Down and dirty – a complete step-by-step guide to making, installing and living with beautiful, all-natural earthen floorsPoor heat and moisture management are the enemies of durable, comfortable, and efficient housing, and good building design and construction starts with a solid understanding of good building science.Essential Building Science provides a highly visual and accessible introduction to the fundamentals of building science for reside...

"Fun. Easy to Read...One of the best natural building books published in recent years."—Bill Steen, coauthor, The Straw Bale HouseNatural buildings not only bring satisfaction to their makers and joy to their occupants, they also leave the gentlest footprint on the environment. In this complete reference to natural building philosophy, design, and technique, Jacob Deva Racusin and Ace McArleton walk builders through planning and construction, offering step...

An updated, fully revised, full-colour edition of the definitive manual on building with straw bales, described by Grand Designs as an 'essential guide'.Straw-bale buildings are cost-effective, easy to build and highly energy efficient, enabling you to design and build beautiful, environmentally friendly buildings. Written with non-experts in mind, Barbara Jones uses her years of experience in natural building methods to guide self-builders and architects building ...

A guide to alternate water collection for green new developments, aimed at conserving water and reusing it wisely.In an era of dwindling resources, water is poised to become the new oil as the entire world now faces the reality of a decreasing supply of clean water. To avert a devastating shortage, we must not only look at alternate water sources for existing structures, we must also plan our new developments differently.Design for Water is an access...

"This permaculture primer is fresh and vibrant. Bring it on!" — Permaculture MagazinePermaculture is more popular than ever, but it can still be a daunting concept. If you are new to permaculture and interested in learning more, Practical Permaculture offers authoritative, in-depth, and hands-on advice for a more holistic approach to sustainable living. Jessi Bloom and Dave Boehnlein, two dynamic leaders in the permaculture community, explain the b...

Do you love growing things... like flowers... herbs... or vegetables?Do you want to garden... but don't have the yard space to grow anything? If so, then you've found the right book!Everyone loves greenery! The fresh feeling... the sense of life... and homegrown vegetables.Gardens increase the quality of your home -- making them livelier with a garden and the greenery.As a culture, in our everyday hectic lives, we've become too sterilized and cut off from our...

Award-winning designer and author Lori Dennis proves interior design can be both stylish and environmentally sustainable in this easy-to-use, entertaining guide. Dennis discusses every aspect of interior design-furniture and accessories, window treatments, fabrics, surface materials, appliances, plants, and more-from a green perspective in terms of reducing waste and pollution and turning a home into a healthy, comfortable environment. Readers will learn how to: - use sustainable materials...

Build your own passive solar greenhouse for year-round food production in any climateThe Year-round Solar Greenhouse is the one-stop guide to designing and building greenhouses that harness and store energy from the sun to create naturally heated, lush growing environments even in the depths of winter, covering principles of solar greenhouse design and siting, glazing material properties and selection, controlling heat loss, ventilation, and construction ...

Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies provides hands-on, how-to instruction for realizing the benefits of a sustainable landscape, from selecting sutainable hardscape materials to installing a rain-water catchment system to choosing native plants.

111 Questions and Answers in Packaging Technology is a practical educational reference and detailed study guide for those aspiring to become packaging professionals through formal and informal training.Sola Somade and Tunji Adegboye together possess over thirty years of experience in handling packaging matters at both Unilever and Cadbury Nigeria Plc and offer not only their hands-on experience as packaging developers, quality managers, and buyers, but also share questions...

Design your own sustainable homeMany people dream of building a beautiful, environmentally friendly home. But until now there has been no systematic guide to help potential builders work through the complete process of imagining, planning, designing, and building their ideal, sustainable home.Essential Sustainable Home Design walks potential homebuilders through the process starting with key concepts, principles, and a project vision that will gui...

A guide to designing and building the environmentally friendly, energy efficient home of your dreams.More and more homeowners today want houses that are healthy to live in and cause minimal damage to the environment. That's what green building is all about.Your Green Home is written for homeowners planning a new home—whether you are working with an architect or builder, or serving as your own general contractor. Intended to improve the overall enviro...