There is a house in the heart of Texas that would make any little pig shudder
in fear, and maybe have them pointing out the folly of the design. Why? Because
that house is constructed from straw bales, rather than a standard plywood and
concrete construction. You probably won't see anything like this in average real estate, from Wyoming to homes for sale Lorne Park.
We know it is hard to believe, but this house actually exists. Its success
on the market has been dependent on two different factors. The first is that
the house has obviously been built with the greenest of standards in mind. The
second is that there are no longer any wolves in Texas for the current owners
to worry about (although maybe researchers are still trying to figure out if
a jaguar can huff and puff in the same manner).
We love to talk about unique homes, but not everyone can be expected to go
quite as green as this homestead in the southern United States. Instead, in
this series of articles we are going to look at a few ways that you can make
your life greener without going through a bunch of added expense. The information
and tips we provide can be applied to your life, whether you live in a Sherway
Gardens Condo or in the suburbs of Hamilton.
If nothing else, that house in Texas shows just how important green living
has become to a lot of people. It's not just the straw bale construction, either.
Everything in and on the house, from roof drains to the interior walls, has
been made from reclaimed materials. You won't find anything like that among Central Toronto homes like that! Again, we don't expect everyone to be able
to run out and entirely redecorate on a moment's notice, but we think that this
series will give you an idea of some small and cheap changes you can make today.
We will also be taking a look at ways in which you can "green up"
the outside of your home. In fact, aside from paying attention to their inside
consumption habits, the best way for a home owner to go green is to pay attention
to their landscaping. Burlington and other Ontario cities have vastly different
climates and seasons than those in western Canada, so why are yards in these
disparate regions so similar to each other? Good xeriscaping will set your house
apart, will cost you less money, and is environmentally friendly to boot.
Aside from living styles and changes you can make to your home in order to
be greener, this series will also be focusing on personal choices when it comes
to products. You might not think that a choice of a certain brand of women's pants could reduce your carbon footprint that much, but in fact some pants are
more eco-friendly than others. We'll take a look at how to measure the
products you buy with an environmental yardstick.
Whether you're working in a home office using Accpac Vancouver morning driver's
commute left to other, or living at the epicentre of the Golden Horseshoe (Toronto)
there are changes you can make to your lifestyle that will help the earth. We
take a look at some of the changes you can make that won't cost you too much
in the end.
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