'Building Your Green Home' panel discussion

A four-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot home to be built later this year in Upper Makefield was designed to rest lightly on the land, starting with high-density cement-panel basement walls set in gravel.

The building will be constructed of structural insulated panels that minimize wood use and chemical off-gassing. It will have super-high-efficiency windows, ground source heat, a storm water cistern for irrigation, an upgraded septic system, native, drought-resistant landscaping instead of a lawn, pervious paving and durable fiber-cement siding that uses recycled wood.

Paving material that lets rainwater percolate into the ground is under consideration, whether in the form of pervious asphalt or manufactured paving stones.

Hartke says his Holicong-based architectural partnership found it difficult to find pervious asphalt to pave its own parking lot about seven years ago, but, he says, "Now, you can find a supplier. Almost all asphalt manufacturers can provide it."

Excerpts from "Show features 'Building Your Green Home' panel discussion" By: GWEN SHRIFT - Bucks County Courier Times. READ FULL ARTICLE at: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/177/2010/march/16/in-the-air.html