Building Green Cheaply

Thomas Small is an accomplished cook, so it's important for him to try new and exotic ingredients every now and then. When it came to the construction of his eco-friendly house, that's exactly what his architects gave him. After all, crushed sunflower husks and shredded blue jeans don't sound like typical building blocks.

But in the world of green design, such ingredients are not rare. So now, Mr. Small and his wife, Joanna Brody, along with their two very young children and a pair of large French Briard dogs, share a prefabricated urban building that has become an example for others looking for creative ways to go green.
Read the full story or watch the slideshow here.

Related:
5 Green Ways To Fix The Housing Industry

Comments

[incontempt]

11:07 PM on 10/21/2008

I Love my green home;-)...A 2 Bed, 976 square feet, well insulated, big bay window in kitchen, huge picture window in living room, skylights over garden tub...and heat it with 300 gallons of fuel per year which is less then half the amount of ANY neighbors...great home....a steal at $28,000 and all I had to do was take the wheels off ;-P

[greenola]

11:05 PM on 10/20/2008

A green home starts with what's within. Sure, we all want this perfect green home with all the green gadgets, off the grid. However, regular home owners need to be educated on the basics first, then green construction efforts can be tackled. Conduct a phased withdrawal on catastrophic climate change - > http://www.greengroove.org

[twchurch]

04:17 PM on 10/20/2008

OMG! Rich white architects take 3-years to build an over-priced, over-sized house for rich, white, elitist, artsy family and their French Briard dogs! Why isn't the media all over this one...

When you can build 10 green homes in 6 months for that same $500,000 call me.

[greeky]

02:58 PM on 10/20/2008

!!!!!! you want a green house that's not the size of a closet?? buy an old house!

Historic Preservation is GREEN.

[incontempt]

10:57 PM on 10/21/2008

and handle 20-25 cord of wood per year or maybe 800 to 1200 gallons of fuel per year...nice try.

[honestpolitician]

01:18 PM on 10/20/2008

There are so many home made solutions that I have used at home and saved over 30% on my electric bills...got this info from : http://myhomemadeenergy.org ..and is highly recommended !

[Trilby]

03:37 PM on 10/22/2008

That website is an ad. It contains no information, just come-ons.

[lilpeg]

09:58 AM on 10/20/2008

No, this is not a cheap house!!!! It is also too big, 2500sf should efficiently house a family of 6 (counting dogs). I agree with motley2's comment below. The greenest house is one that already exists. Or, maybe one that already exists that is some how retro-fitted. However, rermodelling may not be considered green these days. what to do? what to do?

[incontempt]

10:58 PM on 10/21/2008

look up Thermal Battery;-)

[Trilby]

11:16 AM on 10/19/2008

I guess it is a sort-of triumph to get any architect to custom-design a house that "cheap" to build, and another sort-of triumph for people of means to restrict themselves to "only" 4,000 square feet. But come on, people. Most of the readers here live in smaller, cheaper homes than that, no doubt, and the many who live in apartments probably have a smaller carbon footprint with half the bother.

Leave it to the Times to give us the pointy-headed elite version of "green."

[Caliwoman]

09:11 PM on 10/18/2008

A 4000SF house for 538k is harldy a cheap house! We're building a 3000 SF house on our farm, steel frame straw bale, for under 300k. Half the space are three guest rooms and baths for farm tourism, we plan on living in 1500 SF downstairs half quite easily. Our costs include architect, engineer, permits, materials, and subcontracted labor. You can save a lot directing the build yourself if you are knowledgeable and have the time, but make sure sub contractors have insurance. Also, there aren't any loans out there for building right now, yet alone new forms of eco-building, or owner-contractor projects. No matter your credit and net worth, these loans seem too risky to lenders today. That's really slowed us down to pay as we go. Materials and labor are getting cheaper though. firstlookranch.googlepages.com

[Semaj51]

08:28 PM on 10/18/2008

Wow, its cheap at only $528,000....

Exactly how many "average" families can afford a "green" house at just half this cost? As I read the various stories and blogs on this site, I am amazed on how much it costs to be green. Until the prices for "green" houses, cars, appliances, etc come down to the level us Walmart customers can afford, than the green revolution will only be for the rich.

[KillTheMessenger]

11:03 PM on 10/18/2008

This isn't a green house. As people have pointed out, the living area is about three to four times larger than what a couple without children needs to be comfortable.

The greenest homes, by the way, are modern apartment buildings. They minimize heating an cooling cost and use the least amount of material to build the required square footage. They revitalize inner cities and create the necessary density to make neighborhoods with a diversity of stores and entertainment places economically feasible. The density reduces traffic and is a precondition for working public transportation.

The greenest people do not live in the countryside. They live in densely populated cities.

[JuniorNorman]

11:27 AM on 10/19/2008

[dctackett]

01:44 PM on 10/20/2008

excellent point... and when you live in the city... you don't need a car, and if you have one, you don't need to drive it every day.

[GodYesOrNo]

07:09 PM on 10/18/2008

Isn't there a Green party in the US to vote for? They can boldly go where the same old will not.
www.GodYesOrNo.com

[Lagunatic]

04:03 PM on 10/17/2008

The house is 4,200 square feet. And they haven't started their family. We are a family of 4 living in a 1,950 square foot house, and we don't use that space efficiently.

Who are they kidding about being green?

[KillTheMessenger]

06:42 PM on 10/17/2008

"Who are they kidding about being green?"

Mostly themselves.

[dctackett]

04:01 PM on 10/17/2008

Building Green Cheaply?... I went to the article and the home's cost was $528,000... maybe it's just me, but that's not very cheap at all... maybe it's cheap for the wealthy few...

unless they're using the other meaning of cheap.

[TakLoufer]

11:11 PM on 10/20/2008

Cheap for the founders of this website maybe...

Take a cue from Obama, people, and run stories for we in the middle-class who actually want to cling to finer things than religion and guns.

[motley2]

02:35 PM on 10/17/2008

The greenest building is one that already exists. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rehab!

[greeky]

02:59 PM on 10/20/2008

YEAAAAAAAA!!!! Sing it motley2!

[Greenus]

11:02 AM on 10/17/2008

Companies like this need to get together and join that site UseGreenCompanies.com i think it is where they make a profile about thier company... cuz i wanna read more about them

[KillTheMessenger]

12:39 PM on 10/17/2008

Stop the shilling.