My dad always respected his responsibilities as steward of his possessions including home and land and also strongly believed in Energy Conservation. I can remember it like it was yesterday - where he always insisted in his strong bellowing voice to “close our doors and lights” whenever we’d leave a room or house! PERIOD!
Maybe it was because he hated having to pay utility bills when he knew there ought to be a way to tap into all the FREE energy Mother Nature provided. He was always ahead of his time on allot of these beliefs - so he kept looking for “other ways” … Among other outside the box ideas, he came up with the Perka Steel Web Truss designed frame back in the early 80’s, this after looking at many other fabricator’s feeble attempts at putting a practical building truss frame together. He wanted one that didn’t need rubber gloves, an engineering degree, a welder, a set of torches and the patience of Job just to handle! And he certainly didn’t want one that leaked like a sieve or wouldn’t stand up to winds and snow! 
So he said - “let’s make a frame that is high in quality, that was easy to put up, that was going to FIT when our client’s get it , was designed to help make the overall building be as energy efficient as could be and was clearly worth every penny in value.
PERKA BUILDINGS was born, and from a few napkin sketch concepts dad drew up, we then put a battery of Engineers and detailers together and made sure there would be no cutting of any corners for building code loadings or strength in the structural design. Note that this was back in the early to mid 80’s - when most drawings and calculations were still done by hand. We invested tens of thousands of man hours in those designs. Then we actually questioned any and all do it yourselfer minded family, friends, neighbors, shop workers, staff, managers, distributors and sales reps and took the time to think, ask and discuss what would a DO-IT-YOURSELFER want to see in a set of building frames? Frames that would go together and up easy and not cause them to become flustered by just too many details. We took thousands of notes on that. And then he basically said - “everybody KEEP LISTENING, forever, tools will change, people will change, the times will change. So if you hear anything from any client, neighbor, relative or friend that gives you an idea of something to do to the frame that can make it even better without compromising integrity or efficiencies - then DO IT!” And we did. And we still are. In our 25+ years we have never really mass produced our assembly guide. In fact 0ver the last 25 years we’ve maybe added several dozen more features to our many various designs to make things easier and to also adapt to the changing times. And we’re still listening. 
And then dad researched and consulted with many experts on what makes a building more energy efficient. The biggest thing that stood out was doing whatever it takes to the frame design to help minimize if not STOP the heat loss from conduction, convection and radiation. So we did that too. We made our frames easier to accept super insulators like P2000 Insulation, that can address all these “heat losers” all in one swoop. We also designed our frames first and foremost to use wood purlins and girts to create the much needed thermoBREAK otherwise created by steel to steel contact found in most other steel frame buildings. It also added a layer of protection or forgiveness if one did not use one of these super insulators. Then we also spaced these purlins and girts closer (2′ on center typically) to create a tighter seal to help stop the convection heat loss. If the air/wind can’t blow THROUGH, neither will the heat!!! Then marrying the Perka frames up with high reflective materials like light colored metal sheeting or mylar (plastic) covered radiant insulation blockers as opposed to a metal like aluminum, we more fully address the radiation heat loss as well. By answering to all three of these heat loss transfers - we have essentially co-created one of the best super insulated structures available on the market!
That said… we can still easily go even beyond energy efficiency from insulation, and truly LIVE the BUILDING GREEN mandate. To live his point, though ironically just before he passed away, dad built his own 2006 version of his “GREEN” dream home and got to live in it for at least 6 months.
He used a Perka hybrid steel wood structure custom designed frame system, specially conceived for the high capacity loads of Canada’s colder and more snowy climate. It was also modeled to allow the structure’s shape to flow naturally with the slope of the land he was on - to keep some of the sacred flow he felt there. (Rumor was that the land used to be some very ancient native sacred burial ground - though we never found anything during excavations). 
This very unique home was then super-insulated using the P2000 Insulation system with it’s plastic/Mylar reflective covered expanded polystyrene core. (The Mylar is not a metal like aluminum which can conduct heat - but the highly reflective material gives it as much radiant blocking abilities as it’s counterparts!) To added extra assurance he also used a high reflector, and yet aesthetically appealing, copper colored standing seam steel roof panel. The roof was also structurally designed to be capable to eventually receive solar panelling (which would have been in his future plans, had he not so suddenly passed away).
Then to minimize waste, and maximum sustainability and the GREEN aspects of his process, Dad also calculated the use of his material drops to finish trims and small wall areas, he used locally bought cedar shakes and region wood planks for wall coverings on 3 exterior sides as well as for most of the interior walls. He used slices of trees cut from his land for wall covering on back exterior wall, field rock from cleaning his own 3 acres for barrier and retaining walls, used mostly locally purchased secondary materials from either town yards, ”new and used” suppliers or local mills, recycled 95% of the wood material drops for burning or re-use, recycled all the surplus steel to local scrap yards or back to the factory suppliers and even had future plans for rain water capture off his steel roof, plus plans for the addition of a green house and organic garden.
He was the epitomy of DO IT YOURSELF! He even did most of the daily cleaning and sweeping to keep the work area organized and safe for his locally selected tradesmen.
The point being here that Building Green for dad meant not only energy preservation from the home’s day to day use, but also in optimized material consumption and in harmonizing with what was already available WHERE HE WAS. The thing he transported up the furthest from his area were the custom designed steel frames which he got from (me) and our factory in Missouri - his son! And that’s about as ORGANICALLY GREEN as that can get!! LOL!
The moral of this may be that the next time we sit down to plan a new building, be it as supplier, builder, tradesmen, owner or friend - it might be worth the extra time and effort, in the name of sustainability for our Mother Earth, to look around at all the places we can be more aware of the many things we can do as it regards to what it really means to build GREEN. Like for my Dad, this process produced not only a beautiful and most comfortable home, a legacy to his family, but it also produced a PRICE LESS gift to our world by reducing his carbon footprint as much as he consciously could at the time.
The bar of our awareness is being raised - let’s build consciously!!!
Cheers!
Martial
P.S. - If we look at things from the BIG PICTURE - it can sure change the way things really are! And some things truly are just PRICELESS…
