It does not matter how many "green" items you add to your home. Regardless of how green the contractor is. The design of the home still only helps partially "greening" the home. There is will still be construction and process flaws that make the home only "partially".
The two major flaws are the material the home is constructed from and the way the home is insulated.
Most homes are built with "wood" 2x4 and 2x6 construction.. Using wood studs creates several problems such as safety, efficiency and the impact on our environment.
Environmentally, wood framed homes have a massive impact on our environment as well as massive waste, as is evident from the facts above.
There is a safety concern with using wood. Everyday the lumber used to build the home dries out just a little more. As wood dries it becomes easier and easier to ignite and burn. Secondly there are potential problems from pests and rot which could degrade the structural soundness of the home.
Inefficiency is another factor in the fact that wood provides poor insulation. There is a great deal of wood waste when building a home and there is massive amount of inefficiency when building.
The way most conventional homes are insulated creates major impacts on our environment as well. The material in and of its self is not the culprit but the inefficiency in insulating the home.
Regulation will vary from state to state but in most cases you are required to use insulation with R rating of R21 to R35. Insulation is installed in all exterior wall cavities between the studs as well as blown into an attic.
Here are some big issues with this method and material.
First, as much as 1/3 of an exterior wall is covered in wood. Wood has an R value of 7 which is 1/3 to 1/5 the required insulation value.
The effectiveness of fiberglass insulation can be reduced by as much as 36% if the moisture content is increased by as little as 1.5%.
Then you have the issue of places in the exterior wall where it is difficult to place insulation like around plumbing.
And finally there is this little nugget. Conventional insulation does little to block radiant heat. Radiant heat is responsible for up to 65 percent of the heat loss and heat infiltration of a home.
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Orignal From: Is It Really A Good Idea To Build A Home With Steel?
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