We hear from our friends quite often about how they wish there were modern style eco-friendly home choices here in the Fargo Moorhead area. Part of our mission here at Urban Plains is to bring that choice to the market. Very soon we will be surveying our community to find out what is important to you, what green features you would most like to see.
There are many television shows now that focus on eco-friendly living and sustainable design. The most common theme of those homes is choosing to build for the climate of the area. Using geothermal heating and cooling for us here in Fargo is an incredibly efficient way of reducing energy usage. Imagine the crisp -30° morning in January. Most home heating systems are cranking out energy to warm up that extremely frigid air to a livable temperature of 70°. That is a 100° change of air temperature. Now imagine your geothermal heating system. It is pulling heat out of the ground that is already a balmy 40°F. Your heating system only needs to heat another 30°. What a difference that will make to your heating costs.
Our climate is a match for some very popular building features like heated floors, and plenty of windows. When paired with geothermal heating, heated floors are a wonderful way to combat our winter weather. The ambient heat that comes through the flooring is a comfort to your toes as well as creating the illusion of warmer outside temperatures. Add lots of windows and the natural light helps to offset the winter blues sometimes attributed to our long winters.
Plenty of windows can help capture the sun’s natural radiant heat. Placing windows on the southern and western sides of your home capture the sun’s rays when they are strongest, helping to collect both heat and the healing power of the sun. Eastern windows are wonderful for morning views, but the north side of your home should create a barrier so the collected heat in your home doesn’t get wasted on the cool, windy side of your house. Solid walls and smaller windows on the north face are cost effective ways of keeping the cold out and the heat in.
Another very popular very green, cost-saving, and in demand building feature is the open floor plan. The greenest feature of this type of design for your home is creating a smaller environmental foot print. It’s not just keeping with fashion to create a home that allows you to cook, eat, and watch TV, all in one large open space. The formal dining room and formal living rooms are fashionably out dated and a waste of space. Creating walls around spaces you barely use is wasting resources that could be put to better use somewhere else. Just think of how often your family is together in the kitchen or living room. When we think of entertaining, we think of gathering in the kitchen and being able to take care of your guests needs while not missing out on great conversation. We think of taking care of our kids in the same way. After a long day of work, when there is still food to prepare, having your family there in the same area talking about their day and sharing their lives together is our ideal. And making sure your space is designed with this in mind is a large part of responsible and sustainable design.
Urban Plains is the first development in our area that is focused on creating modern residences for the 21st century taste. Design, sustainability, function, and longevity are all part of our plan to bring modern living to Fargo. Please let us know what you would like to see in your next modern home. Talk to us about what’s important to you from design, to building materials, to price. We want to hear it all. Call Matt Baasch at 701-356-9100 or email us at matt@upfargo.com.
This is your community; this is your Urban Plains.
Tags: Building fargo, building green fargo, eco-friendly building fargo, fargo blog, fargo real estate, geothermal heat fargo, green technology fargo
