Architecture

Greenest house in America

ellen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:13:00 -0500

As the LEED for Homes Advocate for the USGBC-New York Chapter, I receive a LOT of mail and press releases about LEED certified projects.

This one is particularly exciting - The Gottfried Home, which received the highest score ever received since LEED for Homes launched early this year.

I'm not particularly excited by the high score (106.5 points of 136 possible points - Platinum threshold is 80 points). What excites me is that this is an example of a very small existing home that was fully renovated unlike the vast majority of LEED for Homes projects which are new buildings and the few that aim to be green McMansions by attaining LEED for Homes certification.

From the press release:

The 1,500-square-foot home in the Oakland neighborhood of Rockridge is half as large as the Gottfrieds’ previous home in the Berkeley Hills. Gottfried specifically wanted the home to be small to reduce the home’s footprint and show that a family of four can live happily in a smaller space, as humans historically have.

“We hoped to showcase how to green an old historic home and still achieve LEED Platinum, as well as downsize 50% for a family of four,” David Gottfried said.

The restored 1915 craftsman bungalow further reduces its impact on the environment because, as a restoration, it enables reuse of many materials and doesn’t eliminate open space on a previously home-free site.

Gottfried works in a regenerative “Lifepod” in the back yard of the home, cutting out the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with a commute to the office. It is built in an extremely walkable neighborhood, with most amenities available to the family without their needing to drive. The home is designed to be a net-zero energy home, meaning that with its solar photovoltaic power generation and its solar- and hydronic-powered water-heating systems, the home strives to produce all the energy it needs to operate without drawing from the power grid.

Rainwater is captured and diverted for use in one of the home’s toilets, reducing reliance on potable water supplies. “Graywater” – used water from the home’s two showers, bathtub and two sinks – is used to water the landscaping. And the family plans to grow its own vegetables.

And the home manages to conserve resources without scrimping on style. Some 27 colors make up the décor, including beautiful recycled abalone tile. The Gottfrieds call it “eco-bling”. And the renovation process engaged the neighborhood, teaching the community about the ways a green home can be beautiful and livable.

The renovation was funded in part by a green construction loan from New Resource Bank and an interest rate break for its use of solar power and LEED.

Learn more about the Gottfrieds’ home at www.gottfriedhome.com. Also, visit the popular environmental Web site Planet Green, at planetgreen.discovery.com, to view David Gottfried’s video blog documenting the renovation process and the home’s green features.

Challenges
• The cost and slow pace of custom construction.
• Finishing and getting subcontractors out of the house.
• Small is noisy – need to work more on acoustics with young kids.
• Getting graywater permitted.

About LEED®
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification system is a feature-oriented certification program that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities. LEED for Healthcare is currently under development and is expected to be released in early 2008.

Visit www.gottfriedhome.com.
Also visit planetgreen.discovery.com, to view David Gottfried’s video blog.

LOCATION: Oakland, Calif.
SIZE: 1,440 square feet
BEDROOMS: 4
YEAR BUILT: 1915
STYLE: Craftsman bungalow

LEED Points
• Innovation & Design: 8 of 11 possible
• Locations & Linkages: 10 of 10 possible
• Sustainable Sites: 19 of 22 possible
• Water Efficiency: 13 of 15 possible
• Energy & Atmosphere: 31 of 38 possible
• Materials & Resources: 12.5 of 16 possible
• Indoor Environmental Quality: 11 of 21 possible
• Awareness & Education: 2 of 3 possible
• Total: 106.5 of 136 possible (Platinum threshold: 80 points)

Some of the Home’s Green Features
• Small physical footprint – less than 1,500 square feet for a family of four.
• Reuse and restoration – giving 1915 craftsman bungalow new life.
• Incredibly walkable neighborhood, with everything just outside doorstep.
• David Gottfried works in a regenerative “Lifepod” (120-square-foot steel building with 50% flyash floor) in the back yard – no commute.
• A net-zero-energy goal, using solar photovoltaic power generation, solar-heated water and hydronic water heating; off-sets if necessary.
• All landscape water from graywater.
• Rainwater capture for toilet use and vegetable garden.
• “Eco-bling” beauty throughout – 27 colors, beautiful abalone recycled tile.
• Incredible interest and support of neighbors.

Historic House Gets Green Facelift

Marcus — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:45:19 -0400

Located in Summit, New Jersey, Twin Maples is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. The original house was erected in 1908 by well-known New York architect, Alfred F. Norris. Over the past century, the house has served as a hub for charitable events and fundraisers, and since 1949 has been the home of The Fortnightly Club of Summit and the Summit Junior Fortnightly Club. These groups support a variety of charities including the NJ Community Foodbank, the Peterpaul Foundation, SHIP (Summit Helping Its People), and the community “Tot Trot,” a foot race benefiting a different children’s charity each year.

