Small cottage house plans are ideal in the present economic and climatic situation since they are inexpensive to build, heat, and maintain. In an era in which frugality and wise use of resources is replacing boastful strutting and ostentatious display, the cottage lifestyle is coming more and more into its own. Here are some ideas which you can incorporate into your own cottage house plan, or improve your existing cottage home.

The essence of cottage interiors is the blending of the familiar with the fresh – with matching your grandmother’s heritage silverware with your contemporary style plate or an antique chiffonier with up-to-date casements. Mixing the old with the new adds patina and personality to a cottage home and makes a unique statement about the owner. It says “home” instead of “look how rich I am!” In the same way, bold wallpaper and paint styles can be used to create a feeling of open space in smallish rooms, especially when the walls reflect decorative patterns repeated on rugs and furnishings. Again, the idea is not to create a mishmash but rather a blending of disparate elements. Bookshelves, knick-knacks, small decorative elements – even children’s artwork – can be brought together to make cottage living feel as comfortable and familiar as wearing an old favorite jacket or hat. Old style pictures in old style frames, collectible plates, even quilts can be hung on walls. Dried flower arrangements in vases or folk art sculptures can be used to decorate table tops.

The small spaces inherent in cottage house plans can be offset in part by using light, bright colors on walls to give the illusion of extra space. Using light, gauzy materials to cover window areas which allow maximum light to flood the room, and which flutter in the breeze, also help to create a sense of airiness and space. A feeling of increased height can be obtained by tasteful choice of beaded board wall coverings, vertical design wallpaper, and tall bookshelves and furnishings. The sense of the cottage lifestyle is laid-back, inviting you to slouch on the sofa, put up your feet, and rest a spell. Furnishings are unpretentious, casual, and cozy rather than stiff. You can choose a sofa for its relaxed, overstuffed attitude. The coffee table should invite people to put their feet up on it. You can just cut down a kitchen table to size, or add a glass top to a chicken coop. Wicker settees, like those used on porches, also give a feeling of relaxation and naturalness. Easy chairs should generally follow the style of the sofa, but not be exactly matching. Keep the style relaxed, eclectic, and inexpensive-looking rather than formal and intended to impress. Use casual table lamps with fabric shades in floral prints or gingham. Lamp bases can be terra-cotta, wicker, or ceramic and nothing need match anything else, as long as there is a sense of blending. The essence of cottage home plans is ease, relaxation, and feeling good about who and where you are.

Small cottage house plans are the wave of the future as the garish, ostentatious, and wasteful lifestyle recedes in popularity. There are lots of cottage house plans and decorative ideas to tailor cottage home plans living to your own taste and needs.

Ranch style house plans were first built in the United States in the 1920′s, and became very popular in the post-World War II era when GI loans, and Americans taking to automobiles and commuting to work, fueled a building explosion in the suburbs. This style was particularly associated with inexpensive tract housing developments since these homes are cheap to build and maintain. The house is marked by a long, low profile, and the minimal use of interior and exterior decoration. These houses fuse modernist styles and ideas with the romantic image of American western working ranches, which creates a very casual and informal living style. The popularity of it waned in the latter part of the twentieth century with the rise of neo-eclectic architectural styles and a return to using traditional and historical decoration. Recently the ranch style has undergone a revitalization of popularity, with preservationist movements in some ranch style house neighborhoods, and also with a renewed interest in this style by a younger generation which did not grow up in ranch style homes. The style revival is similar to that experienced by other styles such as bungalow and Queen Anne architecture, which were quite popular at one time. It faded as a desired style of housing resulting in teardowns due to disinterest and decay and then resurged with a renewal of interest and the gentrification of surviving houses.

