This month on Modular Musings, we’ll be focusing a lot on green construction. It wasn’t intentional, but when we put together our ideas for entries, it just sort of worked out that almost all of them were related to Earth-friendly practices. You can’t really blame us, considering how big of an influence green building methods have on today’s construction and how important green practices are to Excel Homes.

Our first green observation comes from the Earth Advantage Institute, which last month released its list of 10 green trends to watch for in 2010. Below are four trends that caught the attention of Excel’s designers.

• Smart grids and connected homes – In-home displays will show real-time home energy use, both overall and by individual appliance. That’s smart because you can’t fix what you can’t see.
• “Rightsizing” of homes – Smaller homes have become a more attractive option and it looks like that trend will continue into 2010. We predict it will extend well beyond the current year, as it goes hand-in-hand with the green movement, which we all know isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
• Net zero buildings – These über green houses generate more energy than they use over the course of the year, allowing some homeowners to sell unused energy back to the electric company.
• Financial community buy-in to green building – Lenders and insurers are finally seeing the light when it comes to green construction and will continue offering lower interest rates and more affordable insurance packages to green homeowners. That’s green saving green, which is always a good thing.

Excel is working hard to uphold and reinforce the environmentally friendly aspects of modular construction. One of our most recent efforts is our focus on internal sustainability and our effort to become a landfill-free home manufacturer.

It’s a lofty goal – contributing absolutely nothing to landfills in the process of making our homes – but we’re confident we can do it. This year we hope to reduce the amount of waste generated at our manufacturing facilities by 700 tons, and our newest facility in Marlboro, NY, is already landfill free.

Of course, being landfill free doesn’t mean producing zero waste. There will be waste and scraps associated with the construction process (although still far less than stick-built homes), but our goal is to recycle or repurpose that waste so that nothing goes to, well, waste.

We’re doing that by training plant employees to throw away less and be more concise in material usage. We’re also working with our vendors to supply us with the highest quality products with the least amount of waste in packaging by utilizing tools like returnable shipping solutions. Overall, it’s an exciting new part of our process and it’s one more reason why Excel home owners should feel good about their new purchase.

A team of architects responded to the Wall Street Journal’s request to design the environmentally-friendly “house of the future” by creating a modular home you can eat. Sort of like the witch’s edible house in the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.

Taking a cue from current trends, the architects predicted that most future homes will be modular because modular construction is more efficient and uses fewer resources. The edible part comes in the form of a hydroponic skin attached to the front of the home, on which a variety of vegetables and herbs can be grown and harvested for consumption by the family. The thinking is especially relevant in urban areas, where a traditional ground garden isn’t always possible.

Even though it may seem far fetched now, we love this kind of environmentally friendly thinking. Modular homes have long been the leaders in green construction by using fewer materials, fewer resources and being generally more energy efficient. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll all be opening up our bedroom window to pick some lettuce for the dinner salad!