Our Green Dream Home

Electrical

I usually am a minimalist, but when it come to electrical outlets, more is better. 

• I laid out my floor plans in an excel spreadsheet and made a template of all the wiring type of items I would need (see below).  You can also use graph paper.

Make sure when planning the location of your light switches, that you put enough two way switches. Anytime you can avoid walking in the dark is one less opportunity for having hip surgery.

To add to your green home design, install kill switches where you can.  What a kill switch does is shut down a whole electrical line of fixtures, that may be pulling electricity when not in use. 

• One of your best areas for a kill switch, is your Kitchen  Lights get left on, appliances are left plugged in, these item may be costing you money.
• Also TVs, stereos (do they still have them), and such is another good place for a kill switch

If kill switches make you nerves, put fixtures on timers so you know they will be turned off when no one is using them. 

Electricity - Contact the local Electrical company if you are planning to do net metering 

• Some require additional insurance
  1. Some require extra disconnects to protect their employees.  (Hardware is covered in the solar section)

Check to see if you get paid for the electricity you send back to them at what rate. 

Do not assume that you will get any money for the electricity that you will be feeding back into the grid.

• Most companies give you a reduce rate which is sometimes called the wholesale price.

***Net Metering (Connecting to your electric company in such a way that you can send and receive electricity)

 I used Excel to create a diagram/ledger showing where I wanted lights ,plugs, faucets, etc... placed

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Water / Plumbing

•  Solar water heating
  1. You don't have to live in Arizona to take advantage to a solar water heater.  If you live in a colder climate you can get a water heaters componet that you can connect to a solar panels
• Tankless Water Heater
  1. If solar is not the options for you.  Look into a tankless water heater.  They use a lot less power to provide the hot water you use.
• Insulate all hot water pipes
• Have your water heater within 25 feet of your fixtures
• Collect Rain water
  1. You can get rain barrels almost anywhere
• Seperate your Grey water for watering your flowers
  1. Grey water is the waste water from sinks, laundry, and bath tub/showers
• Putting in a water softening system  (If you have a well)
• Put in a seperate valve in the Kitchen for your ice maker
• Add a fitration system for water at the sink. This will be much greener than using bottled water

*I will add information on the different water systems as I get them.

**If you are allowed to sub contract your water and electrical lines you could save a great deal of money