Green Home Design Tips

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Building and Designing Green Homes

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and all of the leprechauns out and about sporting green gear today, we couldn't resist the opportunity to talk about one of our favorite subjects: BEING GREEN! Building and designing green homes is one of our core principles (after all, it's what the G in our name stands for!) and our entire team is dedicated to finding innovative ways to support our conservation efforts in every project.

Recently, our home design and technology team held a workshop: Designing for Today's Technology at the 2016 Horry-Georgetown Home Builders Spring Home Show. Typically when we think technology in a home it is generally assumed we are talking automation and electronics, however the team demonstrated several ways that you can design your home to integrate technologies that go far beyond smart home automation.

Below is a an overview of just some of the ways we can help you design a green home, if you are interested in building new or renovating your current home to be more environmentally friendly our team can help you determine the best way to maximize your efforts!

Green Homes By Design

Before you even break ground on a new home, our home design team can work with you to determine the placement of your home on the lot to determine factors that will naturally increase your energy efficiency. Including:

• Creating natural light and ventilation throughout your home with architectural features such as a clerestory, cupola, or simply with window placement
• Understanding your climate and how the sun orientation affects your house can help you determine placement of your home on the lot to utilize the sun to create light and heat your home
• Water collection devices can capture and filter water from either inside the home (grey-water) or rain to be used in irrigation
• Solar Tubes and other products that store the energy during the day can be integrated with lighting features throughout your home to save in electricity

Products & Finishes For Any Home

Even if you aren't building new, there are numerous products that can be incorporated in an existing home to save you money and energy. Everyday decor such as your window treatments can be scheduled to open and close at peak times to maximize light while also helping to regulate your home's temperature based on the season. With today's technology we can also schedule appliances and lights in the home to be sure you aren't using energy during peak times, again saving money and resources.

Smart (Green) Finishes

Keep in mind that technology extends past electronics in your home. It also includes the processes that manufacturers of everyday household items such as flooring, cabinets and countertops use to produce their materials. By conserving energy in production and distribution as well as using recycled goods and non-toxic substances they greatly reduce the impact on our environment as well as improve the air quality in your home. 

Like we said, the list of design and technology options for your home go far beyond this list. Contact us today to discuss details on products and processes that can help you reduce the use to save energy and money!