Since young, I have always thought about ways to reduce my dependence on fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy to the best of my ability. I got serious about ten years ago and ever sine I have gradually made improvements and have been doing the best I can. Now, let me be clear, it is impossible at this point in time to completely swear of non-renewable energy, the best we can do is reduce it without sacrificing our quality of life. This is what we did. We just finished building our home using only material and processes that had near zero impact on the environment.
Most of the things we adopted in the design are unconventional, and I do not expect you to follow all of it. Feel free to pick and chose ideas that may work for you. Remember make baby steps if not your not going to make it. My approach will impact you in one of three ways. Start by cutting down monthly electric bills by using less air conditioning, then reduce your carbon foot print by making your drives more efficient and third reduce your dependence on carbon pollutants.
In the home, chandelier lighting are the main culprit when it comes to wasting energy, next to the heating and air-conditioning system. So for the new house, we decided to cut the space down as it makes no sense to heat or cool space that is not really used. No wasted space, every inch of the house, both vertically and horizontally is well used up.
Ceilings are less than 8 feet high and rooms no greater than 150 square feet. So all in all we only have about 1600 cubic feet per room to cool or heat, depending on the season. And since most of the house is submerged, the total surface are exposed to the weather outside is minimal. The temperature stays relatively constant throughout the year.
We installed ceiling fan light through out the home in addition to the light fixtures that accommodate the latest bulbs that have the greatest luminosity per unit of heat generated. The ceiling fans are great because it distributes the air within the room evenly and by doing so it also distributes the temperature. So, if you account for the use of fans instead of the heating and ventilation system, the submerged house and the total energy consumption has reduced by ore than 90 % on average for the entire year.
Light fixtures we had to use with this design were pretty awesome. We had them ordered online and had a wonderful experience. They were delivered directly to our contractor who had it installed in no time at all. The lighting fixtures and the ceiling fans were the crux of our entire green plan.