As most homeowners do, we looked at some model homes today to get ideas for cabinets. As I toured the house I had forgotten about all the tables, cabinets, wood art frames, wood staircases, and all the ornamental wood products that make up a new and furnished house. As we walked around the model home, my young 14 month old was looking into some of the cabinets, as he loves to play with the doors. Inside I see a green tree sticker, with an official stamp. I first think maybe it's made from FSC wood, but the sticker is different. It was the KCMA ESP sticker.
So what is this sticker good for? It's a good thing because it tries through advocacy to promote sustainable forestry and woodworking. It's a good thing that consumers are looking for it when they buy cabinets. It's a good thing that producers are aware that consumers want to be green and don't want to destroy the earth.
Sculptor Robert Holtman's business building large stone features and waterfalls for Sustainable Homes and resorts had used the services of a local engineer and suggested that this engineer could render dome plans to any specifications. Freed from limitation we could design a dome that would be truly monolithic, wiring in sun-tunnel sky lights, piping for stoves and vents, hooded windows, portholes... all forms of innovation became possible.
Instead of going for the traditional solar power systems that you need to purchase; you can go for the DIY solar panels. The former one is very expensive and it is always wise to go for the DIY solar panels that you can build. You can find the guidelines all over the internet. You too will be able to prepare your own free homemade solar power. Living off the grid is very satisfactory. The joy of producing homemade power and using it in your day-to-day life is something else. You are no longer dependent on the government. You may even choose to sell the surpass power to some utility company and make money out of this.
Plan to include insulation in your renovated home. This makes the maximum use of your home's energy system and can cut down the costs and the fuels that are used for heating or cooling.
Also, people are discovering that the media itself was largely responsible for a good deal of buyer uncertainty in 2006. For years, every "pundit" out there had been predicting a market crash and for the past 5 years or so, the market held strong. Then, the Fed started raising the rates and things started to cool. Of course, everyone with a microphone started piling on the idea of a "market bubble". Unfortunately what happened was "Chicken Little Syndrome" -- suddenly everyone thought the sky was falling and the market began its downturn - all while interest rates stayed reasonable and housing prices good.
The nice thing about solar power is the fact that it offers energy in two ways: through natural light and heat. Both if these capacities are very much applicable and helpful in today's world. And good news for this is the fact that anyone can make use of this source even without the help of other machineries or gadgets. You can get it in its raw form, you simply have to know the important applications.
What has caused this distortion in the higher price range of Charlotte homes? That is the subject for my next essay- what it is NOT is the loss of Wachovia as a corporate headquarters - that wouldn't explain more than 30-50 homes, tops. I'll explain why in ecofriendly the next article.