Maine Modular & Custom Home News

In this economy where we are all looking to save money and energy, these products found at ThisOldHouse.com make a lot of sense.  Some of them might seem a little pricey, but if you factor in the energy savings, the net cost can be zero in just a matter of months.  My favorite item is the washer and dryer that can complete a clothes cycle in 30 minutes.  The energy saved in two years pays for them, but if I included in my time value – conservatively saying $30 per hour – with the amount of laundry to do in my house, I figure they could pay for themselves in six months.  Now, if This Old House would find a way that every item is folded and pressed when I open the dryer door, that would be priceless.

The July 2009 Builder Magazine published results from their recent survey in an article titled Brave New World. They have taken a good look at what the home builders of the future will be expecting in the housing market.  There are  three distinct markets that will drive these expectations according to the newest information.  Immigrants will still be dreaming about being able to build a home big enough for extended family, Baby Boomers will be looking to downsize without giving up quality, and the “Millenials” will be looking for urban, uncluttered and well designed homes.  All three groups will be looking at affordability due to economic constraints that were not there in the past.  The builders of the future will need to accommodate a variety of expectations and keep the cost down.  This is where sytems built technology has a head start.  Design, affordability and meeting expectations have always been the foremost concerns in a modular building process.  As we look to the future we can expect that modular building will be in a prime position to help anyone build the home they are looking for.

Solar roof collectors are often considered an eyesore and therefore don’t get the consideration they deserve.  Now, Velux, which has been making skylights for many years, has made a solar collector panel that blends right in with their  oversized skylights.  Velux offers the complete package for solar collecting; including a pump station, a controller, a mixing valve, an air separator, an expansion tank and propylene glycol to charge the sytem.  Now your roof will look like you have ordinary skylights, but you will be the happy consumer of renewable energy.  The best news is that this package  qualifies for energy tax credits.

I really enjoy the Natural Home Magazine because the information they provide is always new and refreshing.  Recently I found this short article that directed me to the Good Guide, a free website that offers an eco-friendly rating on over 75,000 general products.  Technology is always a few steps ahead of most of us and it’s great to know that sometimes it’s going in a direction that will be helpful to the public.  The Good Guide is working on an application for the iPhone that will allow the consumer to scan a bar code and get an immediate rating from the good guide data base.  How great to be able to learn about a product we are bringing into our homes right when we see it in the store.  Thanks Good Guide, and thanks Natural Home Magazine for helping us become more aware of eco-friendly products.

Roger Valdez wrote this great article: Does Green Building Have to Break the Bank? Valdez explores the intuitive feeling we get when we are building green that it is going to cost us a whole lot more money.  There are several links to good articles in his post that validate the idea that green building doesn’t have to be impractical – it just feels that way.  He also brings up a definition of what green building is according to the Federal Reserve Bank.  It is a much more workable definition than we are use to.  If you want to look at the practical side of green building, read Valdez’s article and click on the links he provides.  There is a lot of useful information that will calm your fears about how you can afford to build green.  As always, if you want some additional information on green building, contact one of our housing specialists here at Schiavi Home Builders.  We will help you find answers to your questions.

I found this blog post on the Best Green Tips site that has so much information it was too good not to share.  This post is broken into three sections:

• Cons of remodeling green
• Pros of remodeling green
• Pros of Building or Buying a New Green Home

Each section lists pros and cons with multiple links for more information.  It is a great one stop look that helps you make a more informed decision about your building project.  If you have any additional questions after reading all of this information, call one of our Home Specialists to help you decide what your best course of action is.

Are you interested in learning more about energy sources and issues but you don’t have time to sit down and read a lot of technical data?  Try listening to this broadcast from New Hampshire’s Public Radio station.  They devoted a lot of time to looking at renewable energy in New England and then broadcast their findings with a knowledgeable panel of experts.  Sometimes it’s easier to listen while we’re doing other things, rather than stopping everything to read an article.  This will give you an opportunity to learn a lot of information

So it’s coming…..I read this article about a new program called Autodesk and my usual Pollyanna attitude went right out the door. What is presented as a tool to help control the carbon emissions in the cities around the world, I see as a government windfall. Here it comes….a manipulative software application of measuring the carbon footprint…a way to create an across the board evaluation of our carbon footprint so a new tax on the people can be created. Perhaps we can start a betting pool for the beginning date of this new tax…it’s not too early. I have to say, I hope I am wrong. I hope that this really is just a tool that gets used to monitor the carbon emissions and then we correct the problems. That would be the best scenario – yet I am not all that hopeful. Either way, with carbon emissions “measurable” instantly it will effect the building industry, making everyone that much more conscientious of how their new home is adding to the numbers.

Have you wondered if all this talk about green will wither away when the hype settles down and the economy is strong once again? That’s what I thought would happen until I read the 10 Trends that Will Keep the Green Economy Growing. It was easy to jump on the green bandwagon when it all began, and like others I’ve found it easy to fall right off again. I have been “greened out” and I don’t even want to hear the term green again. All that aside, I do believe that change is here to stay, it is too beneficial to cast away. As I was reminded when I read Glenn Croston’s post, fossil fuels are expensive and will continue to rise in price, carbon emissions come with a price tag, and water is incredibly valuable. Life as we know it has changed

There have been attempts in the past to come up with a solar roof shingle and the efficiency has been limited. Dow is working with a Tuscon firm on a new thin photovoltaic film to put on roof shingles that has a higher rate of conversion to power than in the past. The ease of installation is a big plus for this form of solar power. You need to install roof shingles anyway, so installing a shingle that has a photovoltaic film and acts to capture the solar energy, eliminates the need to install solar panels over a regular roof shingle. The hope is that the new type of solar roof shingle will be ready to be distributed to the public in 2011. For the full details read the entire article here.