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 panorama of sylvan hills and ocean views surrounds artist Richard Brothers’s environmentally minded Orcas Island, Washington, home.

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.

A solar array (on the left-hand side of the photo) powers the lights and outlets (and laptops) during the day.

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.

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)

Setsumasa and Hideaki toss on the rain fly. The solar panel in the foreground supplies daytime electricity.

A 1.4-kW solar array by Sharp and propane-powered in-floor radiant heating from Radiantec obviate any need to connect to municipal power.

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

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

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

Thanks to passive solar and radiant floors, the metal-clad home is comfortable year-round.

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

Among the first Passive Houses in France, this bamboo-clad farmhouse by the Parisian firm Karawitz Architecture only uses a tenth of the energy a conventionally constructed home does. Photo by Nicholas Calcott.

Porches are a beloved element of the Southern vernacular and lifestyle, traditionally serving as an extension of the indoors—a shady place to gather, socialize, or share a meal. So when the students of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, entered the Solar Decathlon, a biennial energy-efficient residential design competition, the iconic space figured prominently in their concept. Here, a canopy of bifacial solar panels covers the porch and provides energy for the home.

Sustainability focused Etica Studio designed this eco-house to be a nature-inspired hideaway for its owner, the architect's sister. The solar-passive home runs on renewable energy and was built using a mix of environmentally friendly materials and salvaged elements.

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%.

The entire cabin is powered by the rooftop solar system from Solarwinds Northernlights. "I still can't get over the fact that I can get an ice cube from the sun," Bruce says.

The Lai family—Mayuko, baby Shota on her lap, David, Maya, and Yumi sitting on a cushion on the deck—relaxes in their indoor-outdoor living space, made by opening the glass sliding doors to connect the living room and engawa deck.

The most sustainable element of all is the Lais’ intention to make their first home their last home as well. “Some people have this mentality of getting a starter house, then upgrading from there,” David says. “We just wanted to find a place to live in and then stay there forever.” Eventually they imagine passing the home down to their children.

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

Clad in cedar, this 2,600 square-foot prefabricated home was constructed in a mere two weeks. The home's southern facade, seen here, keeps the home comfortable year-round: in colder months, the low winter sun easily streams though floor-to-ceiling windows to warm the interior. In the summer, when the sun is higher in the sky, the overhaning balcony keeps the interior shaded and cool. The architects also turned the repetitive architectural style of the neighborhood's homes—in this case, the classic gabled house—to their advantage by devising an open, seemingly-unfinished roof framework. While that shape maintains the visual continuity of this modern design with its traditional surroundings, it also has environmental benefits.

Since Dwell’s first visit in 2006, Gary—now 14 years old—has outgrown the swing, and the home has seen a few final updates: The second-floor deck is now covered in reused barn wood, and the terraces have been finished with railings, awnings, and recycled plastic decking.

Here's what you need to know before undergoing a building project with a contractor but no architect.

When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

A number of designs paid especially close attention to the ecological as well as cultural context of the United Arab Emirates-based installations. “Solar ECO System,” for example, represents the exact planetary alignment of the solar system on December 2, 1971, the day that the UAE was founded. A different combination of photovoltaic panels would be used to construct each individual planet, which could also be used as pavilions for hosting public activities and events. Design by: Antonio Maccà and Flavio Masi

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.

The roof supports a vegetable garden where anything form squash to grapes can be grown. In addition to serving as gathering place during the summer, a large skylight admits illumination into the rooms below.

Much of the home's energy-efficient construction is hidden from view: Djuric Tardio Architectes used prefabricated structural panels—filled with almost 4 inches of wood fiber insulation—that offer almost zero thermal bridges to the outside (in other words, there are barely any places where heat can seep from the interior to the exterior). While the home is equipped with underfloor gas heating, even in cold weather the system is "almost superfluous," says Caroline Djuric, thanks to the excellent insulation. The stool is from atelier [jes], the coffee table is the PK 61A Granit by Poul Kjaerholm for Fritz Hansen, and the chairs are by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen.

The bathroom in the guest pavilion takes advantage of the passive solar siting. “Detaching the roof from the walls allowed us to bring in light from the top,” notes the architect. The custom vanity holds a Lacava sink; the tub is AquaStone from Aquatica.

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.

Angela Brooks and son Calder revel in the benefits of free solar energy, cheerfully opening the living room’s big glass doors when it’s time to play.