Carbon Neutral?

Hey there all!

I was very intrigued by something I heard on the radio last week . A team in the UK just built what is apparently the first "carbon neutral" home in that country. That generally means that the carbon emissions from the home, those that contribute most infamously to the "greenhouse effect" we are all beginning to understand, are less than the energy the structure generates. Energy generation can be through solar or wind power, or in the case of the UK home, through a biomass boiler among other sources. Here in Central Oregon, some areas are blessed with great geothermal capabilities. The jury is still in deliberation about what exactly constitutes a "carbon neutral home". Should the calculations take into account only the final building, or the energy used to build it? Should it take into consideration the energy used to commute to and from the building? These are interesting and exciting things to debate. In the meantime, my company, Aspen Meadows Construction, is beginning to look into building a carbon-neutral home here in Oregon. It will be a real team effort, but it's an idea and project whose time has come.

Here's a link on the UK home: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6735715.stm.

Thanks for reading! And remember, Green is Good!

Eric