Basically, ranch home plans have a number of common features. These include a single story dwelling with a low, long roofline; large, overhanging eaves beneath a side-gabled, cross-gabled, or hip roof; asymmetrical, open L-shape, U-shape, or rectangular floor plan; brick, stucco, or wood exterior; simple or rustic exterior and interior trim; an attached garage; sliding glass doors in the dining or living area which open onto a patio; large windows often decorated with shutters; and ceilings which are vaulted and show exposed beams. Other variations on the basic ranch style include the raised ranch, in which a furnished basement – often used as a recreational or hobby area – is partially or completely above the ground foundation and thus serves as a separate floor. This style often takes advantage of a hillside location, so that the full dimensions of the house are not evident from curbside. The idea is to create open spaces sweeping from the garage through kitchen through dining and living areas to the bedrooms at one end and to allow the outdoors to come inside with large windows and ready access to a back patio area – often with barbecue and recreational facilities -where much living and entertaining takes place. Thus, the typical ranch home plan is best suited to summer living, and to areas with mild climates. Long and low structures are not as economical to heat as are tall, compact buildings, thus the ranch style has been criticized as being wasteful of energy.

Ranch style house plans are experiencing a considerable revival at the present time because ranch home plans are inexpensive to build. Moreover, the ranch home plan with its relaxed, laid-back living fits in well with the unpretentious lifestyle of today’s young adults. Visit House Plans and More for all your home plan needs.

With energy prices skyrocketing, and energy demands with nowhere to go but up, more and more people are concerned with how to decrease their energy consumption. Electricity has become an essential part of life, from keeping food fresh to powering lifesaving medical equipment. The world today runs on electricity.

However, all this electricity comes at a cost, and that cost is something homeowners are becoming increasingly reluctant to pay. In that spirit, creative homeowners are looking for alternatives to doling out their hard earned cash to a faceless power company. Alternative Energy may offer the solution.

Alternative energy is nothing new. Windmills have been around for thousands of years. Windmills were originally used to grind wheat and other grains. In fact, that is why they are called wind mills. Although this was a technology developed well before the advent of electricity, transforming it for use as a source of electrical power was a logical development. Perhaps it was even inevitable.

The technology of alternative energy sources has come a long way since the first windmills and water wheels of old. As technology developed, so did efficiency. New designs have brought alternative energy into the 21st century, and even made them affordable for the average home owner.

Waterwheels are another ancient technology. They were also used to power millstones in times past. Today we call our version of this technology “hydropower” or “hydro-electric power.” Hydropower harnesses the energy of water currents to turn turbines which generate electricity.

Solar Energy harnesses the power of the Sun. The Sun feeds all of life with it’s energy, so it’s logical that we have developed technologies that can directly tap into the Sun as an electricity producer. Although solar panels may be a new development, things as simple as hanging your clothes on a clothesline to dry is a basic use of solar energy.

There is also the greenhouse effect. Just simply putting plants inside a greenhouse traps the heat of the sun and makes it significantly warmer inside than it is outside, allowing plants to be grown in climates that would otherwise kill the crops. Solar energy is used for a variety of uses. Home heating is an obvious use. Some people use solar energy to heat their water, and others use solar cells to directly create electricity that powers appliances. In fact, solar energy can satisfy all the home energy needs of a homeowner.

Many still see these forms of alternative energy as impractical, but with the advancements being made in their technology, they are becoming increasingly viable and practical as home energy choices. Before simply discarding these green energy options as being impractical, be sure to consider some of the long term impacts of converting.

Alternative energy is not beholden to the supplies and demands of big corporations. There’s no OPEC controlling the price of the sun. It is more ecologically friendly. You don’t need to dig holes that are thousands of feet deep to harness the wind. These alternative energy sources don’t put out noxious gases because there are no substances being burned to produce energy.

Overall, while it may look like a big investment up front to make a few changes to your home and start using some of these alternative energy technologies, it will cost less in the long run. It will cost you less financially, and it will cost all of us less ecologically. In the end, we all would like to leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived, and we can do that by advancing the use of alternative energy.

My Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment Site explores some technological developments in tube cleaning equipment that are more ecologically friendly.

Solar panels are devices that convert light into electricity. Solar panels are dropping in price, but they still aren’t dirt cheap, so if you’re switching to solar it’s a great time to also carefully evaluate your electricity use. Call your utility company and get an “energy audit” and follow the recommendations. Most homeowners can cut their use of electricity or gas by anywhere from 5% to 30%. By cutting your power usage to an absolute minimum you can purchase only the solar panel capacity that is required for your home. PV (photovoltaic) solar panels are made from solar cells which are a semiconductor material.

Electricity

The process for creating electricity from sun light is rather complex, but all you need to know is that photons collide with electrons in the semiconductor material and essentially free them up to flow when hooked up to a battery. This flow of electrons is what makes an electrical current.

The average household uses 30kwh of electricity per day. Electrical utility companies are required by law to accommodate “net metering”. This means that you can sell your excess power back to the power company. Thus, if you are out at work on a sunny day, or go on a two-week skiing vacation and aren’t using any electricity, the power being created by the solar panels is going back into the grid to the utility company. In other words every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by a solar energy system ends up being used to the advantage of the homeowner, either as power to run appliances when the homeowner is there or as a dollar-for-dollar credit provided by the utility company for power that is not being used.

Cost

The most important component of the PV solar panel system will probably be the amount of subsidy you are eligible for. Since some utility companies need to meet goals for the amount of renewable energy they furnish, there are some very attractive rebates offered at times. These can be large rebates indeed, up to 50% of the cost of a system or even higher. This can make a system that would support the average 30 kwh per day home cost roughly $20,000 rather than $40,000! In addition, there is a $2,000 tax credit offered by the federal government. However, this is not always the case. In our local area of Colorado there are several utility companies that service the region. One offers a 50% rebate as described above. Another offers a 66% rebate, and a third offers no rebate at all. So you need to check with your utility company to see what rebates, if any, apply to your location. You should also contact a solar panel contractor who can give you lots of information about system costs, and of course they will probably know the rebates offered in your local area. Typical PV solar panels cost about $4 per watt before installation. Installation is a major expense, however, and in the example cited above with a 50% rebate, final system costs will amount to about $6.50- $7.00 per watt installed.

Batteries

Batteries are required in stand-alone systems to provide energy during night hours. These can be very expensive, but if you have an isolated cabin, an RV, or some other need for power and don’t have access to the public power grid, a solar system with batteries is certainly a solution.

Conclusion

When you consider the costs of a full blown PV solar system which will cut your electric bill down to zero or close to it, you get one other benefit. The value of your property increases with such a system, and your property taxes will not increase because of this added value. In addition to the satisfaction of cutting down your carbon footprint significantly, your system will eventually pay for itself, and your property will be worth more as well. Keep these factors in mind when you calculate your pay-back period.

Walt Ballenberger is web master for http://www.solarpanelsblog.info/wordpress which has tons of information about solar panels of all sorts. Visit also a companion site http://www.solarlightsblog.com/solarlights to learn about solar lighting and associated products.

There are boatloads of dollars just blowing by your house every day; enough money to pay for your home electric bill and even your office. How? Wind generators can change the power of the wind into power you can plug into by means of a DC motor. There are tons of these built all around the world because it’s such an effective way of harnessing energy. You can build your own wind generator to do this for your home for minimal costs, and never worry about electrical bills again.

There are many scientific things to consider when you build your own wind generator to power your home. First of all, you can figure out how much energy you’ll be making with a few simple calculations. First figure out how fast the wind is blowing at about tree height. The wind is faster up there than it is on the ground (where you can feel it) because it runs into fewer things that slow it down. When you know that number, you can cube it and you’ll have the amount of energy you could be producing yourself at any given time.

