wood doors and windows (no particle-board materials or similar that contain chemicals like formaldehyde)
• Flood-free and vented basement design (ducts take hot air from the vaulted ceilings and bring it down to the basement for circulation)
• Metal roofing with reflective paint (reflects about 30 percent of the solar heat)
• Bionic radiant in-floor heating system that comprises grooved rigid insulated base lined with galvanized sheet metal that greatly improves efficiency, developed by Lobodzinski
• Dimensionally stable carbonized solid wood planks suitable for radiant heated floors
• Water-based natural resin stains for exterior and interior walls
• All natural materials in the interior, and no carpeting
• On-site water run-off capture
• Eco-stone porous paving systemMore about this home, including more pictures, appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of Custom Wood Homes magazine.



If you are looking to build a green certified home in Western North Carolina
Reid Horne has been a developer / builder for 10 years. Contact Reid Horne with inquires

Green Living Fair-Jackson/Macon County Conservation Alliance

The Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance would like to
invite you to participate in our Green Living Fair to be
held in Highlands, N.C. on Saturday August 2, 2008. The
entire event will be held at the Highlands Civic Center.

The fair will consist of vendors and conservation groups
that embody various aspects of green building and
green living. We think your business/organization would
be a good fit, and we welcome your participation.

By bringing together like-minded businesses and organizations, we hope to provide the necessary tools and resources to advance towards a "greener" way of living, allowing individuals and families to discover different opportunities to lessen their impact on the planet while still balancing the comforts and necessities of modern-day life.

In addition to booths in the main hall, we will have classes and movies throughout the day. From 7 to 11 a.m. there will be a tailgate local produce market in the parking lot.

The Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance is a grassroots organization whose mission is to address environmental issues affecting the Highlands-Cashiers plateau through education, advocacy, hands-on initiatives, and collaboration with like-minded organizations. Our vision is to help create a plateau with a high-quality natural environment, with clean streams and air and abundant forests and wildlife, and on which public and private decisions are grounded in a caring concern for the environment.

Together we can help create a level of environmental awareness that inspires people to recognize the effects such efforts toward sustainability can have on a community. We sincerely hope that you will partner with us in this effort by participating in the Green Living Fair on August 2nd.

Sincerely,
David M. Bates
Executive Director
Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance

828-526-9938

http://www.j-mca.org/index.asp

Building Green Homes-Western North Carolina

Building for climate change
By Green Living Tips Published 01/21/2007 building -->

Building? Bear in mind global warming and climate change

If you're an eco-savvy person thinking about building a new house soon; aside from designs and materials that are environmentally friendly, you should probably also pay special attention to protecting your investment from the same environment that is now in turmoil.

This is becoming an increasingly important aspect in my plans for my own "green" existence in the years ahead. I want the next structure I build to not only have little impact on the surrounding area and be self-sufficient energy and water wise - but I want it to last and to stand up to unforeseen climatic events.

When architects draft house plans, they usually do so bearing in mind the environment in which the house will be constructed. This includes the weather patterns. For example, a house built in a cyclone or hurricane prone area will require features (often by law) that a structure in an area that isn't prone to high winds wouldn't need.

With global warming induced climate change starting to make itself felt, and since none of us really know any more what the weather patterns in our area will be like even 5 years from now; it's important to protect your investment by thinking ahead. You only need to read the news each day to see evidence of an angry planet. I'm increasingly seeing headlines related to extreme weather events and a "storm of the century" is occurring yearly in some places.

While what is yet to occur weather-wise is unforeseen, we can take advantage of what scientists have been able to tell us about the years to come. An example of this is water. In our state, rainfall is expected to reduce in the decades ahead; and we'll see more rain "events" rather than rain periods. This means less rain and what rain does fall will do so in more concentrated bursts.
Given this, my new house will have larger storage tanks and greater roof surface area.

Landscaping-wise, I'll be planting native trees that are the least thirsty of the local species.
The structure will also be strengthened to withstand higher winds than what is required by local regulations. Wind turbines, which weren't an option before, may become a viable alternative or adjunct to solar panels. Extra expansion joints will be an important feature to cope with extremes in temperature. Even now in our city; people are reporting huge cracks appearing in brick wall due to the drought. Drainage is another important aspect. After a dry spell the ground can be somewhat resistant to soaking up moisture and initial rains can just sit on the surface causing flooding problems.

The idea is to design your house so that regardless of which way our weather patterns go, it will take whatever nature can throw at it - within reason. No doubt it will add many thousands of dollars to the cost of the structure, but it's better that than have the very thing you're trying to live more in harmony with, nature, destroy your earth friendly living dreams.

If you are interested in more information regarding green building in Western North Carolina

send an email to Contact Reid Horne with inquires Reid Horne has been a developer / builder for 10 years.

Michael BlochGreen Living Tips.comGreen Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact on the planet.

Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building

I found a refernce book that looked interesting for Green Building...

Green building is the fastest-growing trend to hit since the Internet, bringing with it an enormous range of new products, systems and technologies.

Green Building A to Z is an informative, technically accurate and highly visual guide to green building, for both decision-makers and interested citizens. It begins with an introduction to the importance of green buildings and a brief history of the green building movement, outlines the benefits and costs of green buildings, and shows how you can influence the spread of green buildings. The book touches on key issues, such as enhancing water conservation, reducing energy use and creating a conservation economy.

Green Building A to Z examines all aspects of green buildings from:
Architecture 2030 to
Locally sourced materials to
Natural ventilation to
Solar energy to
Zero-net energy buildings

More than just a reference, this book emphasizes the importance of green buildings and green developments for a sustainable future. It will be an invaluable resource for businesspeople, homeowners, product manufacturers, developers, building industry professionals and government officials.

About the Author
Jerry Yudelson is a professional engineer with an MBA. He has trained 3,000 people in the LEED green building rating system, and has chaired Greenbuild, the world's largest green building conference, for the past four years. The founder of a green building consulting firm, he is the author of three books on green building marketing and an advisor to manufacturers, venture capital firms, design firms and developers.

Here's the link to Amazon if you want to purchase the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Building-Revolution-Jerry-Yudelson/dp/1597261793/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Momentum for Greening of Commercial Real Estate

Real Estate Investor Survey Reveals Momentum for Greening of Commercial Real Estate Industry
11/5/2007NEW YORK (November 5, 2007) -

Penton's National Real Estate Investor and Retail Traffic magazines today reported that corporations and developers are responding to the rising demand for sustainability and energy efficiency in commercial real estate,
Read More


For more information regarding Green Homes For Sale, Real Estate Green Home Builders in Western North Carolina contactmailto:reid@greenhomesnorthcarolina