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Urban Green Condo Living

Urban Green Condo Living | Native | by Lloyd Lee

When it comes to green living, it’s all about location. Urban condos designed with sustainability in mind check all the right planet-friendly boxes and with one huge upside: location.The Issue of Location: How Much Gas and Time Can You Save?What is the secret to low impact living? Location. In fact, most property experts will tell you that the ... Read More...

Greening Historic Homes

Greening Historic Homes | Native | by Lloyd Lee

America is a relatively young nation with a relatively young housing stock. Still, over 20 million houses in use today were built before the 1940’s. Because of their advanced age, many of these abodes present a host of problems for existing homeowners and prospective homebuyers. But they also present unique sustainable retrofitting ... Read More...

A Little ‘Fluff’ Goes A Long Way

A Little Fluff Goes A Long Way | Native

When it comes to greening a house, especially older homes, nothing is more cost-effective than investing in a little extra ‘fluff’ inside the walls and in the attic. Prioritize. Weatherize. Back in September 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) celebrated a barely acknowledged milestone in the nation’s drive towards a sustainable ... Read More...

Building a Green Home: Specialty Builders vs. National Builders

Vineyard is a BuildNative project

When it comes to buying or building a new, eco-friendly home, most home buyers have two choices: either buy from a national chain builder, or employ the services of a local builder that specializes in green home design and construction. But which route should prospective home buyers go? It would not be a stretch to say that, for the most part, ... Read More...

The Fracking Problem

The Fracking Problem | Native | by Lloyd Lee

Proponents of the oil and natural gas industry point to new developments in extraction technology, namely “fracking”, as the solution to America’s energy woes. While natural gas may be the best bet for the time being, there are some issues, namely fracking, that warrant discussion.As a nation, and as a people, we could have taken dwindling ... Read More...

The 3 Types of “Solar”

The Three Types of Solar | Native | Lloyd Lee

Solar photovoltaic panels get all the press, with good reason too. They’re shiny. They look the part of a renewable energy technology of the future. That’s great, but people tend to get a little sun-struck and forget that photovoltaic technology is only one way to get clean energy from the sun.Solar Photovoltaic PanelsSolar-electric panels are ... Read More...

Green Roofs (Minus the Greenery)

Native | Green Roofs Minus the Greenery

  A short brief on popular sustainable roofing techniques that do not involve grass. When most people encounter the term green roof, they picture rich, lush grasses carpeting the top of a sustainable development. While they certainly would not be wrong, to cast eco-friendly roofing into such a narrow and specific type would truly fall short ... Read More...

Sandy Shatters Silence

Sandy Shatters Silence

If Hurricane Sandy could speak, what would she have said? What has she told us about America’s badly aging infrastructure? Our emergency preparedness? Our effect on climate and climate change? While it appears that politicians have espoused a vow of silence when it comes to global warming, maybe hurricane Sandy, popularly termed a ... Read More...

Super Bowl: Lights, Camera, …Nothing?

Super Bowl: Lights, Camera, ... Nothing?

The widely-speculated power outage in this year’s Super Bowl XLVII may just be a sign of things to come. Granted, the game in Mercedes-Benz Superdome was an extraordinary event demanding extraordinary resources, especially in regards to electrical power. Nonetheless, the underlying problem remains: too many people, not enough juice, and a host ... Read More...

Do You Know About Energy Efficient Mortgages (EEM’s)?

Do You Know About Energy Efficient Mortgages | Native

The world of energy efficiency is often fraught with gray areas. Systems and technologies that may work well for one home, in one climatic region, for one particular family, may not be the most efficient solution for other homeowners. The key to efficiency lies in a very precise analysis, often times through a professional energy audit, and ... Read More...