This October, in conjunction with the opening of the Twin Maples Centennial Show House, The Fortnightly Club will be raising money in support of The Cancer Center at Overlook Hospital. In addition to adding another charity to the impressive list of causes Twin Maples has helped over the years, the unveiling of the Show House will also feature another Twin Maples milestone: environmentally sustainable design.

The Carriage House at Twin Maples, one of the newly restored buildings in the Twin Maples compound, will be an entirely green design space, utilizing sustainable building practices and alternative energy. All materials used in the renovation will be recycled, reused, or renewable. The carriage house will feature green paint, wall coverings, recycled furnishings, Energy Star appliances, and reclaimed wood cabinetry and stone. The Carriage House will also incorporate two solar arrays, courtesy of Vanguard Energy Partners. When completed, the Carriage House will illustrate how easily environmental sustainability and state-of-the-art renovation can go hand in hand.

The Carriage House will be on display as part of the Show House festivities that will be taking place next month to celebrate Twin Maples’ centennial. For more information on Twin Maples, visit www.historictwinmaples.org.

Eleven Recycled Houses

jchait — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:28:36 -0400

Homes made of mostly recycled or reclaimed materials aren't a huge norm; not yet. However, there are plenty of great recycled homes out there that can inspire a vision for your own recycled abode.

Take a look at the following links to learn more about recycled home, including building ideas, material specs, and great visuals.

Recycled house video: Check out this cool house in Texas, 85 percent of this house was reclaimed from the garbage dump!

The Ultimate in Recycled Homes: What do you do with an old airplane? Turn it into a house of course.

The hyper neat newspaper house: Made from over 150,000 newspapers. Wow, that's a lot of reading.

Beer can house: I'm thinking... good for college kids. :)

Barrel homes: Take one old barrel used for storing pickles, wheat, what have you and you've got yourself a barrel of fun; or at least some nice recycled living quarters.

House that recyclables built - a beautiful project.

The biggie recycle project: A house built out of 100% recycled materials. Really great to see, and you won't believe how livable it is. I can't believe they thought of everything.

A bargain recycled house: This is my ideal house. Tiny, made with recycled materials, natural, simple, and just as cute as cute can be. Plus, you can't beat a bargain home; unless you enjoy spending money? You don't, right?

Built from trash: Gather two grandmas, some recycled materials, spunk, and green aspirations; mix well, and you get a house. Neat.

Bonus child-sized links of the day: Build your own recycled toy house or recycled dollhouse.

[image via stock.xchng]

16 Plus Earth-Friendly Architects

jchait — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:52:50 -0400

There are green architects, builders, and home designers all over the globe. Some more extreme than others; but all listed have done at least some great green work, some more suited to personal taste than others, and some in your actual area.

Following is a sampling of some of the best of the best green minded architects around. Or at least, some of my favorites. It's a good idea to browse different eco minded architects, when you're considering building, to snag some ideas.

At the end I'll post a resource for self searching.

Graeme North - New Zealand

Barley & Pfeiffer Architects - Austin

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects - Seattle

KieranTimberlake Associates - Philadelphia

Robert Harvey Oshatz - Pacific Northwest

Leger Wanaselja Architecture - Berkeley, CA

Cobworks - Mayne Island, BC, Canada

Paul Morgan Architects - Melbourne

Specht Harpman - New York & Austin

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company - an anywhere sort of situation.

Upwall Architects - San Francisco, CA

McCutcheon Construction, Inc. - Berkeley, CA

DNA | daynightafter - Brooklyn, New York

Helicon Works - DC

One Earth Design - Taos, New Mexico

Locus Architecture - Minneapolis & San Francisco

Others:

At Green Home Guide you can search for a green architect in L.A, San Francisco, or NYC.

Green Architecture Resources for Clients from AIA

At Low Impact Living they have a searchable data base for the U.S.

You also might like: 22 Earth-Friendly Homes here of course, you'll see 22 more cool green architects.

[image via Locus Architects]

Reclaimed & Salvaged Home Building Material Use

jchait — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:48:28 -0400

I recently read a great article, Bronx-based Rebuilders Source shows it's easy building green, from the NY Daily News.

There were some pretty interesting points in the article. For example, they note, "There are more than 1,000 building material reuse stores in the country, according to the Pittsburgh-based Building Materials Reuse Association." I had no idea there were so many. Of course I knew they existed, because we frequented one in New Mexico while home building; also I just like reuse, but you just don't hear about them. Every time I mention one to someone they say, "Huh?" Maybe some better advertising is in order.

