There is a difference and a symbiotic relationship between GREEN and NATURAL.

GREEN generally refers to an energy saving technology or process that conserves resources. GREEN is a broad term that generally means anything that reduces energy use. Incidentally, ask any farmer about energy saving and he or she will tell you all about how to manage resources wisely. Farmers were GREEN long before any of us knew what it meant.

We lived near a hog farm for a few years and I was amazed at the efficiency with which the farm operated. Hog waste was moved though troughs under grated floors to tanks that used the methane to turn turbines that generated the electricity that ran the farm. Every Spring the tanks were emptied and the “slurry” a mix of hog waste and water was spread on the corn and soybean fields that were harvested and used in the production of the feed. However we felt about the outcome for the hogs, the energy efficiency was undeniable.

The barns were made of sheet metal and the holding pens were steel; hardly natural for hogs or for the Midwest but technologically, the farm was as GREEN in its energy use as can be imagined.

NATURAL generally refers more to materials used and the process of assembly. NATURAL may refer to handmade or assembly using older technology, not necessarily for the sake of history but because it is the most efficient method with that material.

NATURAL and GREEN work very well together as NATURAL tends to have built in, common sense elements that are highly energy efficient. As an example, walls made of straw and covered with either a mud plaster or a commercial mortar have an R rating of between R 55 and R 60 depending on the thickness of the bale.

NATURAL may also refer to the building location and the building’s relationship with its surroundings as it affects use of sunlight for heat, as it relates to water run-off, how it affects surrounding plants and trees and how it uses natural slope and angle to fit with the topography of the area.

Using slope (building into the side of a hill) is a natural way to conserve heat and blend the building with surroundings. Building into the side of a hill with an open, south facing front can both conserve heat and generate it.