Practical Eco

Central Carolina Community College to build two new centers to LEED standards

Central Carolina Community College plans to build two new centers that meet LEED silver standards. One is a new 24,500 sf Siler City Center which was awarded to Monteith Construction of Monroe, and was designed by Hobbs Architects, of Pittsboro and is expected to cost $4.16 million. Construction is set to start within the month.

The county is also building a 25,000 sf Chatham Community Library on the Chatham Campus. The Library was designed by Cherry Huffman Associates, of Raleigh, and will built by Barnhill Construction, of Tarboro. Construction is scheduled to begin in August on this county-college joint-use facility.

CCCC President Bud Marchant said, “We have the programs and we have people interested in enrolling. Now, we will have the space to accommodate many more and deliver the educational services that will benefit the residents, communities and businesses of a thriving Chatham County.”

For the full news release click here.

2-day Green Building for Professionals course in Chapel Hill August 31

Michael Chandler, Owner of Chandler Design-Build, will be teaching a two-day class, "Green Building for Building Professionals," in Chapel Hill on August 31 and September 1.

Michael has been building solar and green homes in the region for over thirty years. His company's projects have drawn national recognition -– receiving first place in 2005 for "Aging in Place Design for a New Custom Home" at the NAHB International Building Show and second place in 2006 at the NAHB National Green Building Awards for "Custom Home of the Year." Michael also writes for Fine Homebuilding Magazine on structural, plumbing, and aging-in-place design topics, and he is one of the advisors on GreenBuildingAdvisor.com.

This course, which is one of two classes required for the Certified Green Professional designation from the National Association of Home Builders, discusses strategies for incorporating green building techniques into homes without driving up the cost of construction. Fees for the two-day Green Building for Building Professionals class are: $325 for members of the Green Home Bldrs of the Triangle; $350 for HBA members; and $425 for nonmembers. Pre-registration is required. Contact Leigh Scott (leigh (at) hbadoc.com; 919-493-8899) to get a registration form or click here for details.

We've written about Chandler more than once here on Practical Eco, as he's one of the original green heroes in the Triangle area. Our first posting here was 2 years ago.

New FBI field office in Charlotte NC to be LEED certified

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HIW), announced their joint venture with USAA Real Estate has been awarded a build-to-suit lease by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to develop an approximate $45 million field office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The 171,000 square foot, five-story Class A office building and annex, with structured parking, will be built on an 11.6-acre parcel of land they are acquiring. This building will be LEED certified. Construction is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2010 and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2011.

Read the full press release here.

Green Make-over for a 3 bed Wilmington NC home

A Wilmington home is about to get a green gut rehab and expects to be the first LEED certified gut rehab in the state and only the 31st in the country.

Some of the strategies they aim to employ include:

• Harvesting rain from the roof for irrigation and flushing toilets.
• Using ground-mounted photovoltaic panels to generate 3 kilowatts for a net zero energy home.
• Eliminating the garage in favor of a carport to avoid the potential contamination of indoor air.
• Preparing an operating manual for the home.

Read the full story here on Star News.

Optima Engineering earns a LEED Platinum for their Charlotte offices

Optima Engineering, earned LEED® Platinum certification for its 16,000 square-foot South End office at 1927 South Tryon St. in Charlotte NC.  Optima Engineering is the first in the Charlotte area to have achieved this designation.

Some of the features of the office which helped it to achieve the rating include the use of rapidly bamboo flooring, reclaimed sorghum straw wood, skylights with daylighting sensors for the lighting, a highly efficient HVAC system and the dense urban location close to clients, light rail, and restaurants and retail.

Optima Engineering’s office building also features a rooftop solar photovoltaic array, producing electricity that is sold to Duke Energy, and a solar thermal system to boot.

Deltec Homes’ Model built to “NC Healthy Built” Standards

Deltec Homes is a family run business that has been building energy efficient, hurricane resistant, circular homes for 40 years, based in Asheville NC.

Their new model home in Mars Hill, NC (near Asheville,NC) was completed as a North Carolina Healthy Built Home in October 2008. A Grand Opening Celebration is planned for Sunday June 28, 1-5PM and Monday June 29, 10am-4pm in Mars Hill, NC. It will feature:

    * Tours of the New Round, Energy Efficient, 3800 sq ft home
    * Visit Exhibitor Booths
    * Talk with Green Experts
    * Educational Seminars (Designing a Green Home (20-30 min), Introduction to Solar Energy (20-30 min),Understanding Financial Incentives for Building Green (20 min))

The new Deltec Homes’ model home promotes a comprehensive approach to sustainability by integrating the key components of green building design and construction
This includes site selection and development, energy and water efficiency, materials selection, resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and homeowner education.

