Green Building
Cool House Tour 2014
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101915″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”183798″][vc_column_text] Cool House Tour 2014 Native is proud to announce that one of our finest net zero homes, Trail Driver, is featured in this year’s 18th Annual Cool House Tour 2014. Cool House Tour is a collaboration between Austin Energy Green Building and the Texas Solar Energy Society to showcase homes…
Read MoreWhy Rent When You Could Own?
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101932″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”121881″][vc_column_text] Most people consider owning a home as a big step in the right direction in terms of financial investment and security, yet we don’t think twice about renting the resources it takes to live in it. Why rent? Home ownership typically doesn’t stop with the home itself. Most homeowners own the…
Read MoreBuild Local
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101938″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”887467″][vc_column_text]What the green residential sector can learn from the eat local movement. Thanks to the growth of the “eat local movement”, American farmer’s markets, in cities, college towns, and rural squares across the nation have been experiencing something of a prolonged renaissance. Critical urban spaces that had once languished in negligent…
Read MoreConstruction & Demolition: The Forgotten Bookends of a Green Home’s Life
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101943″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”111191″][vc_column_text] In the green homebuilding sector, the construction and demolition phases of the life of a home are regularly neglected, often in favor of focusing all the attention, and marketable money, on building performance. Unfortunately, this neglect of two critical junctures in the building process has negative environmental consequences that are…
Read MoreOur Third Skin: The Building Envelope
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101947″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”146628″][vc_column_text] Our human skins serve a critical role in how our bodies interface with the external environment. It serves as a crucial barrier to would-be microbial invaders and other nasty pathogens, while retaining water, regulating body temperature, and providing the sense of touch – through which we perceive the world. Needless to say,…
Read MoreThe Single Most Important Green-Builder Qualification: Experience
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101949″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”560814″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”390136″] When it comes to building the green home of your dreams, the builder you decide to partner with makes a huge difference. Partnering with an inexperienced outfit could be extremely costly financially, and result in a product, your future home, not performing to the green standards specified and expected. In…
Read MoreLuxury Green Home
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101951″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”891147″][vc_column_text] What happens when environmental awareness powered by 21st century technology, meets refined elegance with a dash of sensible economics? The luxury green home is a new modern take on homeownership that elevates the American Dream beyond the McMansions of a pre-recession era. It offers luxurious sensibilities, without sacrificing sustainability, or…
Read MoreSustainability is Added Value, Not Just a ‘Luxury’
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101953″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”560336″][vc_column_text] In the grand scheme of architectural design and land development, the quest for cutting-edge sustainability in a pretty package is a relatively new phenomena. For all its youthful enthusiasm, the field of green building architecture and design has yet to gain mainstream traction in the residential sector. For the most part,…
Read MoreBig Bad Batting: The Problem With Fiberglass Insulation
What’s inside over 90 percent of American homes, looks like cotton candy, and can kill you over time if not properly installed? Fiberglass insulation is the cheapest thing on the market, but introduces an array of problems.
Read MoreWater: Your Home’s Worst Enemy
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”101958″ media_width_percent=”100″ shape=”img-round” uncode_shortcode_id=”172211″][vc_column_text] Water. This simple molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms affixed atop a single oxygen atom forms the very basis of life as we know it. In fact, all known life forms depend on it. Astronomers get breathlessly excited at the mere hint of water on any extraterrestrial body precisely because…
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