If this seems like a lot of power, then there’s no reason not to get started as soon as possible. With a couple people working on the project, it should only take a couple weeks, and most of the parts should be found either at a nearby hardware store, or in your own backyard. The tools are also commonplace. With just a good set of instructions for on how to build your own wind generator, you can get started right away. If you keep everything local and recycled, the overall cost may not exceed $100!

If there isn’t much development where you live, you’ll be making even more power because there’ll be plenty of room to not only construct large wind generators, but to make more than one. At the price, there’s no reason not to, and it ensures you’ll never run out of electricity mid-television show. It can also be a good back up in case the day isn’t very breezy or one windmill suddenly needs repairs. Although there’s nothing to worry about if it’s not always windy where you live because the batteries in windmills can also store energy.

Your family will be living easier once you get your own wind generator up and going. A few weeks and you could be free from the high costs of purchased power forever. Plus, once you realize how easy and cost effective it is to build your own wind generator, you’ll want to experiment with all sorts of other natural energy sources, like solar panels. There’s no limit to the free energy that mother nature throws your way, it’s just a matter of getting yourself set up to take advantage.

But I must warn you – a lot of folks jump right in without the right knowledge and guide. A rock solid wind generator takes time to create, and with the right manual with step-by-step demonstrations and illustration plans, you greatly increase your chances of a working wind generator, the first time around. Don’t skip this step, as it is the “make or break” of your wind generator project, and will ultimately determine if you and your family can really enjoy the cost savings.

Learn about how I easily made my own homebuilt wind power system and saved hundreds of dollars every year. Avoid spending thousands of dollars on wind turbine systems

My homebuilt wind power system and guide can be found at MyHomeEnergy.org

Alternative energy solutions are becoming more and more popular these days as people look for ways to help beat the dual threats of global warming and peak oil. Harnessing the potential energy of the sun is now a billion dollar business, and it seems to be the way of the future. Today you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of solar power, including whether you would benefit from installing your own system in your home.

Disadvantages of solar power-

• It requires a lot of land area if it is used on a commercial scale. Thousands of square miles of prime land would need to be used to provide enough energy for all non-transport energy use in the USA alone.

• The expense of this form of alternative energy is still apparent. Solar panels, especially photovoltaic ones, although they have got substantially cheaper over recent years still do cost quite a large sum of money. Economies of scale still mean that it is cheaper for power companies to use gas, oil or nuclear technologies to generate electricity.

•There is an inherent risk in the fact that the efficiency and generation capacity of solar panels relies on how much the sun is shining. The weather is quite hard to predict accurately, and very few people want to play “Russian roulette” with their electricity supply.

Advantages of solar power-

• It is getting cheaper, very rapidly due to an increase in production and new technologies being developed.

• Panels are getting smaller, thinner and more attractive. There are even substances such as solar
paint- paint which contains miniature solar panels.

• You can circumvent some of the extreme expensive of having a system installed in your own house by a pro technician by building and installing one yourself. All you need are the right blueprints/instructions that will show you what components you need to purchase and where to get them from, how to assemble them and then how to install them in your own home in a safe, reliable and easy manner.

In fact, being able to install a system yourself is the biggest advantage of solar power. Despite its disadvantages, many people around the world (myself included) have found that we have been able to slash our carbon footprint and our electricity bill each month by harnessing the power of the sun. What’s even more exciting is the fact that if you cut down on your electricity usage at the same time, you can actually produce more power than you need. That’s right- you can then sell that excess back to your utility company and make them send you checks! Who would’ve guessed that your own home could become a fully-functional power plant.

Click here to learn more about plans for solar energy in your home and how you can harness the sun to make the world a better place. Also, learn how much you will need to spend, what your power bill reductions will be, as well as what the advantages and disadvantages of solar power are.

Jeff Palmer is an economist, but has also worked in the alternative energy industry since its early days, installing and helping to develop mainly solar and wind power generation systems.

Usually when you think of solar hot water, solar panels and a collector tank installed on a roof spring to mind – a traditional solar hot water system.

