Prefabulous and Sustainable: Building and Customizing an Affordable, Energy-Efficient Home Hardcover – April 1, 2010

This is an excellent book for anyone thinking of designing, building or purchasing a new home. The author explains the benefits of prefabrication and of building sustainably in a non-technical way that is easy for all to understand. From "Curly Bulbs" to "Net Metering," Sheri provides information and inspiration for ways that we can all save energy and effectively utilize available technology. The many high-quality color photographs enhance the written descriptions of the twenty five houses that are profiled in the book, in categories of "Green, Greener and Greenest." I particularly appreciate the way that the author presents the information without bias for any particular building type, or method of construction and the way that she succeeds in proving that sustainable homes can be built beautifully and in any style to suit any climate.This book is for those of us who care about the earth. In the author's words: " If we hope to leave our children with a planet that can supply them with all their needs, we need to consider how we are using our resources today-particularly in building our houses." Prefabulous + Sustainable shows what can be achieved by designers, owners and builders who care.

I am currently in the process of designing a home and have been looking around at sustainable building books but wasnt having much luck. Most of the books I found were mostly very modern designs. This book has a very good balance of both modern designs as well as traditional. There are actual pictures of the homes exterior and interior (a lot of books I have bought in the past just have renderings) and plenty of them at that. It also has what "green" features the home includes and also explains some of the nontraditional building technics that go along with the industry. She also split the book into 3 sections - green, greener, and greenest. I would have liked to see more homes but there are quite a few in this book (25). Overall, I would say that this is one of the best sustainable building design books I have picked up.

Very useful introduction to prefab/modular building and eco-standards with building. I feel like it's probably due an upgrade soon-ish, with some more contemporary builds included, since the industry is moving along so quickly.

I had thought that this would be a compilation of many various designs but unfortunately it only covered a few.

I found this book very interesting, and it has several homes featured. I probably will build larger than most of the homes she has shown, as I need one level wheelchair access, and will build on at least 1 acre.I also like the ideas found in Building With Structural Insulated Panel, and one called Passive Heating and Cooling. I found both books on Amazon.comI will probably have a ventilated floor to save energy in it (Passive heating and cooling book). Most likely will have SIPS to speed the construction process. In Portland OR, the building needs to be built within the short summer or while it is raining (most of the year). The great insulation, lack of noise transmission into the house, straight walls, and ability to go from concrete floors to enclosed roof in only 5 days is a huge plus!

Some of us still hope to build our own home from our own plans someday. Koones provides some tangible examples of people who have built a home, used pre-fab companies to keep costs low, and achieved some very sleek and comfortable results that don't have the vaguest resemblance to double-wides or manufactured housing.It was great to get information about the resources available -- all within two covers.I bought the hardcover by mistake -- wrong click. Save yourself a few bucks -- buy the softback.

Sheri Koones won me over to the world of modular and prefabricated homes with her previous books. She has outdone herself with Prefabulous + Sustainable by tapping into the nation's new desire to be more ecologically conscious. The homes depicted are not only beautiful, but within reach of many homeowners and are much more energy-efficient than traditional houses. This is an important and timely book.

Too specific to be of a practical help, unless you are using one of the companies she references.