Shope and his wife carefully designed an eco-friendly landscape: For instance, they did not fell any tree with holes that could support an owl’s nest. They also planted flower species that feed hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. Shope laid out the pathway of reclaimed granite slabs that leads toward the Hudson River below.

A door next to the bed drops down, opening the room to its surroundings. "It's a fantastic way to ventilate the space, but also makes sleeping in the loft feel like camping when it's down," Eerkes says.

A concrete wall between the garage and the main house is fortified with external insulation and covered with wood cladding and plaster. The additional protection prevents heat transfer between the concrete floor and heated living space.

Look no further than online shop Rodale's for a well-edited selection of eco-friendly items. Products span clothing to kitchenware to bedding, all selected because they're manufactured in a responsible manner. Rodale publishes some of the world's best-known lifestyle magazines, including Runner's World, Bicycling, Running Times, and Organic Gardening, and its e-commerce venture fits with its mission to promote healthy living. We've gathered a handful of items from the site to give you an idea of the wealth of designs available. Vintage Patchwork Blanket ($625–675)

A simple design was key to keeping the Casa Cuatro environmentally friendly. "You can go a long way to make a house sustainable in the early parts of the design process instead of throwing a lot of expensive technology at it later," Foster says.

Dogfish Head Brewery (Milton, Delaware: 2009) What’s more off-centered than a steampunk treehouse? When the eccentric craft brewery needed a quick expansion, DIGSAU delivered a playful design, filled with tilted angles and expressive geometry. Salvaged materials, LED lighting, and daylight modeling give the new space its green credentials, and the treehouse conference space adds a fitting outdoor touch. Photo by Halkin/Mason Architectural Photography

The horizontal layout of the home allows for easy movement throughout the interior, while the line of the continuous roof seems to extend into the trees. Enlarging the opening of the home allowed for impressive views of the river and surrounding area.

Perched high in the Spanish Pyrenees, this old stone building needed major changes to become habitable again. Originally built in 1900 as a hostel of sorts, its strucutre was not incredibly robust: for instance, its windows couldn't be expanded for risk of weakening the wall. But architect Josep Bunyesc still saw a chance to turn it into a model of energy efficiency.

Bunyesc was asked by a family of four—a couple with two young children, aged 1 and 2—to transform this aged structure into a modern home. The architect wanted something energy-efficient, and while he had several renovations under his belt, he turned to an unusual material to harness the sun's energy: polycarbonate, a rugged plastic common to industrial architecture, sheds, and other lightweight construction.

Perhaps the greatest challenge of the project was trying to pack so many energy efficient features in under a budget. Not only does the bathroom feature NuHeat radiant floor mats but all water is heated with a GE Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, saving on heating expenses by around 67%.

Metals broker S. J. Sherbanuk (left) and designer James Campbell (right) created a new home in Collingwood, Ontario, with old scrap. "Repurpose, refurbish, recycle" was the guiding principle for the project. The modern, metal fireplace becomes a sculptural feature of an outdoor deck.

The design team used 3/4-inch PureBond Maple plywood from Columbia Forest Products, featuring formaldehyde-free, soy-based assembly.

The eco-friendly Ann Arbor home of Tom McMurtrie, Genia Service, and their son Gary features a brilliant reflective steel cladding.

A vintage stool, a design that once was a staple of Greek classrooms, is tucked under the office desk on a landing leading to a balcony. The visual theme of the vertical wooden slats repeats itself here, including on a closet door. “They have no handles,” Ritenour says of the closet doors. “The lines are the door handles; you have to know to grab them.”

The great room's high, pitched roof and neutral walls give the space an open, tranquil feel, making it a desirable spot for the couple to pursue two of their passions: classical music and literature.

Unlike its next-door neighbor, R-House, TED wasn’t originally planned to meet the exacting Passive House standard. The building’s green bona fides came largely from four roof-mounted thermal solar panels and a 120-gallon water storage tank that architect Tim McDonald attests would have met nearly all of the home’s heat and hot-water needs. After submitting the proposal, though, he completed a course in the Passive House standard. Inspired, McDonald modified the original approach, ditching the tank and thermal panels in favor of a highly insulated, airtight envelope—the equivalent, he says, of shielding the house from the harsh Syracuse winter with a fur coat instead of a windbreaker.

