Called the Cube, the home is designed with all the furnishings one person needs. In addition to a kitchenette, table, two chairs, lounge and small bed, it contains a full sized shower and a composting toilet.

Among the home’s many green features are LED lights, an air-source heat pump, and an energy-efficient fridge. Plus, with the use of solar photovoltaic panels, it produces at least as much energy as it uses. To see the home and read about its additional features, check out the full article, “The Cube Project: What Would You Give Up To Live In A Tiny House?”

For a true green builder, this may be a dream house. But for the rest of us, it’s a little far fetched. Many demonstration projects go to extremes to show all of the things that can be done, while working home builders are faced with trying to build green within real-life budgets and real homebuyer preferences.

After you’ve seen the article at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog, come back here and tell us if that project gives you any ideas you can use now. What will help you as a green builder incorporate more environmentally friendly components into your next home?

The resource center will become a place for the community to consider its energy efficiency and renewable energyas  well as a place to create sustainable jobs. The GEC will create educational seminars, classes and educational forums for local government officials, corporations, small business owners and local residence. The Green Resource Center has been a focus of the GEC for over a year and no other cities wanted to take the first step.  Some believe that the program is going to bring jobs with the city to the unemployed. The center will remake products that will  be  potentially shipped all over the world.

Essentially, the center will perform an analysis for clients in regards to their current energy usage.  The GEC’s Green Resouce Center Plan includes:

1.  Create a facility with educational classroom areas.

2.  Create a location within the city that consults local residents and businesses on how to reduce their energy usage through energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

3. Perform business community outreach in order to educate existing employees about energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.

4.  Entertain monthly discussions amongst community leaders about opportunities to alternative energy applications and green job training.

5.  Create an educational environment for the newly unemployed that will assist them in changing their career paths in order to take advantage of the new 21st century green tech jobs.

The Green Resource Center opened at the West Palm Beaches E4 Summit.

The ice storage technology from CALMAC was chosen to be a part of the overall HVAC system to offset energy usage during peak demand hours. The system is simple, ice made during off hours is used during peak hours so the building can run off grid. During the peak demand period the building will operate on power produced by biodiesel generators and cooled by the ice storage plant. This alternative saves costs by minimizing expensive electricity demand charges.

The green building will be so energy efficient that excess power generated by the 125 kW photovoltaic system will be sold back to the utility, thus helping the utility meet peak demand load. At night, the computer based building management system will decide when to shut down the generators and start making ice.

Independence Station’s goal is to be a net zero energy building by using Smart Grid technology, with CALMAC’s IceBank Energy Storage at the heart of the cooling system.

• New LED lighting and fixtures
• Soybean spray insulation
• Touch panel energy monitoring system
• River reclaimed pine floors
• Solar tubes
• Greywater System
• Non-PVC and Vinyl-free recycled decking
• Eco-friendly modern “open” fireplace
• Tankless water heaters
• Green Technology Room

The home is open to the public with free admission Thursday – Sunday.  For more information and directions visit: www.greenhavenhome.com

About Greenhaven
Pace Homebuilders presents Greenhaven, Atlanta’s newest model for green building and sustainable design. Greenhaven will carry the US Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and showcase the latest in green building techniques, sustainable interior design, state-of-the-art-technology, and energy efficiency, teaching that eco-living is attainable even in the suburbs. Open to the public, July 18 – August 9, 2009, Greenhaven will host a series of eco-educational seminars, trunk shows and book signings.  For more information, visit: www.greenhavenhome.com

Winter Haven fire station

Residents of Winter Haven are a lucky bunch. Not only are they the benefactors to a brand new fire station, but the Winter Haven fire station is also LEED certified.

While firefighters are there protecting the people of Winter Haven, Winter Haven is protecting their environment. Preservationists will be especially happy to heard the new fire complex was designed to preserve large established trees currently on the site. Many other factors go into making the structure LEED certified. Residents look forward to learning more about the building’s green qualities as construction continues.

Even though the fire station is the city’s first “green” structure, Winter Haven is already familiar with sustainable living. Highland Homes, a Florida home builder who has several locations in Winter Haven including Mandolin, Crescent View, Normandy Heights, Lakeside Landings, Brenton Manor and St. James Cross, believes in green building.