A solar heat pump is a different way to use renewable energy to heat water – that doesn’t need solar panels! Solar heat pumps can save you a bundle of cash on your hot water bills, as they use approximately one third the energy of an electric water heater.

How does a solar heat pump work?

A solar heat pump is a little like a reverse refrigerator. It transfers the heat in the air outside of the unit to the water stored inside the heater through a heat exchange system. In the case of solar heat pumps, “heat” is a relative term as they will still work in very cold conditions – at least -10 degrees Celsius, so it will still be generating hot water for you during winter nights. How is that possible?

Here’s the basic process:

* External air is drawn into the solar heat pump system via a fan into an evaporator containing a special type of refrigerant, which is stored in piping. The refrigerant used is called R134a, which isn’t a CFC, so it doesn’t negatively affect the earth’s ozone layer.

* R134a has an evaporation or boiling point of -26°C; whereas water has a boiling point of 100°C. So temperatures that feel very cold to us are still more than enough to make the refrigerant “boil”. The air that’s been drawn into the system, which is far warmer than the refrigerant, turns the refrigerant from a liquid into a gas inside the solar heat pump’s piping.

* A compressor then pumps the now gaseous refrigerant through a small valve, which compresses it; and as a result of the process generates a great deal of heat.

* A heat exchanger transfers the heat from the heated refrigerant gas pipes to a tank where water is stored.

* The temperature of the refrigerant has now dropped dramatically as the heat has been drawn away, so it returns to a liquid state and the solar heat pump cycle begins again.

Benefits of a solar heat pump

* Massive savings in hot water related expenses over the long term

* A solar heat pump produces between 3 – 5 times the amount of renewable energy than electricity required to power the unit.

* It’s an environmentally friendly hot water option given the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through less energy requirements.

* A solar heat pump is effective even in low temperatures. In extreme cold, an electric assist is activated to ensure the water stays at the desired temperature

* No roof space or solar panels needed

* Ease of installation as a solar heat pump uses the same connections as a electric hot water system.

How much does a solar heat pump cost?

The price varies depending upon your needs and location, but you can expect to pay up to a few thousand dollars. However, the cost can be greatly offset as renewable energy rebates provided by many governments may apply. These rebates can be substantial, so talk to a solar heat pump specialist for the best advice on the type of equipment you’ll need and any incentives programs that might be applicable.

Michael Bloch is a consultant for Energy Matters Australia – a green energy equipment company offering a wide range of discounted solar panels, deep cycle batteries, wind turbines and associated accessories for residential, businesses and schools. The Energy Matters site contains a wide range of resources; including a solar system builder tool, renewable energy rebates information and free advice on off grid and grid connect solar and wind power systems.

With energy prices skyrocketing, and energy demands with nowhere to go but up, more and more people are concerned with how to decrease their energy consumption. Electricity has become an essential part of life, from keeping food fresh to powering lifesaving medical equipment. The world today runs on electricity.

However, all this electricity comes at a cost, and that cost is something homeowners are becoming increasingly reluctant to pay. In that spirit, creative homeowners are looking for alternatives to doling out their hard earned cash to a faceless power company. Alternative Energy may offer the solution.

Alternative energy is nothing new. Windmills have been around for thousands of years. Windmills were originally used to grind wheat and other grains. In fact, that is why they are called wind mills. Although this was a technology developed well before the advent of electricity, transforming it for use as a source of electrical power was a logical development. Perhaps it was even inevitable.

The technology of alternative energy sources has come a long way since the first windmills and water wheels of old. As technology developed, so did efficiency. New designs have brought alternative energy into the 21st century, and even made them affordable for the average home owner.

Waterwheels are another ancient technology. They were also used to power millstones in times past. Today we call our version of this technology “hydropower” or “hydro-electric power.” Hydropower harnesses the energy of water currents to turn turbines which generate electricity.

