Over at the ECO-All-Stars~ GREEN Resources, Trends & Friends Active Rain group a challenge was postedto list the 5 green elements you would place into your home if $$$$$ were no object.  This post today is in response to that. 

I will be placing a lot of links in this post that refer to previous posts I have blogged.  Please follow those links them for more details!

The FIRST thing I would do is build home using a combination of Shipping Containers and Straw Bale Construction.  These would create wonderful, sustainable bones for my dream home. 

Next and SECOND I would incorporate a green roof into my home along with a rain catchment system that would collect the water I need and store it for later use.  Much like that found in Zero House. 

THIRD you would find my home with a wind power system of turbines or perhaps this amazing alternative to huge turbines!  I will definitely be net metering to sell my excess power back to the local utilities. 

The FOURTH thing I guess I hardly need to mention, but it is a tankless water heater and a drain water heat recovery system. 

FIFTH for this list, and definantly NOT the last thing I would do would be to build my home so that I could heat and cool passively and reduce my need for alternative systems.  I would do this with a thermal chimney system. that would take radiant heating from the basement and move it upwards through the home in the winter and use the below ground cooling in summer to cool the home. 

So there you go. That is a VERY Condensed list of the things I would do.  There is much more and I will blog more later, but for now I am off to prepare for the Holiday's.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL and THINK PINK for janeAnne, "Green-o-Lina" e-PRO, ECO, Owner/Broker.