[StBernard] New Re-Building Ideas

[Westley Annis]

Melissa-

A friend of mine sent me this site shortly after Katrina as an alternative
to traditional housing. This is pretty much for those of us who are
demolishing our houses and start from scratch.

The only question I have now is, would the parish government/subdivision
'allow' this kind of house???

I'd love any input.

Thanks!

-Donna

	>-----------------------------------------------------
	>I have recently been thinking that since all of our houses are
stripped down
	>to the bare bones, why haven't we been looking into incorporating
	>eco-friendly products and alternative sources of energy into the
houses. Now
	>is a perfect time for it. For instance, there are solar panels that
are made
	>to look like roof shingles that we can install to supplement our
traditional
	>energy sources. At the very least, it would save homeowners a lot
of money
	>over the years. I haven't heard anything even remotely similar from
any
	>parish, state or federal government. I wonder why no-one has jumped
on this.
	>We could serve as an example to other communities across the
country. I
	>haven't had much time to research it fully, but so far, I have
learned about
	>the solar panels that are disguised as roof shingles, that solar
power can
	>store energy from cloudy and overcast days, and that there are
solar power
	>can be used to heat water, and do all sorts of normal everyday
household
	>things like laundry. I have also learned that bamboo makes an
excellant
	>choice for wood flooring. A whole forest can grow to maturity in
about 6
	>years, making it extremely eco-friendly, and that it is very
durable, almost
	>waterproof and can be stained and treated like all other wood
flooring
	>choices.  I would appreciate if someone knows of any other things
that can
	>be done. I'm wondering if there is even some kind of government
grant
	>program to help with the intial costs, similar to ICC funds. Since
we all
	>have to basically build the houses back from scratch, we can at the
very
	>least look into some alternatives. There's nothing to lose and
possibly
	>everything to gain.
	>
	>Melissa
	>