Green Home Buildings ... Why The Europeans are Far Ahead | Advancements In Green Home Buildings ... Lessons From Europe | Green Home Buildings and the European Contribution | Is the US Catching Up to

By: Linda Glutmein

The Green home building initiative has its genesis in the Green Movement, which was in its heyday in the 1960s, especially among the Hippies. The movement caught on in Europe and the United States with some variations along the way. The political authority of the green movement gained significantly with the institution of the German Green Party in 1970s. Many more Green political parties came into being notably in Europe and thus an institutional approach to the green movement was in place in Europe. Many of these Green parties formed part of coalition governments in Europe thus giving governmental support to green initiatives quite early on. A prime example is the green legislation tax passed in the late 1990s by the German government.
Now, nothing of that sort has happened in America. In this country, the Green movement has continued its march without any federal support. Initially, building green homes was much more costly to build than regular houses. The American building industry following the pragmatic capitalist line, sought to maximize profits unlike the European builders who had the pressure of the governments and influential NGOs to persevere building green.
Building Biology is a well recognized 30 year old movement in Europe, and the main argument forwarded by its proponents is that indigenously available materials are healthier than concrete, steel and plastic foam construction material. The advocates of this philosophy suggest using loam for building walls. For insulation, recycled newspaper is a prudent choice. Used bathing water which was till late considered as waste by Americans, can be sensibly utilized for landscaping. The US LEED initiative which aims at bringing green building into the mainstream is still not a federal law. One may look at the French initiative, to implement its local building green norms in the European Union, as a positive influence on the State.
For ages, Americans have built their houses with wood, a cheap and plentiful commodity. However, the housing boom in the Untied States led to increased import of timber and thus saw a rapid denuding of tropical rainforest. The US building industry continued to look for profits and overlooked any environmental concerns. The Europeans on the other had very early on understood the likely adverse impact on the environment and commenced forest plantation in their own countries as also using bamboo and other quick growing woods instead of tropical rainforest woods. Wonder why Europe has maintained an ample lead over the United States in building green.

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