The House as a System

Sustainable building take most of us back to the classroom for a refresher on the physical properties of energy, air, and water. It's much easier to build a green house when we understand how heat and cold move from one object to another, and how air and moisture move inside our houses. Green building practices, as well as the selection of building materials, revolve around a few basic principles of science.

*A house is a system of interrelated parts.

*Energy loses some of its potential each time it is converted from one form to another, which helps explain why passive solar heat is much more efficient then electric heat.

*Form follows function when it comes to design, meaning that construction should be tailored to the environment in which the house is built.

*Air leaks in the building envelope represent a significant loss of energy and open the door to moisture damage inside wall and ceiling cavities.

*Controlling the movement of heat, air, and moisture involves in every part of the building and everyone on the building team.