Step by Step 3000 第3册 Unit8: Eco-conscious construction(4)

B3. Now listen to the complete news report, and write down the main features of Logan's dream house.
Many environmentalists and energy experts say that the wave of the future won't be any one miracle cure, but rather overall conservation of available resources.
The approach is being spearheaded by a quiet revolution in the eco-conscious construction business.
Colorado Public Radio's Peter Jones recently visited a building site near Boulder and brings us this report.
Architect Jim Logan is building his environmentally-sustainable dream house at the site of a former commune, a few miles north of Boulder.
Logan has incorporated nearly every aspect of a modern eco-conscious design.
As you drive onto the small farm property, you're immediately struck by a series of large, south-facing windows.
Walk through the well-lit kitchen, and you'll see that even the north site of the building has a passive solar component.
Every room in this house has a window that faces south, regardless of where it's located.
So all the rooms in the house have both day lighting, which means that there's ample light coming in high into the room,
so that we don't need to use electric lights during the day, and also have south-facing glass that provides solar heat.
As a result, Logan's house will have neither a furnace nor air-conditioning.
For hot water, he'll use an active solar heater. But efficient use of the sun is only one of the building's many eco-conscious features.
The outside walls, if you include a foot of adobe, a foot of insulation and another foot of adobe, three feet thick.
The so-called super-insulation is required to store the solar heat, but Logan is also using thermal mass or dirt to keep the house both warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
In all facets of construction, Logan is emphasizing both biodegradable building products and nontoxic materials.
He's using milk-based paint, for example, and relatively little of that.
This room and the inside of this room, virtually, all the finishes didn't need to be painted.
The ceiling is made out of galvanized metal and the walls are plaster.
Painting is a fairly un-environmental act in that it is something that involves chemistry,
it involves doing it over and over many times in the lifetime of the building.
And don't look for any carpeting in Logan's house.
Well even if a carpet is made from recycled material, it still can't be recycled the second time currently. So carpet virtually always gets thrown away. Also most carpet gives off volatile organic compounds.
Initially Logan will get all his water from a well. The house won't be connected to a city water system.
But he says the roof has gutters and will eventually collect rain water for general use.
Logan is paying 75 dollars a square foot to build this house, and estimates environmental features added 10-15% to the up-front costs. But he says he'll save money in the long run.
In many cases, many environmentally-beneficial solutions pay for themselves in as little as for 6 or 7 or 8 months.
A low-flow shower head in most situations will pay for itself in a month.