American Express sampled 2,045 people (18+ years old) and learned that 64% of them will invest in renovation projects this year, according to a survey taken in the first week of March. These homeowners are only planning on spending about $3,400 — down from $6,200 last year — but 32% of folks with home improvement plans will look into green home improvements.
This ultra-efficient home is repaying owner Scott Shackleton with money from putting excess electricity into the grid. Located on a narrow lot in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, the shotgun-style home generates nearly two-times the electricity it uses with a 4.7 kW solar array on the roof. That plus about 85% of domestic water is pre-heated with solar thermal, resulting in more energy savings.
Some folks just don’t want to give up incandescent light bulbs, so GE developed a “customer-inspired” bulb to ease the transition. The GE Energy Smart hybrid halogen/CFL bulb is being shipped nationally with soft white and Reveal options. The new bulb — a blend of three light bulb technologies — has the shape of an incandescent, the efficiency of a CFL, and the immediacy of a halogen.
This year’s HGTV Green Home is in the popular Stapleton infill development of Denver, Colorado. The New Urbanist community features nothing but Energy Star homes that are about 30% more energy efficient than standard homes and 20% more water efficient than typical Denver households. But the HGTV Green Home 2011 steps things up a notch with a LEED Platinum certified project — it’s one of about 40 in the state.
Ecosistema Urbano, an agency that runs a website on the topic of “creative urban sustainability,” recently listed the top environmentally-responsible design blogs with this site included. EU also published the Prezi above saying Jetson Green is a “blogger and tweeter extraordinaire … [that] brings followers the latest strategies for building sustainable homes with natural materials and green technologies.” Here are the other four:
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