Green Home Buildings ... Why The Europeans are Far Ahead | Advancements In Green Home Buildings ... Lessons From Europe | Green Home Buildings and the European Contribution | Is the US Catching Up to Europe in Building Green Homes? | Europe Vs The States In Building Green Homes | Building Green Homes ... Comparing The European and US Standing

The Green home building initiative has its genesis in the Green Movement, which was in its heyday in the 1960s, especially among the Hippies. Thereafter, the Green movement evolved differently in the United States and Europe. The political authority of the green movement gained significantly with the institution of the German Green Party in 1970s. This gave rise to the creation of many more Green politics and following in Europe with an institutional role. Many of these Green parties formed part of coalition governments in Europe thus giving governmental support to green initiatives quite early on. A prime example is the green legislation tax passed in the late 1990s by the German government.

No such legislative activity took place in the States. The Green movement in the nation has continued as an informal initiative with hardly any federal backing. Initially, building green homes was much more costly to build than regular houses. American construction companies, sans the governmental pressures faced by their European counterparts, sought only to augment their profits rather than build green.

One of the popular movements in Europe that has persisted over 30 years is termed Building Biology, and opines that traditional brick and mortar buildings with its ingredients of steel, concrete, plastic foams are unhealthy; it also recommends that naturally occurring local building materials are a better choice. Consequently, over the years, Europeans have been building walls with the help of loam. Contributing to the conservation efforts is also possible by using recycled paper as insulation. Till very recently, Americans considered used bathing water as waste water; instead this is an invaluable resource to be used for landscaping. The LEED norms in vogue in the United States are not legal regulations yet. One may look at the French initiative, to implement its local building green norms in the European Union, as a positive influence on the State.

Houses in the US are usually constructed of wood which is both abundant and economical.\ The swift expansion of the US construction industry raised import of wood and consequently the loss of substantial tropical rainforest areas. The real estate developers did not see it fit to consider the incalculable harm that was being done to the global environment. The Europeans on the other had very early on understood the likely adverse impact on the environment and commenced forest plantation in their own countries as also using bamboo and other quick growing woods instead of tropical rainforest woods. Little surprise as to the reason Europeans seem far ahead in structuring green homes as against Americans.