Why does it take longer for this kind of stuff to happen in the U.S.? Oh that's right, because we believe in the free-market, whereas Germany subsidizes environmentally friendly activities.

BARRIERS TO GREEN ENTRY

A serious problem lies in the many private and legal barriers to radical changes in dwelling design.

Most zoning and code requirements prevent or sharply restrict much green type construction. Traditional building interests tend to enforce these requirements to avoid competition.

Most building contractors will not deal with individuals who want to manage the project in detail.

Today, it's possible with a little research on the internet to know as much or more than those in the construction industry, a strong offset to the "aluminum siding shams" of the past.

Examples are tamped-earth and straw-bale versions of construction not considered "structually sound" but which usually are, and may be the least cost.

As Amory Lovins has said, if only the free (competitive) market were allowed to work, demand-side alternatives would have replaced much nuclear and fossil fuels long ago.

All very fine - but there is nothing "green" about Dow "exterior housewraps."
If you want to know more, check out the documentary "Blue Vinyl". Funny that this noxious stuff is always used for low income housing - and always by Habitat for Humanity. Dow, of course, gets plenty of good PR out of it. Why should they care if people die - especially poor people? It will take years and by that time they will have moved on to some other profit-making venture.
There is plenty of used wood in landfills. Why are we not recycling that into outside cladding, instead of using more oil to make dangerously unhealthy siding?

islandincline-I have not seen "Blue Vinyl," but I find it hard to believe there is anything particularly bad about a thin layer of polyolefin sheeting that acts as a barrier to water damage and air infiltration.

Dear fellow CommonDreams readers!

For some interesting innovations in Natural Building, check out:
the Mudgirls Natural Building Collective at:
http://www.mudgirls.ca

We are a network of women who build natural structures for ourselves and each other, as well as helping others build their own. We specialize in building with cob, but are also branching out into strawbale, adobe brick, cordwood and more.

There are two overlapping collectives within the network – one, a bartering collectives local to Lasqueti, and a second that is worker-run and for-hire which includes women in Courtenay, Nanaimo, Saltspring.

The second collective is a consensus-based, non-hierarchical collective of women that support each other to gain training and employment.

Yes! Keep the Green momentum going!

Why does it take longer for this kind of stuff to happen in the U.S.? Oh that's right, because we believe in the free-market, whereas Germany subsidizes environmentally friendly activities.

Whereas here we subsidize the most profitable corps in the history of humanity, the corps doing everything they can to fight this sort of thing (energy efficiency), in everything from cars to houses to household appliances etc., whose activities are rapidly destroying any chance of our great grand childern ever knowing anything even approaching the kind of prsperity that some have experienced in this brief window in history. Not to mention cheerleading illegal wars of agression to expand their resources (read profits) whose costs in blood & treasure are staggering beyond human comprehension. Ah that axis of idiocy of dubyuh crookogliotrocity oil criminals,big sleazy media & thoroughly lobotomized citizenry.

what ever happen the idea of a better future for eveyone?

We are ten years late at least for this. We need all new building codes which require some solar use even if merely requiring one side of an A frame to face the sun. Cheaply made solar roofing tiles instead of tar paper roofing. Imagine trillions being gobbled up but pennies for new mass produced innovation through solar. Geeze what is the excuse in a place like arizona or new mexico etc.?

Looks like a great house. I'd like one. So would you. We need to have building codes for new construction to incorporate solar. All cars have safety glass. All windows should be solar efficient in one capacity or another.

Once building required this everyone will want this retrofitted on older buildings (like aluminum siding how about solar siding.? Next step is cheaper solar. Heck they make thin batteries out of paper. Thin and cheap, light weight solar paneling and backing layer of 'paper battery' could be a well lit but energy 'free' billboard annoying drivers nightly near you... instead of building nuclear and coal power plants to do it like now.

Gee I wish solar houses were what was built...according to code.

http://www.dlsc.ca/about.htm

As for LEED, much of it is misleading...
You can get LEED points from things including bicycle racks and porous paving surfaces, so it is not truly a comprehensive approach to green design.
Green architecture should be a synthetic response to climate, sustainable materials, advanced technology and social context.
European advancement in terms of environmental architecture is no surprise when it is considered a matter of international importance. High-tech nonpetrochemical materials such as ETFE are developed and incorporated into major projects throughout Europe, while the US can't seem to get away from stick-built residential construction with hazardous materials or giant energy inefficient skyscrapers that require intensive energy loads for climate control.
Buildings consume about 40% of total energy in industrialized nations, and LEED/ASHRAE are good tools to reduce embodied energy and promote sustainable development; however, passive systems should be better developed to reduce energy consumption. And why not use buildings to produce energy? Surfaces can do much more than contain... They can ventilate, illuminate, collect energy, store energy, etc.
Architects that think outside the typical framework such as Grimshaw, Foster, Mayne, McDonough and others provide innovate thinking towards addressing a truly important issue in the face of environmental disasters.
I believe that there should be and international attempt to create a set of sustainable development guidelines. UN, Al Gore, anyone? Of course, this would be a monumental task involving not only architecture but everything from economic development to the food supply. Because we now know the problems of industrialization, it is important to improve new development strategies--especially with new industrialized powers such as India and China often experiencing explosive development that often results in unchecked consumption of resources and disregard for future consequences. We should focus on designing our planet to cooperate with natural ecology rather than as a combatant against it. As the coming decades approach, we need to be prepared to address issues of global concern such as water shortages and agricultural failures. Knowledge exists, but the international community has to be willing to take major steps now instead of sweeping these issues under the rug.

Being a builder and a 'green', this movement has been long in coming. As the author states, finally products are reaching cost levels that the average citizen can do things to 'green' their homes, from energy efficient appliance, to products created from recycled materials. I am right now in the process of starting a green building company and welcome any further input on new eco-friendly and green building materials.

I see so many of these types of articles, yet I see very little evidence of the article's optimism. Locally, a man tried doing an affordable, owner-built net-intertied "Green" structure. The city bankrupted him. His half-finished structure and the land under it is now for sale... at auction. Another couple had a strawbale home in an unincorporated area of a SoCal county built, per CA Strawbale building codes.... they were forced by the county to dismantle their home. It was supposed to cost $55K, owner built. The county forced them to use a contractor and it wound up costing $125K and then half again to destroy the brand new building.

The aristocracy is not interested in Green building and there is no push for it. They just want people to drive Priuses.