Going Green: Building A House With Sustainable House Plans

Years ago the idea of building a home with green principles seemed a bold investment. Now that everyone and every organization in the world unites to find ways to lessen global warming, the same idea has made a great impact on the Home Building Industry especially in Australia. Thus, almost all home builders including Melbourne home builders are now building a sustainable home.

Presently, Urbanedge Homes is recognized as one of the top eco builders known for building a house with sustainable long term modern home designs and green principles without compromising style and architecture.

Their GreenSmart Homes have already attracted the fantasies of new home buyer’s dream of building an eco friendly home while at the same time offers timeless elegance and sophistication. On top of these features, Urbanedge GreenSmart Homes are built in sustainable modern home designs and green principle house plans which can reduce water and energy usage.

Thus, these Eco friendly homes demonstrate improved energy, resource and water efficiency, which in turn reduces household running costs and greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. By building a GreenSmart new home, home owners can reap long-term benefits such as lower energy and water bills, for years to come.

With the rising cost of energy and the need to conserve our precious resources, a sustainable home is becoming a highly favorable and more economical option when it comes to building a new home. With GreenSmart home buyers will not only achieve an environmentally responsible home that is cleaner and healthier for their family to live in. They will also be able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with cheaper running costs.

To know more about GreenSmart homes, visit Urbanedge Homes display homes and display centres throughout Melbourne. Or log on to http://www.urbanedgehomes.com.au/greensmart.aspx for more information.

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A computer professional who works on the internet helping Urbanedge Homes increase its viewers through optimization. For world class Eco builders visit us online at www.urbanedgehomes.com.au

Energy Efficient Lighting Products

Electric power plants are the largest U.S. industrial source of carbon dioxide emissions, a main cause of acid rain and global warming. As the demand for more electricity increases, more fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burned to generate power. Energy efficient lighting can solve most of this problem to progress the planet's current green movement.

Energy efficient lighting is a phenomenal way to reduce the amount of carbon emissions added to the atmosphere by replacing electric power plants with those that use renewable resources. LED lighting lowers your utility bills, making them a smart long-term investment.

Energy efficient lighting products minimize energy consumption. Efficient lamps generate an equal or greater amount of light as traditional incandescent bulbs while consuming only much less energy and generating much less cost. Energy Efficient Lighting uses 65% less energy than standard bulbs. By using Eco-friendly lighting, consumers can save up to 75% on their monthly electric bill, while helping to protect the environment.

Additionally, many new choice materials used to construct lamping products are environmentally friendly. Some manufacturers even go so much as to offer recycling programs for their products so that they can later be reused for the production of new lighting items.

A specific type of lighting serving this eco friendly purpose is LED Lighting. LED produces light when "electrons move around within its semiconductor structure." A much higher percentage of energy going into an LED bulb is converted to light, which means less energy is needed to make the bulb function. The lit LED bulb produces very little heat, so a greater percentage of electricity goes into generating light rather than wasting energy. Because LEDs lack filaments, powered instead by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, they outlast incandescent bulbs.

An LED bulb can last ten years. LED's resist vibration and shock, making them a reliable light source. It comes in a variety of appealing colors and can add ambient, decorative light in ways incandescent, fluorescent, and halogen bulbs cant. LEDs don't heat up like incandescents. With shading, efficiency, and cost becoming more consumer friendly, LEDs are increasingly going to be found in homes and businesses. In fact, you can now find LED replacement bulbs that emit light equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent light bulb, which makes them a viable technology for basic lighting needs at home. The LED method of producing light loses far less energy to heat than do other lighting technologies. It's 85 percent more efficient than the vacuum/filament method used in incandescent bulbs.Solid-state lights like LEDs are more stable light sources than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs, and the difference is startling.

We can take individual steps to install eco lighting in our household and make it more efficient by switching to LED light bulbs and using more natural light by installing skylights and solar tubes.

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The World's Most Luxurious Eco Homes

With energy efficiency and green technologies at the forefront of everyone's minds we're all thinking about how we can improve the green performance of our homes. The usual methods of improving heat retention with double glazing and insulation as well as the possibility of utilising some green technologies such as boilers are something we can all do. However when it comes to building a new home, take a look at these magnificent green design masterpieces. Combining such luxury with such energy consciousness is a real achievement.

Crossway: Kent, England
This magnificent four bedroom family home is essentially one large timbrel vault and is situated in the lush Kent countryside. It was built with minimising the need for gas, water & electricity in mind whilst being light, airy and spacious at the same time. As well as using local materials and tradesmen to benefit the immediate area, it was ensured that green targets were met through the use of the highest quality insulation, triple glazing and total air tightness. Its design really is unique, the interior is magnificent and it's totally carbon neutral!

Lux et Tepidus: Toronto, Canada
This stunning 3500 square foot home is even aligned slightly out of joint with the passing street for better solar energy alignment, the exterior is constructed of structural insulated panels and all interior partitions made of wood-stud. A south facing, massively glazed wall maximises light and solar heat entering the house straight onto a slate covered masonry wall which provides thermal mass as well as looking stunning! This is a truly striking & luxurious property both inside and out and the eco features are engrained perfectly within the design.

Woods End: Norfolk, England
Set in two acres of woodland in the Norfolk countryside, this impressive 3000 square foot eco-home was the 2009 winner of TV competition 'I Own Britain's Best Home'. Built from the ground up by Amanda Barrington, the home costs only £500 a year to heat and fully utilises solar gain as well as the stunning woodland landscape and passing stream to do so. The simple & modern yet homely style of both the build and the interior fit the surroundings perfectly and it has won many design, architectural and green awards. This luxurious yet energy efficient project works seamlessly and is definitely worth the title of Britain's best home.

Heather's Home: Weatherford, Texas, USA
This amazing eco-build was the first home in the state of Texas to receive LEED for Homes Platinum Certification and amazingly for Texas the heating/cooling bill averages only $20 to $30 a month! Built at around $117 per square foot, the house features numerous green technologies including a rainwater collection system and a water heater that needs no tank and is powered by rooftop solar panels. Again the interior is stunning and all the eco-features are seamlessly engrained, another perfect example of luxury and sustainability working hand in hand.

The Costa Mesa Green Home: Orange County, California, USA
Another home to be the first to receive Platinum Certification, this time it's a first for Orange County in California. At a massive 5000 square foot it is the largest and possibly most luxurious of those featured and exceeds the local energy efficiency targets by a massive 40%! This stunning green project has optimised solar orientation and is built with sustainable materials throughout. It also features numerous energy efficient technologies including intelligent ventilation, a state-of-the-art green HVAC (heating, ventilation & air conditioning) system and energy star lighting. Creating energy efficiency in such a massive, contemporary and luxurious property is definitely a remarkable achievement.

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