Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies

“Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies”
by Eric Corey Freed

Want to build responsibly, reduce waste, and help preserve the environment? Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies is your friendly, step-by-step guide to every facet of this Earth-friendly method of construction. Building a home—even a green home—uses plenty of resources and energy. This practical, hands-on book shows you how to build or remodel conscientiously, whether your dream home is a simple remodel or a brand-new multimillion-dollar mansion.

You’ll start by identifying green materials and sizing up potential systems and construction sites. You’ll weigh the pros and cons of popular green building methods and identify opportunities for saving money in the long run. Need to find some green professionals to assist you in your venture? We’ll help you do that, too.

This book will also help you discover how to:

Understand the lifecycle of building materials
Choose the right system for your green building project
Put together a green team
Work within your budget
Use green building methods and sustainable systems
Speed construction and reduce energy use and waste
Refinish old fixtures and materials
Beware of asbestos and lead-paint hazards
Avoid costly mistakes

Complete with lists of ten green things to do on every project and ten things you can do right now in your home in order to go green, Green Building & Remodeling For Dummies is your one-stop guide to planning and building the home you’ve always wanted.

Order now on Amazon

Occasionally, I get a nice email from someone who asks if I will sign their book. “Of course,” I say, “be happy to.” But the process isn’t so easy. They have to mail the book to me and include a self-addressed envelope. The carbon footprint of shipping these books back and forth was keeping me up nights. Instead, I have a better idea: a bookplate. Continue Reading

I was interviewed in the New York Times to discuss my top things everyone should do to green their home. Rather than talk about adding solar panels, I thought it best to choose things everyone (including renters) can do to save money and our environment at the same time.

Five Beginners’ Steps to a Greener Home:
FULL STORY HERE

www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/garden/12greenhome.html

I am thrilled to announce Green Your Home for Dummies.

It is not an entirely new book, but a compilation of 7 green books in the For Dummies series. It contains several chapters of my bestselling book, “Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies”, and select chapters from:
* Green Living For Dummies
* Energy Efficiency For Dummies
* Green Cleaning For Dummies
* Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies
* Organic Gardening For Dummies
* Buying and Selling Green Homes For Dummies

It will be available in January 2009, but you can pre-order it now.

The LA Times has a wonderful review of my book, alongside the new book from my friend, Jerry Yudelson entitled, Green Building A to Z.

The best part:

This isn’t a goofy book for goofy people, despite the “Dummies” title. Author and architect Eric Corey Freed, like Yudelson, has a high profile in the green-building industry and obviously broad knowledge of the subject.

This is an easy and engaging book to read with lots of lists, tips and checks and subheads in an informal handwriting script that explains things such as what engineered lumber is, the pros and cons of insulated concrete forms and planning your site to incorporate outdoor rooms.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

Alternate Link

Visionary architect and prefab queen (and friend) Michelle Kaufmann wrote a lovely mini-review of the book.

Michelle Kaufmann’s Blog

Here’s a review of the book in the New York Times, featured today:

Those willing to expend even the tiniest bit of energy to help save the planet may appreciate “Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies”. This well-organized book aims to help ordinary people make decisions that have a gentler impact on the earth. Tips include everything from what constitutes a green kitchen to macro-level considerations for constructing a house, like whether to build up or out (up is usually cheaper and less damaging to the environment). There’s also a chapter on building methods, like creating walls from discarded tires. With every topic, Mr. Freed said, he cut out the technical complexities and described “just the parts people need to know.”

New York Times