Building an energy efficient house is easy with Lindal. We don’t use fancy technology (though you can install it if you want to). We combine our home designs and eco-friendly house plans with an approach to siting and construction that focuses on environmental sustainability and the use of natural heating and cooling principles. Read on for our tips and methods for building an energy efficient home.
Is Lindal Environmentally Conscious?
Are we ever! Lindal uses wood judiciously in our production procedures. We buy our wood from sources that follow sustainable forestry practices. We do not use ‘old-growth’ timbers and prefer a smaller log to maintain quality.
The Western red cedar used in our homes is grown primarily on the West Coast of the United States and Canada. As the Natural Resources section of the official Canadian Government website states: “Canada’s forest laws are among the strictest in the world. They protect our forests and ensure that sustainable forest management practices are followed across the country. This means that consumers can be confident that the forest and wood products they buy from Canada were obtained legally and harvested under a system of sustainable forest management.”
Protecting and preserving the environment is a top priority at Lindal. This environmental consciousness is reflected in everything we do, from the way we run our plant to the way we operate our home office.
Every time a Lindal home is built, Lindal purchases individual memberships for our homeowners for one of the nation’s oldest nonprofit citizen’s conservation organizations, American Forests. Since the 1990s, Lindal Cedar Homes has faithfully supported the American Forests Global Releaf forest restoration program by helping plant trees on behalf of new Lindal home buyers. As a thank you to new Lindal homeowners, Lindal sponsors their membership as a “Forest Protector,” which includes 25 trees being planted in their name.
Since 1990, Global ReLeaf has planted more than 50 million trees in damaged and degraded ecosystems in every single state and in 38 countries worldwide. As this nation’s oldest national conservation organization, they have been at work since 1875 helping to preserve the health of our planet for the benefit of its inhabitants.
Our relationship with American Forests stretches back over 25 years—almost as long as the Global ReLeaf program has been running—and has resulted in the planting of more than 100,000 trees in critically important ecosystem restoration projects.
How to Build an Energy Efficient Home: Three Eco-Friendly Home Tips
Tip #1: Use Sustainable and Renewable Building Materials
The building materials you select to build your new home factor into saving energy and preserving our environment. Trees improve the environment. They supply oxygen and help control ground water. Of course, trees make a great building material—and they can be replenished quickly by planting new green trees.
We are concerned about the environment and use responsible building and business practices to protect and enhance it. Many people believe that the best timber comes from the biggest and highest-quality old-growth timber available. Actually, wood fiber from a second-growth pulp log is exactly the same as the wood fiber from the finest tree in an old-growth forest. Moreover, the second-growth timbers have improved knot quality, due to their small diameter. One of the reasons our founder, Sir Walter Lindal, chose to work with cedar is that it grows quickly and is relatively straight. After more than 74 years, Lindal Cedar Homes remains committed to purchasing the highest quality building materials from responsible suppliers who utilize sustainable harvesting practices.
Tip #2: Siting Your Home To Use Natural Heating and Cooling Energy
Another area that Lindal focuses on is training our dealer network. Each dealer is knowledgeable in siting your new home to protect the ecosystem on your lot. They will help you situate your home to take advantage of the natural heating and cooling properties of sun, wind, and shade to make your home naturally energy efficient. Contact your local Lindal dealer and ask about their services.
As environmental issues continue to evolve, Lindal will continues to procure and develop green building products to ensure you build the most energy efficient house possible.
Tip #3: Solar Panels
We can provide design assistance to incorporate many solar home lifestyles into our post and beam system. Whether that be active solar panels or passive use of the sun on the site, we can incorporate all your needs. Many Lindal homes have been built with solar panels and they can easily be incorporated into most of our energy efficient home designs.
Read about this Lindal design by OM Studio; a home built in Texas with solar panels on the carport.
A Smart Home Without Excess Technology
In this article, Michael Harris, a veteran Lindal dealer, explains Lindal’s approach to eco friendly home design:
Several decades ago, when proponents of active solar design “competed” with proponents of passive solar design, there was an adage that “owners of active houses could be passive, while owners of passive houses were by necessity active.” The message was that one could put an array of solar collectors or photovoltaics on a south-facing roof and live comfortably forever after with reduced fuel bills in an active solar house. In a passive solar house, one had to rely on south-facing glass, overhangs and existing vegetation for shade, actively operate the house to enable cooling natural ventilation in summer, and stoke a wood stove and rely on the passive solar heating of masonry surfaces to help heat the home in winter. Relying less on technology forced a homeowner to think more about the home’s design and ways to optimally manage its operation.One hitch with being passive in an active solar house is the sometimes high price of technology; its maintenance, repair, and eventual replacement. The life-cycle cost of a passively heated and cooled home is often negligible in comparison. This is still true today.
While I am an ardent believer in simple technology, such as programmable thermostats and energy-efficient appliances and HVAC systems, I am still wary of the cost and long-term reliability of a complex technological system that replaces the use of brain and brawn. It is hard to argue with today’s belief that teaching young people about energy efficiency, sustainability, and environmental responsibility through important real-life experiences and exploration – in school, at science camps, and at home – instills a deeper respect for the environment and the need to actively participate in its protection and preservation as future adults. After all these years, I still vote for being active in a passive environment and learning greater respect for the environment by actively and responsibly participating in its benefits.