The 3800 square foot model home is projected to use 50% less energy than homes of similar size.

It also focused on indoor environmental quality with continually circulating fresh air, a sealed crawlspace, low VOC finishes and formaldehyde free cabinets.

The home promotes exceptional durability through mold and termite resistant framing, fiber cement siding, and a structural shell that was built in a controlled factory environment to limit exposure to building materials during construction.

Deltec produces all of its homes with 100% renewable energy. The prefabricated, panelized structural shell is built with 78% less waste than a typical stick-built home through Deltec’s extensive recycling and reuse program.

NAHB National Green Building Awards honors local builder Red-B

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building awards last Friday put the best in green residential design in the spotlight.  The awards dinner kicked off the 11th annual NAHB National Green Building Conference in Dallas last weekend.

Durham NC local building company Red-B Construction took the award for "Single-family Remodeling Project of the Year." 

For a list of all of the other winners and categories see the story here.

ICF construction open site May 8th and 9th in Chapel Hill

Triangle Polyteel is hosting an open job site this Friday May 8th from 3-5 pm and Saturday May 9th from 9-11 am. Anyone will be welcome to view this Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) construction going up. During each day at the middle hour (3:30-4:30 or 9:30-10:30) there will be a formal introduction to the methods and materials of ICF construction. The half-hour either side allows for visitors to walk around the site and ask question of the builder or the Polysteel distributor.

Come see and feel for yourself the strength, security and performance that only ICF construction can offer. 
The address is:
1023 Russells Ford Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
map

A Triangle PolySteel job site sign marks the entrance to the private gravel drive.  The project is about a half a mile down the gravel drive.  You will see signs for the address.

Please rsvp to bradley@trianglepolysteel.com indicating which day you expect to come.

5 Steps to Building Affordable Green Homes

FirstCoast Homes, in Charleston, SC, is one company offering green homes at about the same price as conventional homes. Their Energy Star-rated homes cost only $1000 more per house to build than their previous methods and deliver 20% to 30% more energy efficiency. 

FirstCoast builds primarily starter homes ranging from $129,000 to $209,000 in price. And since 2008 they have built only Energy Star-qualified homes. They now build every home with effective insulation, low-E windows, sealed ducts, 14-SEER heat pumps, and Energy Star-rated Whirlpool appliances.

There are five strategies that FirstCoast follows to deliver Energy Star rated homes at reasonable prices:

1. Back to Basics
Rather than rely on new technologies or products FirstCoast uses typical building methods and improves upon them. They focus on proper installation and third-party evaluation of many of the systems in the house.

2. The Great Seal
One of the most important parts of an efficient home is the tightness of the building envelope. FirstCoast relies on Home Energy Solutions of Charleston to perform methodical sealing of the shell with a combination of foam sealing and caulking throughout the building envelope.  Foam is used to seal the wire and plumbing penetrations through the OSB sheathing, caulk at the base plate and corners, and low-expansion foam around the doors and the windows. This sealing package reduces the potential air infiltration to the home by about 30%.

3. Proper Insulation Installation
By doing a good job of sealing, they avoid the added cost of spray foam insulation and can use cheaper fiberglass, but they stress proper installation.

4. Strategic Cost Savings
FirstCoast realizes savings from strategic moves. The company upgraded its windows to low-E high-performance units, but it reduced the number of windows it uses, which reduces costs. The improved sealing, insulation and windows allow the company to reduce the air conditioning needs by one ton. This saves between $400 and $800 per house.

5. Look for Back-End Deals
Regional programs may also help defray the added costs of shifting to Energy Star building practices and FirstCoast recommends builders connect with local power companies for rebate programs and other benefits. Quite a few of their homes are in electric co-ops which often help off-set the costs if a builder follows their prescriptive requirements.

Source: Builder Online

New NC Museum of Art Building aims for LEED Gold

The North Carolina Museum of Art’s new building is aiming for LEED gold standards when it opens in 2010. 

The new expansion is designed to allow more natural light to control energy costs but will still protect artwork from sunlight's damaging rays. It will do this with ultraviolet filers, louvers and curtains. And if direct sunlight threatens artworks, blackout shades will be deployed by sensors. Dan Gottlieb, the museum’s director of planning and design, said, “We have spent about as much money keeping light out as we have letting light in.”

The design will save water by using a 90,000-gallon cistern to hold roof water runoff and air conditioning condensation. The water will be used to irrigate the gardens that make up much of the museum’s new look. The building will also feature five courtyards and three reflecting pools.

