sustainable design

LEED

LEED is the The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The development of LEED began around 1994, which was spearheaded by the Natural Resource Defense Council. It was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, which provides standards for enviornmentally sustainable design.LEED has worked on 14,000 projects in 50 US States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet of development area.


structural insulated panels



The use of SIPs brings many benefits and some drawbacks when compared to a conventional framed building. Well built homeS using SIPs will have a tighter building envelopes and the walls will have a higher insulative value, which leads to fewer drafts and a decrease in operating costs for maintaining a comfortable interior environment for the occupants. As a non-standard material it is more expensive to purchase SIPs and may need to be transported greater distances. Also, despite having easier installation than framed buildings, it may be necessary to hire professionals to properly assemble SIPs.