Comments on: Less Is More…Especially When Being Green. http://mygreenhomeblog.com/2007/10/25/less-is-moreespecially-when-being-green/ Your Guide to Green and Healthy Homes Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:57:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Ed Gouin http://mygreenhomeblog.com/2007/10/25/less-is-moreespecially-when-being-green/#comment-13 Ed Gouin Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:26:03 +0000 http://mygreenhomeblog.com/2007/10/25/less-is-moreespecially-when-being-green/#comment-13 While I may agree with you in principle, the fact remains that only a handful of individuals (especially in the US) are going to be willing to give up that huge rec room or their mcmansion. In my opinion, we need to explore ways in which people (again, especially in the US) can continue their life of excess without destroying the planet. Case in point, three years ago my own wife came to me with a drawing of her "dream house". This "modest" house was ONLY 3,200 square feet. I knew I could afford to buy the house, but the energy bills were certainly going to put a strain on our monthly budget. It was clear to ME that we couldn't afford to live in THAT house. To make a long story short, I researched and researched until I came up with an idea that might work if I could find someone to build it. The result is the world's first Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) / modular construction hybrid. The house is very cost efficient when compared to other houses of this size (we downsized to approximately 3,000 square feet), and we expect to reduce our energy bills by over 80% without sacrifice. Check out the website I created to showcase this project: www.gouingreen.com I've recently written an email to Nanosolar (www.nanosolar.com). (They are going to change the economics of solar panels very soon.) I am hoping to convince them to sell me some of their prototype solar panels for this prototype house. If so, this house could easily achieve net zero or even be a net producer of energy simply by using technologies available today. No sacrifice necessary. From my own experience at home, I believe it will be easier to convince people to build energy efficient houses like this one, than to convince them to squeeze their family of 5 into a 1200 square foot ranch. Maybe a 1200 square foot ranch built to the specifications of our house would be even better! :-) Thank you, Ed While I may agree with you in principle, the fact remains that only a handful of individuals (especially in the US) are going to be willing to give up that huge rec room or their mcmansion. In my opinion, we need to explore ways in which people (again, especially in the US) can continue their life of excess without destroying the planet.

Case in point, three years ago my own wife came to me with a drawing of her “dream house”. This “modest” house was ONLY 3,200 square feet. I knew I could afford to buy the house, but the energy bills were certainly going to put a strain on our monthly budget. It was clear to ME that we couldn’t afford to live in THAT house.

To make a long story short, I researched and researched until I came up with an idea that might work if I could find someone to build it. The result is the world’s first Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) / modular construction hybrid.

The house is very cost efficient when compared to other houses of this size (we downsized to approximately 3,000 square feet), and we expect to reduce our energy bills by over 80% without sacrifice. Check out the website I created to showcase this project: www.gouingreen.com

I’ve recently written an email to Nanosolar (www.nanosolar.com). (They are going to change the economics of solar panels very soon.) I am hoping to convince them to sell me some of their prototype solar panels for this prototype house. If so, this house could easily achieve net zero or even be a net producer of energy simply by using technologies available today. No sacrifice necessary.

From my own experience at home, I believe it will be easier to convince people to build energy efficient houses like this one, than to convince them to squeeze their family of 5 into a 1200 square foot ranch.

Maybe a 1200 square foot ranch built to the specifications of our house would be even better! :-)

Thank you,
Ed

]]>