The article focuses on a Bronx-based Rebuilders Source, a project of Green Worker Cooperatives. The store notes that their goal, or hopes anyhow, include selling, "300 tons of used building materials each year." That's great.

Read the whole article.

In any case, it got me thinking, or wondering at least why more folks don't know about reuse stores. People act so surprised about them. I did a post a while back related to this topic; Building A Reclaimed House - Where To Find Used Materials, but thought I'd list a few I left out before, because if you're rebuilding, building new, or just making over one room, reused is one of the best ways to go material wise.

More reuse materials:

Builder 2 Builder: This site is very cool. You can see pictures of the actual reuse materials online, for the most part, and there's a great Demolition / Deconstruction Notices section, so you can find materials quick, or try to claim them before someone else does.

2007 Guide to Architectural Antiques and Antique Lumber Companies

The ReUse People of America for California, Washington, and Colorado

Renovators Resource Inc for Nova Scotia

Building Materials Resource Center for Boston

For a gigantic list visit Eco Business Links - many local options like the ones above, for Vermont, California, Oregon, the UK, and more.

Green Home Building Link Love

jchait — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:37:29 -0400

Here's a nice little round-up of some of what I've been reading this week. There's plenty going on, and hopefully, you'll find something to enjoy.

Get Solar Makes Finding a Solar Contractor Easier: Ah, how to find a good solar contractor in your area plus the link offers plenty of great solar info - from the basic to advanced.

The 2008 HGTV Green Home Sweepstakes is over, but that doesn't mean you can't still win a little something. Or should I say, a lot of little somethings. Enter the new Get More Green Giveaway at HGTV - you could win a $15,000 shopping spree from Sears or a $10,000 gift card from Kohler. Enough to buy some cool green goods.

Charity homes are getting greener - learn how charity homes, such as the likes built by Habitat for Humanity are working on their green efforts.

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) is planning its first-ever national summit this summer. On the agenda - cutting building-source emissions of green house gases! Yahoo Canada. Learn more.

Learn how taking a few minutes to do a DIY thermostat checkup can save you some green - in more ways than one.

An awesome post with tips about how to green your move - perfect for when you're moving into your next green home.

Eco Friendly Flooring Doesn’t Have to be Drab - nope it does not and this post will show you where to look for some great looking floors.

And last, but not least Treehugger has the 411 on REI in REI To Retrofit Eleven Stores with Solar Power - just one more reason to be a consumer at REI, the continually getting greener as I type company. Go them.

Now, what have you been reading this week?

Intro to Green Prefabs

jchait — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:44:39 -0400

One type of green home that's all the rage are prefabs, or prefabricated houses. Prefab 101 is fairly easy to catch up on. Prefabs, sometimes called modular homes differ wildly but all have one thing in common; they're built, or mainly built off-site. Instead of building a home from scratch you could have a pre-built prefab sent your way, and basically assemble on your lot. Of course there's more to it, but that's the gist.

The prefab is not a new deal; they've been around for a good long while. I didn't used to like them much, but as the designs have become greener, and the details more unique, they've really grown on me. Another thing to note is that prefab in itself is a little misleading.

Many designs and home types tend to fall under the all encompassing title "prefab" and while not everyone is thrilled with this lack of distinction, it is what it is. There are manufactured - (i.e. classic manufactured prefab), log cabins, containers, large office shed, prefabs made of cedar, domes, and way more. Then there are the greenies. Green prefabs have popped up a lot lately and if you're considering building green, prefab may be just what you need.

Some of the pros include; less expensive than traditionally built homes (not always but often), most now look so great you can't even tell it wasen't built on site, some are made heavily with reclaimed or recycled materials, prefabs tend to leave a smaller footprint size-wise, and of course there's the time savings. It may take a while from ordering your prefab to actual set-up, or construction, but once a home arrives at your site, it's not a multi month process. You can usually count in days, how long it takes to get a prefab up; with some companies claiming three days max. It's amazing. And if you've ever built from scratch, sounds pretty darn nice.

If you want to learn more about green prefabs visit some of the following architects and companies that design them:

One of my faves - Michelle Kaufmann Designs - beautiful homes.

Hanger Prefab who designed the The Joshua Tree - my new favorite prefab!

miniHOME SOLO

Olgga Architects

Check out some prefab videos

PLACE Houses

There are plenty of other green prefab options out there though - this is a tiny sample.

[image of Joshua Tree via Hanger Prefab]

35 Ideas for Building A Greener House

jchait — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:21:20 -0400

Here are 35 ideas for building green... Feel free to add your ideas in the comments.

1. Use salvaged, recycled, and reclaimed materials.

2. Build small. At least only build what you need; no more than one bedroom per person actually living in the home. A family of four does not need four bathrooms. Seriously.

