GREEN INSPIRATION HOME
Office
One of the mantras of sustainable design is “long life, loose fit.” Highly specialized spaces for specific functions can become obsolete over time, making it more difficult and resource intensive for the building to be used for 50 or 100 years. The Office is a flexible space on the main floor that can be used as a home office by one or two people, a homework space for students, or a cozy media room for the Master Suite. It creates flexibility by providing a quiet “away” space separate from the busy heart of the home, with great views of the bay.
To facilitate successful recycling, it’s important to plan for collection bins located where each stream of waste is produced, not just in one centralized location. The space that serves as the “mail drop” zone for the home typically is the biggest generator of paper waste and should have easy access to paper recycling. The Office will be outfitted with a small paper shredder and discrete paper recycling bin for this purpose. Shredded paper waste can be utilized for packing materials, recycled, or composted into nutrients for the yard.
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Our bodies evolved in sunlight. Daylight changes in color throughout the day, from warm morning light, to cooler and brighter mid day light, back to warm evening light. Exposure to those shifting color temperatures defines our circadian rhythms, which in turn regulate our sleep cycles, our weight, and our health. We see technology adapting to recognize this, with phones that change to a warmer screen color in the evening to help prepare people for sleep.
Nora Lighting’s 2” Iolite recessed LED luminaires are equipped with “comfort dim” technology, so that it is “color tunable” from a bright sunny 3100K, to a dimmed glow at 2,000K, which is more like candlelight. This allows the interior lighting to go through the same color shifts as the light outdoors, supporting healthy circadian function and healthy sleep.
The lights also have a color rendering index of 90+ which means they will not distort your perception of color. 90% of all lighting is required to be efficient for Zero Energy Ready Certification. 100% of the lighting in this home uses super efficient LED light sources. Efficient LED lighting reduces energy use and heat generation associated with lighting. LEDs also have an extremely long life, approximately 50 times longer than a typical incandescent, 20-25 times longer than a typical halogen, and 8-10 times longer than a typical CFL. Depending on how many hours a day the lights are used, a homeowner may only have to change an LED every 11-18 years.
