Posts Tagged ‘green building’

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Aug

23rd

Austin Home Gets Four Green Certifications


House earned LEED-Platinum, NAHB-Gold, and Austin Energy Green Building 5-Star Certification, plus Energy Star qualification.MuellerLEEDS

Designing and constructing a house to garner top-level certification in four different green building programs might sound like a nightmare of paperwork, red tape, and regulations, but it was all in a day’s work for this Austin home’s verifier.

For this contemporary house in the close-in, mixed-use Mueller community, verifier Chip Henderson compiled a simple three-page spreadsheet that included the mandatory requirements of each program.

“We took a look at the four programs and folded them into one to-do list,” recalls Henderson, of San Antonio-based Contects Consultants and Architects. “We realized that if we stuck to this one to-do list, at the end of the day we’d cross the finish line with all four of the programs.”

Henderson’s organizational skills paid off: The 3,266-square-foot home obtained top ratings by the three most widely accepted green building programs in Austin: LEED-Platinum, NAHB Model Green Home Building Gold, and Austin Energy Green Building 5-Star. The house is also Energy Star-qualified.

Read the entire article here: http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/news/2009/08/case-study-austin-home-achieves-top-ratings-in-three-green-building-programs.aspx

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Aug

20th

Green Building Centers Lead by Example


Facilities in Michigan and Georgia take on regional responsibility in encouraging green building techniques.

Source: Mother Nature Network

GreenResourcesHeader-2-smallTwo recently opened green building resource centers show that greening works in theory and in practice, according to Mother Nature Network. Centers like the Project Green Institute in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Southface Eco Office in Atlanta will have a big impact on the industry by practicing what they preach in green construction.

J.S. Vig Construction opened the Project Green Institute to provide guidance for new construction and building retrofits. In addition to being U.S. Green Building Council LEED certified itself and employing LEED AP staff, the institute will offer green construction training courses and maintain an online database of sustainability best practices. Local businesses can contract with the institute for building audits as well as retrofit projects.

Similarly, the Southface Eco Office in Atlanta is a LEED platinum, EnergyStar-rated, EarthCraft Light Commercial-certified building. The office was built as an educational tool to showcase sustainable commercial building practices and products. It has a photovoltaic array that was salvaged from a gas station, a 2,000 sq ft green roof, a high-performance lighting system, and a high-tech window glazing system to switch glass from clear to opaque to conserve energy while maintaining views. Real-time and historical performance data of the Eco Office are available online.

Many green advocates hope that seeing these green features on functioning buildings will convince others that building green can be both practical and cost-effective.

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Aug

12th

Home Depot $$ for Green Building


A now nationally-expanded partnership will help funnel $30 million to help build environmentally-friendly homes.

The Partners in Sustainable Building will join the forces of the Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity International on a national level with the goal of building 5,000 homes that meet Energy Star standards over the next five years.earthmover

“By embracing the practical principles of green building, our partnership with Habitat for Humanity International is demonstrating that these techniques can actually make homes more affordable to own, maintain and live in from day one and for the long-term,” Kelly Caffarelli, president of the Home Depot Foundation, said. “With health and economic concerns at an all-time high, this issue is more important than ever for the families who will purchase these homes.”

More than 120 Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the nation have been picked for the initial round of grants from the Home Depot Foundation. An affiliate will receive $3,000 for each house built to Energy Star Standards, and could get up to $5,000 for a house built beyond those standards.

The program has its roots in a pilot program between the Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity International affiliates. During that pilot program, more than 260 homes were built using green standards.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, building green has a number of economic, social and environmental benefits. For example, it can lead to a healthier lifestyle for a home’s occupants and can lead to lower energy bills.

Over the course of a home’s mortgage, the energy savings attained through green building can help pay off the initial cost. Furthermore, the money donated by the Home Depot Foundation will help encourage such building.

Along with the money for building, grants will be given in order to help host training sessions for Habitat affiliate organizations. Because the money donated by the Home Depot Foundation is distributed annually, each year different habitat organizations will get a chance to apply for the grants.

The Daily Tell.com

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Aug

8th

Green Home Demand Going Up


More home buyers want eco-friendly or “green” homes since the recession- NewsHerald.comGreenResourcesHeader-2-small

“I think it’s just basic economics,” said Tom Gladstone, Florida Association of Home Builders regional vice president. “People are just more concerned about how they are spending their money.”

Gladstone owns Tom Gladstone Homes in Panama City and is a certified green professional. People looking to buy a new home want one with lower utility bills, he said. Homes using energy-efficient materials save about 25 percent to 30 percent a month on utilities for homeowners, he said.

A McGraw-Hill Construction report released in March shows green construction is up nationwide, said Arlene Stewart, AZS Consulting president. Construction is down about 40 percent compared to this time last year, according to another McGraw report, but what is being built must be eco-friendly to sell, Stewart said. The company is certified to inspect houses for green construction, according to its Web site.

“All reports indicate if you want to sell, it’s going to have to be green in more than one way,” Stewart said. “It’s a choice between either selling your projects or not selling your projects.”

Gladstone said between more energy-efficient technology and federal tax credits to encourage efficiency, more builders are building greener homes in the past couple of years. The National Association of Home Builders has seen about 25 homes per week since it began its certification program last year. Four homes are U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED-certified. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a standard for determining how eco-friendly a home is.

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Aug

3rd

Greener Buildings Boost Profit?


Green, more than a color, is a catchall term used to describe an ecoconscious lifestyle, including everything from hybrid-fuel-powered cars to recycled consumer goods to solar electricity. The big-minded concept is to preserve the Earth’s natural resources by reducing waste and pollution through innovative design and improved efficiency. In development circles, green has gone from a boutique idea to a mandatory part of architecture and construction.

“It’s not just about energy savings,” said Craig Willcut, president of United Construction, which opened new sustainable offices in Reno this year. “It’s about providing a healthy environment for employees, as well as being socially responsible for our part of the environment.”

Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of the Earth’s global warming, observers say.

 ”Corporate responsibility is becoming unavoidable,” said Rick Van Diepen, chairman of the Committee on the Environment for the Las Vegas chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “Employee productivity is being improved by 1 percent to 2 percent, conservatively, by working in a green building. That is a huge bottom-line savings.”

“Turning green can cut energy costs by 40 percent or more, and upgrading a building’s lighting can add $6 per square foot to its value.”

Read the entire article here:  Las Vegas Review-Journal: http://www.lvrj.com/business/52301302.html

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