Sorting through the green hype, you shop and you question. Here are the top 7 trends to green your home.
1. Energy-use monitoring systems.
As power rates rise and provinces introduce time-of-use billing for electricity, consumers desperate to manage energy costs will snap up this technology. Easily installed products like Blue Line's Powercost Monitor (about $60 at www.thesource.ca), which provide real-time information on energy use and are compatible with trend-tracking software, will be especially popular.
2. Smaller is better.
Money-sucking McMansions will increasingly go the way of the dodo as homeowners face skyrocketing energy bills, a lacklustre economy and social pressure to do more with less. Hello, Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big Homes, and Marianne Cusato, a Miami-based architect who launched her New Economy Home in Las Vegas last year at the International Home Builders's Show.
3. Solar products.
Solar systems for electricity generation and domestic hot water will dot more roofs as energy production capacity grows, product costs shrink and future-thinking governments ramp up financial incentives for alternative energy production.
4. Formaldehyde-free interiors.
"Every single one of my clients wants formaldehyde-free cabinets and vanities," says Ottawa designer Linda Nolan. "There's been such a rise in consciousness about indoor air quality, especially over the past five years." Formaldehyde, a naturally occurring substance added to some adhesives and other products, is considered a potential contributor to upper respiratory irritation, asthma and, at very high levels, even cancer.
5. Wool carpets.
Nolan also sees a jump in the popularity of wool carpets. Wool is sustainable -- it comes from sheep, after all -- and free of the off-gassing that characterizes synthetic carpets. Nolan says wool carpets have dropped from upwards of $100 a square yard to as little as $35.
6. Super-efficient windows.
Triple-glazed windows, some with xenon gas fill and boasting insulation values up to R-13, will become the new darling of the eco-conscious homeowner, according to EcoHome Magazine (www.ecohomemagazine.com). These windows can cost 20 to 30 per-cent more than double-glazed, low-E windows, but their energy efficiency is impressive.
7. Buying local.
Like the 100-mile diet, buying locally produced products salves the environmental mind. The trick is to ensure the product is produced within a 500-mile radius, not just supplied by a local company.
-- Postmedia News