In the master bath, sandblasted windows let in light while retaining privacy. The tub is from Dado, the vanity and stool are from Ligne Roset, and the Big Bang light is from Foscarini.

Privacy can often be an issue when living in such close proximity with your neighbors. Each of the units include their own private entrance and there are no shared walkways. Whether the unit has a deck or patio, all the units are separated by a wood wall to ensure privacy.

Eco-Dough, $20 at oompa.com Unlike other comparable products, Eco-Dough is colored with natural extacts from fruits, vegetables, and plants instead of dyes. Rosemary and Vitamin E oils keep the dough soft and workable, even producing a pleasant aroma in the process. Eco-Dough even comes in a gluten-free variety for $25.

TOTO’s Axiom faucet is from the EcoPower line—the world’s first faucet series powered by water. It creates their own electricity every time water spins an small internal turbine. Stored in a series of rechargeable capacitors, this auto-generated electricity powers the faucets' operation.

A view from the upper stair landing toward the master bedroom. A bronze track in the walnut flooring provides a guide for a sliding wall which can be seen nested in its pocket on the left. This wall was a feat of engineering on our general contractor's part. Built on site in three panels as it was too large for nyc transport if fabricated off site. Light from a concealed skylight with operable opaque louver to provide a blackout shade can be seen broadcasting along the back wall of the bedroom. A custom steel window can be seen on the right.

Eco-friendly by Choi Si Yuong, Photo by Sergio Pirrone

Surrounded on all sides by a sweeping Canadian hayfield, the 23.2 House is an angular ode to rural life.

“It’s a great house for a young family—playful, practical and different,” Tribe says. “You can sit on the windowsill in the sun and feed the baby, kids can climb in and out, often through the windows, and you can see everything that is going on.”

The exterior features cedar tongue and groove siding and James Hardie panels. Due in part to smart material choices, the house is 51% more efficient than the standard newly constructed home and 61% more efficient than a typical existing home.

The house sits on a corner lot, which makes the side yard (shown here) also a front yard. Five-and-a-half-year-old Maya (left) and two-and-a-half-year-old Yumi (right) play on the gravel while Mayuko, David, and Shota sit on the bench.

Vassiliou and Angeliki tuck into watermelon slices on a patio off the master bedroom. The terrace offers views of Mount Lycabettus, whose peak towers 745 feet above Athens, and the city itself, which splays out toward the mountains in the distance.

A wall of custom cabinets made with Paldao wood veneer defines the kitchen. "We wanted them to be as clean and minimal as possible but to have a warm texture," Slade says. "The aluminum countertop, resin upper cabinets, and satin mirror glass backsplash are designed to reflect light."

"Many of the decisions were about maximizing luminosity within the apartment," principal James Slade says. The open-plan kitchen and dining room features a custom walnut picnic-style table.

In the Acadian village of Caraquet, YH2 Architecture raised two identical cabins on a site 200 feet from the sandy shores of Chaleur Bay. The home is inhabited by a single family and used as a vacation spot.

This eco-friendly escape is powered by solar panels and a wind turbine—and it even includes a full bath.

Many prefab architects and suppliers specialize in either modular or panelized construction. Minneapolis architect Charlie Lazor has worked with both mediums. This lake house in rural Ontario, Canada, is an example of one of his modular projects. It was built in a Wisconsin factory about 400 miles away.

Montreal, QuebecDispassionate about his city's de rigueur "City of Design" designation, architect Gilles Saucier shows us there's more to Montreal than Expo 67. Photo by: Matthew Monteith

Happy Canada Day!

Locally sourced Canadian plywood was used for the flooring throughout the home, and all doors and windows were replaced with low-energy upgrades. The couple shares their space with guide dogs they foster through a local organization.

Light streams into the bedroom through walls of floor-to-ceiling glass. The windows are triple-glazed, creating a tight, eco-friendly seal.