Totally Inspired

Wow, I have to thank whoever posted the link to "Can a 4000 ft2 home be green".  I absolutely loved it.  It got me so pumped.  I listened to Daft Punk and Queen and pumped my fist while reading it, and other things on that web page. 

Several months ago I returned home after living for 3 years in Japan.  I came home specifically to start a career in "green" home building.  I have no prior construction knowledge other than what I have watched on youtube and read about in books and on the internet.  I know that sounds like a poor amount of experience to be basing my future goals on but I can assure you, it's what I want to do. 

While living in Japan, I realized that one does not need to live in a huge house to feel comfortable.  I feel like people have gone from living in homes, to living in houses.  People want to have a "space" not a "home" to call their own.  Houses nowadays, I feel, lack warmth.  Currently, I am living in my childhood house and although I have many memories here, and I do love my house, I feel like it lacks inspiration.  Something is missing.  I won't go into the eco-aspects that are lacking from my home.  The design itself is lacking.  My house is one of those cookie cutter types you might see in a big subdivision in some suburb.  They serve their purpose but....  Sometimes I drive around and get depressed looking at the houses people live in.  People trade quality for space.  Why would I want to live in a big box?  Then I look at these "deep green" homes and I feel this surge of warmth from within me.  Just look at them!  Look at that masonry heater!  Wouldn't it feel great to curl up on that bench and read a book?  I can feel the penetrating warmth radiating from the brick.  I can hear the crackling of the wood.  When I come back to reality, I feel the semi-warm, dry heat of my central heater.  The vents rattle.  They used to scare me when I was a kid.  The heated air also dries out my skin.  I wonder how much better I would have slept as a kid if I had had a masonry or rocket heater. 

I have one request of the kind patrons of this forum.  I want to find a job in this deep green building field but I have no idea where to even begin looking.  How does one get into the field?  What are some good sources to learn about the field?  I am pretty lost.  It wasn't until tonight that I knew that a LEED certified wasn't the extent of green building.  I want to start getting dirty asap.  I'll be moving to Pennsylvania, around the Philadelphia area, in the spring.  Is there even a demand for homes of the deep green caliber in Pennsylvania?  Any advice anyone has would be much appreciated. 

Krod, you might want to think about specializing in one aspect of green building.  No one person can understand all of the different aspects enough to do them all well.  I would start with a single subject like green roofs, heat systems, solar electric, etc. and learn everything you can.  You can go on from there.

Krod wrote: I came home specifically to start a career in "green" home building. 

If you want to gain experience in the construction industry, find a company that is building the kind of buildings you are interested in and ask for a labouring job. You will start learning how to build just from watching the other guys while you are digging, fetching and carrying etc. It probably wouldn't be long before they asked you to do some of the simpler tasks and if you show promise they will gradually get you involved in other tasks. It's probably the same way most construction workers got into the job whether it's green or conventional styles of building. 

BTW I'm in the construction industry and that's how I first got into it. Not green building though. I just build what the customers ask for. I like to build dry stone walls around our place and am very interested in methods like rammed earth, adobe etc and maybe I will try some of these alternative  methods out on our next place (we plan to move in the next few years).