Going Green Interior Design

Today city-planners, engineers, builders, designers and consumers are looking for ways to reduce fuel and water consumption and conserve resources in both commercial and residential buildings.

A green home may save as much as 40% in energy costs over a traditional home.

Green homes have less impact on the environment by saving energy and reducing wastes.

Green building (n) is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water and materials.

Green design (v) is reducing the impact buildings have on human health and the environment through better siting, design, construction, energy efficiency and operation, maintenance and removal through the complete building life cycle.

Carbon Footprint - a measure of the impact your activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green- house gasses produced.

Building footprint – the impact a building has upon the land, the amount of land it uses.

Organic - made solely from plants, plants grown without fertilizers, hormones or pesticide.

Biodegradable – things that decompose quickly without harmful effects on the environment.

Sustainability– resources that are easily and quickly replaced, renewed or grown. A sustainable resource meets the current needs without effecting future generations.

Green Space – areas of trees, grasses, etc.

Urban Heat Island Effect is the over heating of a downtown-type area due to the concentration of buildings, roads, concrete and lack of green space.

Greenhouse gasses – a term given to gasses such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane that are suspected of raising the temperature of the earth due to their increasing concentration in the atmosphere.

Active solar power – the collection and utilization of solar energy.

Passive solar power – the use of sunlight as a light source in a room or a building.

Four R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle and renew

Renewable Energy – is energy that comes from Earth’s natural forces: wind, solar and water.

Fossil Fuels – are fuels created from products produced from the Earth that are not renewable.

Become Energy Efficient by seeking to reduce fuel consumption (esp. fossil fuels) and resulting carbon emissions. Use energy efficient products.

Energy efficient hotels automatically shut off electricity to individual rooms when guest use their electronic keys to lock and exit the room.

Practice Resource Conservation – Reduce the use of fossil fuels, save water, and use reclaimed or recycled materials.

Buy local – Use of local materials (wood, stone, etc.), materials brought in from manufacturing sources that are not more than 500 miles away. Long distance transportation creates polluting carbon emissions.

Improving indoor air quality - Good ventilation keeps indoor air cleaner, as does avoiding products that “off-gas” volatile organic compounds, (VOC’s). A VOC is a potentially harmful chemical and an organic compound that becomes a gas at room temperature – benzene, toluene, and xylene. Ingestions of these gases can cause mild to severe allergic- type reactions. VOC emissions can last anywhere from one week to several months.