The New Ecological Home

For the Media

May 18 , 2004

Contact: Jon-Mikel Gates, Publicity Assistant, 802-295-6300 x 111
jgates@chelseagreen.com

"This is a great one! It will inspire a whole generation of builders to tread more lightly on the Earth."

--Doug Pratt, Real Goods Technical Editor

As Fuel Prices Climb Higher, Green Building Blends Practicality With Style in The New Ecological Home

As homeowners become more environmentally savvy and demand ecological choices, a new generation of architects and builders is emerging, intent on creating warm and inviting homes that cause only a fraction of the environmental impact of conventional building methods. Dan Chiras' The New Ecological Home provides an overview of green building techniques, materials, products and technologies that are either currently available or promise to be in the near future.

Shelter rivals food and water as one of the most basic of all human needs. And yet, like many other elements of human existence, it comes at an extraordinary cost. In the US alone, construction of 1.2 million new homes a year results in a massive drain on Earth's natural resource base. Nearly 60 percent of all timber cut in the U.S. is used in building houses, and resources used in the day-to-day life of a modern household account for still more economic and environmental expenses.

Author Dan Chiras provides a wealth of up-to-date, practical information for homebuyers, owner-builders, and anyone interested in building for a sustainable future. He is a leading authority on green building and renewable energy options, and is the author of The Solar House and The Natural House, which Earthship inventor Michael Reynolds has called "a much needed, unbiased encyclopedia of sustainability that will put wind in the sails of our future."

In this new comprehensive volume, Chiras includes chapters on green building materials, earth-sheltered architecture, passive solar heating and cooling, sustainable approaches to water and waste, energy efficiency, and environmental landscaping. He sets the record strait on the vast potential for passive heating and cooling and provides a resource guide, recommendations, and a green-building checklist.

Consider that humans spend 90 percent of their lives indoors, and indoor air quality becomes a major issue for most homeowners. The New Ecological Home shows consumers how to increase the indoor air quality, aesthetic value, and comfort of their homes by forgoing traditional materials like foam and formaldehyde. As high energy prices and resource concerns frustrate consumers and builders alike, let Dan Chiras show you the appealing alternatives of The New Ecological Home.