Solar Energy harnesses the power of the Sun. The Sun feeds all of life with it’s energy, so it’s logical that we have developed technologies that can directly tap into the Sun as an electricity producer. Although solar panels may be a new development, things as simple as hanging your clothes on a clothesline to dry is a basic use of solar energy.

There is also the greenhouse effect. Just simply putting plants inside a greenhouse traps the heat of the sun and makes it significantly warmer inside than it is outside, allowing plants to be grown in climates that would otherwise kill the crops. Solar energy is used for a variety of uses. Home heating is an obvious use. Some people use solar energy to heat their water, and others use solar cells to directly create electricity that powers appliances. In fact, solar energy can satisfy all the home energy needs of a homeowner.

Many still see these forms of alternative energy as impractical, but with the advancements being made in their technology, they are becoming increasingly viable and practical as home energy choices. Before simply discarding these green energy options as being impractical, be sure to consider some of the long term impacts of converting.

Alternative energy is not beholden to the supplies and demands of big corporations. There’s no OPEC controlling the price of the sun. It is more ecologically friendly. You don’t need to dig holes that are thousands of feet deep to harness the wind. These alternative energy sources don’t put out noxious gases because there are no substances being burned to produce energy.

Overall, while it may look like a big investment up front to make a few changes to your home and start using some of these alternative energy technologies, it will cost less in the long run. It will cost you less financially, and it will cost all of us less ecologically. In the end, we all would like to leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived, and we can do that by advancing the use of alternative energy.

My Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment Site explores some technological developments in tube cleaning equipment that are more ecologically friendly.

If you are thinking about building your first storage shed, but wonder if you can pull it off, you’ll be able to find out in the next few minutes. Here is a basic overview of how to build an outdoor storage shed. Of course, if you decide do go for it, there are more in-depth articles about each of the steps, and I suggest you learn more about each phase of the building process.

1. The first step in building a storage shed is to design or purchase plans. When planning your storage shed, there are several methods you may choose to use. You may choose to use a kit, buy a set of plans and build from them, or purchase software to design your plans yourself. Each option allows you to customize your shed to suit your needs for functionality and space.
2. Next, you need to choose the shed site. An important part of building a storage shed is choosing the proper location. You will need to take in consideration many factors when deciding where to place your new shed. Items such as zoning, direction of sunlight, location of utility lines, and many other factors must all be taken into consideration. Planning ahead before you begin to build will save you problems later on. So, before beginning construction, assess your site carefully!
3. Once you have your plans, it is time to prepare your storage shed site. There are many methods available, and you will have to choose the one that is right for you. You may choose to put your site directly on the ground, have a cement pad poured to place it on, or dig out a foundation and fill it to level with gravel. No matter which method you choose, it is important not to neglect this important step.
4. Next, you need to frame the walls and build the actual shed. Use your plans as a guideline for measuring, cutting, and framing each piece as necessary. Soon, you’ll have a unique storage shed that you’ve built from scratch. As you build, plan what features you’d like to add to your shed. For example, do you want doors that open, or a garage type door? Do you need shelves for storage? How many windows do you want to add, and on which walls?
5. Last, it is time to add finishing touches such as caulk and paint. It is important to finish your project with caulk and paint if you want it to withstand the weather, and last long-term. These substances will add protection to your shed, giving it beauty and durability. You can also customize your shed to complement the color of your house. These creative touches will give your new storage shed a unique appearance that you can be proud of.

You now have a general idea of the steps necessary to build a storage shed. Be sure to choose plans that suit your needs, and fit well with the color and construction of your house. Prepare the site carefully, using one of the methods above. Frame and build it according to the plans you’ve designed or purchased. Then add the finishing touches, such as caulk, paint, and trim. You’ll soon have a storage shed that will be the envy of the neighborhood, and you’ll be able to answer proudly “Yes, I built it myself!”