What is the first step to take towards building a green residence?

Making a commitment to building at least one degree better than the status quo.

Making a commitment to building at least one degree better than the status quo.

Defining your goals so you don't get carried away with the details during the process.

First of select a good contractor who will help you to building you dream residence.

Don't select a contractor until you have a solid, and somewhat comprehensive plan for your Green build. Consultants in Green Building and architects should be employed first. Contractors should be engaged to execute the plan, not to make it.

There are competent design build contractors but it is nice to have an independent architect involved, they both have their place as I have seen projects come out good and bad either way. It depends on the home owners level competence and desired involvement.
Personally I believe that PV and wind are not developed enough and are applied in areas where there is not sound reason to do so. I would look at reducing the size of the home as much as possible and then the building envelope and mechanical systems. Solar DHW and space heating if the climate justifies it. Just my biased opinion. Best of luck as I am currently in the design stage as well.

Reduce your sq footage.

Reduce your sq footage.

From what?

And, how do you know when to stop?

PV and wind are not developed enough

Agreed

and are applied in areas where there is not sound reason to do so

Also true, but how do you tell people who might be interested in adopting some new technology that they are making an unsound decision? It's nice we have people who are interested, even if their situation is not particularly conducive to efficient use of PV or wind. It's hard to dissuade them just because of where they live or something.... At this stage of the game, every little bit of participation helps, both in developing the industry and promoting the use of PV and wind, even if it's just a 12 year old who sees a residential windmill and decides to write a school report on it. :-)

I have no issue with informed individuals paying for PV or wind the only issue I have is forcing tax payers to underwrite it. I makes sense in areas that have wind or sun but to say to the entire country put up alternative energy anywhere and we will subsidize it is a foolish waste of resources and not "green" at all. If the tax payer wasn't on the hook than I would say anybody that wants to go for it.

the only issue I have is forcing tax payers to underwrite it

Taxpayers benefit from the increased utilization of alternative energy and what's stopping them from participating like anyone else? You also have to consider what the costs of NOT moving forward with improved energy sources might be (to the taxpayer) as well.

No they do not at this time. If you want to make a case for further development I am all for limited application of what is in effect beta version of solar. We have enough natural gas to run on for a long long time....Invest in making this as pollution free as possible. We are 2 generations of nuclear reactors behind the rest of the world..We could reduce our existing spent fuel stock pile by 90% with current technology, this has huge environmental impacts. Instead we are focused on flywheels and wind which will double or triple our cost of generating utility grade power. We are at least 20 years away from a product suitable for commercial application of wind and solar. Fund university research and then sell use it when it reaches maturity. Whats going to happen to these existing wind and solar farms when technology makes them obsolete? What is the environmental impact when they are abandoned? What is the impact of building some thing that will be obsolete in 10 to 20 years. Utility power plants last for 50 to 100years.

No they do not at this time.

Sure they do. We have to get to renewable energy somehow, this is just the development process. I'm pretty sure that natural gas, no matter how plentiful, is still not considered renewable energy.

Whats going to happen to these existing wind and solar farms when technology makes them obsolete?

They will get upgraded?

my point is that just because something should be developed doesn't mean that it should be broadly applied at this time. Why should we have wind farms in the midwest that run less than half the time and have a cost per kw that is 2 to 3 times the cost of utility grade power? They are only in existence because of subsidies otherwise they would not build them in marginal areas. Just because it is renewable doesnt make it truly practical. I'm all for renewable energy development but we need to apply it properly.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/wind_energys_ghosts_1.html

Why should we have wind farms in the midwest that run less than half the time and have a cost per kw that is 2 to 3 times the cost of utility grade power?

Because fossil fuels, which represent the bulk of our power generation, have been consumed at artificially low cost for decades.

I apologize to all for hi jacking this thread, ICF we could start a new thread and continue this conversation.

If you like.