Frequently Asked Questions
U.S. Greenbuilding Council
“The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work”.
Volatile organic compounds
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and home furnishings.
Passive solar design
A "passive" solar house provides cooling and heating to keep the home comfortable without the use of mechanical equipment. This style of construction results in homes that respond to the environment.
Thermal mass
Thermal mass, in the most general sense, is any mass that absorbs and holds heat. In the architectural sense, it is any mass that absorbs and stores heat during sunny periods when the heat is not desirable in the living space of a building, and then releases the heat during overcast periods or during the night, when the heat is desirable.
ICF
Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) give you all the benefits that have made concrete the material of choice for home building worldwide: Solid, lasting construction that resists the ravages of fire, wind, and Father Time. But ICFs do plain concrete one better - or rather, two better - by giving you two built-in layers of foam insulation.
Radiant heating
Radiant Heating is a system to heat and cool buildings and homes that relies primarily on radiation heat transfer. Typically, heated or chilled water is circulated though floor or ceiling panels to condition the space
Greenroofs
A green roof system is an extension of the existing roof which involves a high quality water proofing and root repellant system, a drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium and plants.
Green roof systems may be modular, with drainage layers, filter cloth, growing media and plants already prepared in movable, interlocking grids, or, each component of the system may be installed separately.Green roof development involves the creation of "contained" green space on top of a human-made structure.
Modular homes
Modular buildings are built using an engineered approach to produce buildings in a more efficient and cost effect method. Instead of the old-fashioned construction method, most of the work is pre-fabricated at an off-site climate controlled factory. As each sub-section is finished it is transported to the building site and constructed together using the same methods the current stick built homes use.