Building or Remodeling Your Home? Go Green for Free

New Site to Watch Offers Free Eco-Friendly Home Plans

Launched just a couple short weeks ago, FreeGreen is an all-new website with a simple goal: to make green design principles available to the masses.

Industry leading product manufacturers and Free Green's team of designers are working together to create homes that incorporate products and materials that aim to help people design - or remodel - with energy efficiency and other eco-friendly ideas in mind. Currently, the website offers two plans that include 3-D imagery, energy simulations and written descriptions that help visitors match a house plan to their lifestyle.

Currently Offered Home Plans

Just weeks after their launch, FreeGreen.com has two home plans available for download: The Healthy Family Model, and The Suburban Loft. Two more models, The Smart Box and California Casual, are due out soon.

So what are the current home plans all about?

The Healthy Family model's goal is to provide busy families a comfortable, contemporary living space with superior indoor air quality and low energy bills. A large house plan, it includes options like mudrooms, homework nooks, and home offices. Seriously a cool home plan, and definitely one that should meet its goal of helping families of 3-5 people manage the chaos of daily life. Even better, this home plan has been designed with a both cold and mixed climates in mind.

In contrast to the multi-level sprawl of the Healthy Family model, the modern Suburban Loft runs 1200-2600 square feet (compared to 3,000 on the Healthy Family model), and packs it into a tidy open floor plan with high ceiling loft spaces. This product line touts itself as being "great for either a first-time buyer or a downsizing baby boomer", and with its sleek, minimalist lines it does so nicely. Created with a lakefront lot in mind, there are roof decks and built-in options designed to help you have an expensive, custom-home feel from your free, eco-friendly home plan. They also perform as well in hot and humid environments - like most modern designs do - as they perform in the cold northern climates.