Highland Homes offers special incentives to their buyers who purchase options at their personal selection studio that are considered green.

In the Greens, Highland Homes is featuring two model homes – one with all the basic features that every home will have and another that is a Green Certified Home.

The Green Certified Home is a large, two-story home that will feature all the upgrades that buyers can choose from when designing their new home. This home will feature many energy efficient upgrades including Delta Lahara faucets, Whirlpool appliances, Mohawk “Green” Carpet, R-30 insulation, low-e windows, Silver Shield radiant barrier and foam injected wall block.

Highland Homes is encouraging all new home buyers in the Greens of Hidden Creek to upgrade to the energy-efficient options because they not only save you money in energy costs, but provide a healthier environment for you and your family. For more information about Highland Homes and the green options they offer, visit their website.

However, the newest and most exciting alternative to using toxic drain cleaners is the PermaFLOW drain. This is a transparent drain which has been engineered to remove drain build up before clogs even start to develop. The Green drain simply eliminates the need for secondary maintenance products like harmful liquid drain cleaners. PermaFLOW also works well with environmentally friendly low-flow faucets that support water conservation.

As the world’s greenest building, Independence Station has taken a particular interest in the PermaFLOW drain, developed by PF Waterworks. The green building has partnered with PF waterworks and is incorporating the self cleaning drain into Independence Station’s sustainable construction. The benefits of using this particular drain are two-fold as they contribute to the efficient use of water and eliminate the use of one chemical and pollutant used in the home.

The partnership with PF Waterworks is another impressive step in the right direction for Independence Station. What they do next in the way of sustainable construction is something to look forward to.

Green living has been a topic of discussion at universities across the nation, a household word since Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and even has its own section in most newspapers nowadays. With all these products around you claiming they are green or eco-friendly it’s hard to decide what green really means.

That’s why you need to visit the Go Green Expo this weekend at the Cobb Galleria Center in Atlanta. If you want to learn more about living a green lifestyle, what “eco-friendly” really means and which products are truly green, you should attend. Or if you are an early-adopter of this very-important trend, you should go too! You can never be too green.

The expo will have over 200 exhibits including HollyBeth’s, an Atlanta-based eco-friendly beauty product company. HollyBeth’s products are made from organic plant extracts and owner HollyBeth Anderson has partnered with UNICEF’s Inspired Gifts to provide drinking water to underpriveledged communities across the world through the sale of her Wildflower Dry Oil.

The Go Green Expo will also have acoustic musical performances, green job opportunities, free yoga sessions, a rock climbing wall, free organic food sampling, hybrid car test drives, eco-kids zone & organic garden, green marketplace, demonstrations and hands-on activities.

This day of fun and education will be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre (Two Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30339) Saturday June 27, 10am-6pm and Sunday June 28th, 10am-5pm. The cost will be $10 for a full wekend pass (Saturday & Sunday), $5 for students and seniors with proper ID and free for children 12 and under.

Anyone interested in learning more about this extraordinary green built project can find a plethora of information through the Facebook group. They can view pictures of the construction of the building as well as renderings of what the finished project will look like. It’s a great way to stay up-to-date with the progress of Independence Station. Join the group, invite others to join and join the conversations in order to help spread the word about this revolutionary building in Independence, OR.

Independence Station – The World’s Greenest Building, an Aldeia, LLC community, is on track to earn the world’s highest LEED rating when it is completed in 2010. Located in the historic pioneer town of Independence, OR, the building will obtain its energy primarily from the sun and vegetable oil with leftover energy going to the local utility to show how the new Smart Grid technologies can help solve National Energy Security challenges. A $15 million, 57,000-square-foot project, Independence Station will host real and virtual offices, a restaurant, an Internet café, a green data storage facility, research facilities and classroom space. In addition, 15 21st century Oregon Trail pioneers will make their homes in the building’s one- and two-bedroom condominiums, providing published open source energy consumption data for all to study to set new benchmarks for responsible energy consumption in daily living. For more information or to set up a tour of Independence Station, an Aldeia, LLC, community, visit www.worldsgreenestbuilding.com.

During the construction of this EarthCraft home, numerous vendors donated their time and resources to the project. Brock Built partnered with WSB-TV Channel 2, which documented the construction of the Green House during its “Going Green 2008″ campaign.