Dreaming Green

Around the same time I discovered the internet, I started to dream about a "green" house. I spent so much time investigating various environmentally-friendly options to live and build and such, that my "Simple Living" favourites folder is literally overflowing. Everything you can imagine, and a whole pile you might never think of, I've found and bookmarked.

Lately, I've been pondering how to get my son and I to a bigger, better house by the end of next year - including whether I could possibly afford to own one, or if I could still find a house that remains un-renovated, un-morphed into some semblance of a Tuscan villa (the major craze around here!). One that I can do up myself, as I wish, incorporating all that good stuff I crammed into my brain over the past few years.

Now houses here don't come cheap. If you find one under a half-million, you've hit the jackpot. Especially if you're looking for one with 3 bedrooms, in a quiet area, near where you need to be for school or work purposes. One that has a good-size yard for dogs to run free. Even rentals are a bit excessive, though we could manage one at a push.

But what I haven't really considered is looking at a plot, and building my own house. I don't know why I haven't - perhaps the need for immediate shelter once we move has something to do with that? :) We could rough it in a tent or caravan for a while, I guess, but I have a lot of Stuff that also needs to be housed...

Renovation is considerably easier than from-scratch building. You can live and renovate in the same area, no probs. Generally speaking. There's always issues like dust and alternative plumbing as you work through the house.

And the renovations I'd do would be more like building the whole thing again, I suspect!

You see, I dream of a home that has been designed for efficiency - whether in space, energy use, production, aesthetics, or whatever.

Take the double-glass-wall, for example. Instead of a simple wall to your dwelling, you put in two glass ones, about 2m apart, as a sort of "buffer zone". Not only does it keep your home cool in summer and warm in winter, but you can put your organic veggies in the gap - voila! a greenhouse!

Then there's roof issues - collecting rainwater from a specific angle, via a system that filters out junk and stores your water effectively. Or putting in a green roof - how about that! Which of course affects your foundation/wall strength, water run-off etc. But you can grow food on it...

In fact, you can examine every aspect of a house and its construction, from foundations on up, and find a way to make it greener, better or more efficient!

So perhaps I should be looking at plots, not houses.

Then again, it may all be a moot point. I can't afford either house or plot! :)