Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Your Current Home

How efficient is your current home? If you're Al Gore, not very. If you live in a yurt, you win. Most of us are using more energy than we need to and don't even realize it. We were getting ready to post a page on energy efficiency measures you can do on your own home right now, but then Bruce Harley came out with a book titled "Cut Your Energy Bills Now: 150 Smart Ways to Save Money and Make Your Home Comfortable and Green". Trumped we were. So instead of coming up with our own small list, we prefer to defer to one of the masters of energy efficiency and recommend his book. By following a couple of his suggestions, you could more than pay for the book in a couple months or less.

We'll be taking the rest of the year off for holiday. Enjoy your holiday season and we'll see you again next year.

Your friends at istockhouseplans.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

In Cahoots

Happy December. We're all fat off of turkey leftovers and thinking about taking another nap. But before the tryptophan kicks in again we thought we should impart some news to you. The Energy Trust of Oregon recently launched their Architectural Design Professionals Program Ally, um, program. Guess who got in the front door? Yeah baby, we are now certified designers of energy efficient homes. Okay, maybe we're not certified anything (or much) but istockhouseplans now has the support backing us to make sure that the next home you buy from us will have the details guaranteed to make it an energy sipper; unlike us with mashed potatoes and eggnog. If you are thinking of building to ENERGY STAR or LEED standards, we can help.

That's only the half of it though. We've done our part to make your next home downright awesome, but you've still got to find a builder who can and will comply with our written demands. Not quite as easy a task, mind you. We can send you down a gravy train path of enlightenment though. Go to the Energy Trust's website and use their handy dandy search page to find a qualified contractor in your area. This search (and our details) are only available for homes to be built in Oregon, however.

To get these (mostly) exclusive details, visit istockhouseplans or email us for details. Now please excuse us. I think the stuffing is calling.