Green Your Home With Award-Winning, Innovative Techniques

Going green when you design or furnish your home can be daunting these days. To be truly sustainable you have to know your LEED from your low-VOC, and how to stuff insulation made from shredded denim into your roof (especially if you want to reap a "green premium" when you sell).

So it's good to see that architects are taking up the challenge and leading the charge with innovative ideas on integrating the best of sustainable principles into residential design, often at low or moderate cost -- which has always been a challenge for homeowners.

So while the recently announced winners of the American Institute of Architects' annual Housing Awards aren't focused solely on green design, there's certainly a trend. A close look at the 2010 honorees suggests that the profession is thinking sustainable in in a big way -- from rainwater harvesting to airtight building envelopes and native, drought-resistant landscaping.

We picked some great examples of green design from around the country -- and from single-family homes to affordable multifamily complexes -- to help inspire your own transition to a sustainable home.