Guest Blog thanks to Heather Roberts.

 
Green home building has had a great connection to the environment, balancing out the influence of man with the natural world around us. The building of a home like that requires smart decision-making and planning to ensure you will be independent from the local power grid as well as making sure you have a safe and cost-effective way to live in a healthier home. The following tips will give you more information on how you can make this happen:
 

Using safer materials
This is a very important first step in the process of making your own home, as biodegradable products will be safer for your environment, so you need to do your best to avoid other materials. Dyes, heavy metals, ozone-depleting chemicals and potential carcinogens can not only be dangerous to you, but also to your local biosphere and soil, so you need to keep them out of your new home. This means you will also have a much easier time dealing with house cleaning, kitchen cleaning, floor cleaning, you name it – without the use of hazardous chemicals for your cleaning efforts.
 

Using passive solar designs
When you need to build a brand new home, you can always make use of these millennia old designs that take advantage of natural sunlight to warm up your home. You can also take it a bit further by making sure you use reflective screens to deflect heat to areas that need it, as well as thermal chimneys, window placements, stone floors and skylights.
 

Attic ventilation
If you have a hot climate as the norm around your area, then you will need to deal with the accumulated heat in some form or fashion. The installation of vents on the eaves and ridges of your roof will get the job done. You can also make use of brighter colors to make use of light reflection to keep the heat off your home. Cooler climates can also benefit from such ventilation, since they will prevent the forming of mold due to condensation in unreachable locations. Keeping things well-ventilated is vital to ensuring you have a functioning home with no ill-effects in the long run.
 
Protecting your local site
When you’re done constructing your building, you will need to make sure you do so in harmony with the environment around you. Do whatever you can to protect the landscape and the trees around it, as well as any animals living on your land if you want to enjoy its natural look. You should never bury solvents and paints on your property, as they will enter the local groundwater supply and eventually end up in your own body if you don’t get rid of them the safe way.
 

Irrigation
The best way to deal with irrigation is to ensure you make use of the natural resources around your land. Your landscaping needs to be in tune with the local climate and rainfall patterns, as it will only strive to benefit from it this way. This means no lush green lawns in the middle of arid climates, as they will suck up water you could otherwise use sparingly for the more adapted local plants and still have a good-looking landscape. You need to use materials capable of allowing water to flow, rather than flood your landscape, such as crushed granite or paving blocks instead of concrete and asphalt.
 
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