World Variations in Green Home Building

As new information comes in, the global community becomes more and more concerned about the environment and energy conservation. And even though the United States is doing more every day to conserve energy, Americans are still a step behind in the energy conservation movement. Europe in particular has been leading the way in green home building and especially in energy conservation for many years.

European Energy Consciousness

Europe is at the forefront of the green movement, including green home design... and with good reason. In Europe, oil, natural gas, and electricity are more expensive than in the U.S., and have been for decades. And of course this makes Europe more aware of energy and power usage than the U.S.. This is seen in European culture in a lot of ways.

One of the main ways that Europeans save energy is through a tightly knit and efficient public transport system. In addition to mass transit in essentially every major European city, the continent also boasts a well utilized long distance passenger rail service. While cars are common in Europe, many more Europeans use public transport (or even ride bicycles) than would be found in the U.S..

Europeans also build their homes with energy conservation in mind. In large European cities in particular, green home building concepts are widely used. Most people residing in a large European city live in a much smaller space than the average U.S. home. Most homes (and many businesses) in Europe do not have central air conditioning, and use basic green home building concepts for cooling. They use simple ideas, such as rolling black out screens, roll out terrace shades, double paned windows, etc., to cool or heat their homes.

The Green Home Building Trend in the U.S.

To sum it up: in Europe, the people have been conscious of the need to switch off the lights when they are not using them for decades... because they needed to save money. Americans, who are used to thinking of energy as a cheap and limitless commodity, are just starting to adjust to a "more European" mindset... including remembering to turn out the lights. This is easy to see when you consider how popular green home building and design has become in America during recent years.

The green home building concepts being used in America revolve around simple ideas, such as less square footage, improved insulation, and smarter positioning to the sun, as well as the use of alternative energy sources like solar paneling. More long term, in depth ideas are also used in green home building in America, such as using renewable materials and environmentally friendly building processes. America is a little behind, but with luck will start catching up to the standard set by Europe.