3. Try a green roof.

4. Buy from responsible, sustainable wood suppliers.

5. Work with eco-friendly builders and contractors. For example; do they have a paperless office, do they carpool to sites, etc.

6. Aim for natural ventilation.

7. Understand LEED - you don't have to go for LEED gold stars, but the basic principals should be in the back of your mind.

8. Avoid pressure-treated lumber when possible.

9. Always design with passive solar in mind.

10. On the building site supply refillable water bottles.

11. Try earth floors.

12. Find out if local codes permit graywater recycling and reuse.

13. Aim to eco-renovate an older house before deciding to build new.

14. Buy building materials and hire building help locally.

15. Don't build too far out in the sticks - to avoid excessive transportation needs.

16. Landscape with drought resistant plants, flowers, and shrubs.

17. Recycle any building material leftovers possible.

18. Plan for daylighting.

19. Build for the long term - don't make flighty decisions and build strong and durable to last.

20. Consider tankless water heaters.

21. Plan, build, and then stay put forever. Not always possible; but each time you move, renovate, or rebuild, resources and excess energy is used. It’s sustainable to stay where you are.

22. Pay special attention to moisture reduction. Mold and mildew can do homes in faster than you might think.

23. If you break it you buy it – not literally, but if you take out trees to build or mess with the soil, you need to restore and make amends. Transfer trees when possible, or better yet build around them.

24. Choose your building site wisely.

25. Build on previously used land - avoid building on new, untouched land to preserve natural spaces.

26. Install LED lighting in small spaces.

27. Try new roofing shingles made from recycled plastics and rubber.

28. Don't purchase over packaged supplies - i.e. buy screws, tools, and other materials that come free of an outer box or plastic coating wrap.

29. Install Energy Star appliances when building new - consider keeping your old appliances if remodeling.

30. Think about bamboo flooring.

31. Try cellulose insulation.

32. Incorporate as much alternative and efficient energy as possible.

33. Think about co-housing developments.

34. Use the sun in as many ways as you can think of.

35. Design for forever. As you age, your capacities change – what if one day you needed a wheelchair, or a door handle that turns easier? Build slightly wider doorways, install easy turn doorknobs at the start. If you ever sell, it would be smart to be able to sell to a disabled individual or an elderly couple. Small forethought given to design now can benefit the future generations in the home, without renovation requirements.

Also read: 50 Sustainable Home Design Features & Resources

An Eco Living Pod Built for Two

ckane — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:44:57 -0400

Where to after the green wedding?

If you're looking for a sustainably-built living space, here's an option: the 850 square foot prefab residence from Canuhome. The name comes from "canoe," (as well as "can you?"--make a difference, that is) and the pod may look small, but it's not much different in living space from a condo. It has a kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom and bedroom, and was designed precisely for young couples (and older ones downscaling for retirement).

The customizable residence is meant to fit in city-size back yards or even on top of other buildings, and they're also designed for relocation. They're energy, water, and resource-efficient, and Canuhomes use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products and "glocal" materials, and they also meet LEED standards.

So where do these forward-thinking, fanciful, sustainable living spaces of the future come from? Blame Canada.

via EcoGeek

photo: Canuhome

Home Wind-Power Turbines Going Mainstream

jchait — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In April an article appeared in the New York Times; Technology Smooths the Way for Home Wind-Power Turbines, a clear sign that wind power is becoming more mainstream, as the article actually goes on to relate.

Excerpt:

“Back in the early days, off-grid electrical generation was pursued mostly by hippies and rednecks, usually in isolated, rural areas,” said Joe Schwartz, editor of Home Power magazine. “Now, it’s a lot more mainstream.”

That above excerpt sums up the situation pretty nicely. I remember being amazed when I saw wind power in, I think, Mother Earth News. It was surprising, because I knew so little about it, and that was around 2000 or so. It just hasn't been a big topic among the conventional world.

The New York Times relates the following points about the new up a coming wind power acceptance.

Technology has made it simpler to have a wind system set up, without a bulky battery source as backup.
While federal incentives for wind power do not currently exist, many states have their own incentives set up for those using wind power.
It's estimated that eco concerns, more than cost savings are driving wind power installs.
Urban folk, more so than rural, may be unhappy seeing big wind towers set up.

Of course the article goes more in-depth. Read the whole article.

To learn more about wind power check out the following:

Wind Turbine Power: Farmers Turning the Wind Into Gold

Find Out if Wind Power Will Work on Your Land

Inexpensive Residential Wind Turbine - Wind Power - Alternative Energy for Your Home

Can You Harness Wind Power or Not?

What YOU Should Know About Wind Power!

Can You Use Wind Turbines to Power Your Home?

Residential Wind Power