The museum will close this September 6th to move its 800 artworks to the new, 127,000-square foot building, which is scheduled to open the following April.

Caravan Village Aims Higher Than Green

Caravan Village is the vision of architect Tim Watson, as an eco-restorative community of homes. This community, in Franklinville NC, will go beyond the usual concepts of green building. It aims to put more back into the environment that it takes out. That's an almost unheard of idea for housing developments - even so called green developments.

Caravan Village seeks to create a positive inter-generational community by accommodating the needs of aging and infirm in inclusive ways that integrate them into the wider community. So it goes beyond usual concepts of Universal Design or Aging In Place too. It will create a place where people of all ages and abilities can live happily in harmony.

Some of the amenities planned for the community include:

• Solar Photovoltaic Golf Cart charging
• Golf cart lanes
• Shuttle bus stop to other areas
• Space for communal or individual gardening
• Rain Gardens
• Living retention pond
• Permaculture systems
• On site utility co-op

One of the things I particularly like about it is the utility co-op concept where several homes can share resources like solar photovoltaic, solar hot water, air conditioning, rain water storage etc. This can lower the up-front cost for each home to enjoy these benefits which offer cost savings, security and social improvements.

Plus, Tim intends for one in every five homes to be partly subsidized with the occupant taking responsibility for upkeep of the utility co-op in return.

see www.tlwarchitect.com for more information

Mega LEED for Homes development in DC

Washington DC developer EYA has begun building a 210-townhouse project which will be the largest green residential project in the country. EYA is aiming for LEED standards for all of the townhomes in the project. 

“The homes at Capitol Quarter provide more energy savings, better indoor air quality, and less impact on the environment than standard new townhomes – all qualities that the LEED for Homes program is designed to promote,” the EYA press release said.

The first phase of homes are due to be available by May of this year, with the entire project expected to be completed by the fall of 2010. Prices start at $630,000.

Local Green Builder Says Homes Sales are Steady

A local green home builder in Chapel Hill NC, Zinn Design Build, says that they sold homes at a steady rate through the 4th quarter of 2008, bucking what seems to be the trend. Zinn sold 9 homes in the last quarter ranging from $515k to $1.3m in price. Meantime, according to the MLS, sales in that price band are down 39% versus 2007, across the Triangle. So it seems that green built homes are moving again in spite of the general economic malaise.

Each of their homes is certified by the Green Building Initiative (GBI), a program administered by the local Home Builders Association, and ENERGY STAR, and federal government program.

Zinn Design Build’s bestsellers are located in the communities of Claremont and Montclair. Claremont is a welcoming and distinctive community located on Homestead Road. Single-family homes are available from the $500s to $1 million and twin townhomes priced from the $350s. Montclair is an upscale neighborhood off Culbreth Road in Chapel Hill offering sophisticated single-family homes on private homesites from $1 million upward.

Georgia Bizios "Green By Design"

Local green architect Georgia Bizios has written an article about the advantages of green building, together with Katie Wakeford, for the News & Observer. They highlight top green building tips from five top architects in North Carolina who regularly build green homes.

The architects quoted are Brian Grant, Alicia Ravetto, Tina Govan, Jay Fulkerson and Erik V. Mehlman.

The key ideas discussed in the article are:
1. Outdoor living space - more economical to build and reduce the area you need to condition.

2. Passive solar design - dramatically reduce heating and cooling needs by intelligent design.

3. Efficient floor plan - keeping it simple and efficient can reduce waste and reduce energy demand.

4. Location - smart choices can reduce the time spent in cars and use less resources.

5. Daylighting - well planned use of daylight will make for a happier healthier environment while reducing the need for electric energy.

6. Cross stack ventilation - designing a building to take advantage of the cross stack effect can reduce energy needed to cool the home while making for a healthier environment.

7. Solar hot water - can reduce heating bills by up to 80%

See the full article here.

The Orchard: A New Development of Upscale Green Homes in Chapel Hill

Off of Jones Ferry Rd near the fork with Damascus Rd just outside of Carrboro is a new green built community of 18 homes called The Orchard. These homes are all certified by the Green Building Initiative (GBI) standards to a gold or silver level.

The homes sit on two-acre plots and are about 4600 square feet in size with prices starting at $1 million. For one of two available homes now click here.

Dale Giera, chief executive officer of Hampton Green Homes said, "By including solar thermal standard in each and every home, and by giving homeowners the option for photovoltaic solar, we are setting a new energy standard in green building."

For more information about The Orchard and a complete list of green features, please visit www.liveattheorchard.com.

Greenspiration - a showcase home in Greensboro

Husband and wife, Mark Raines and Trish Holder were inspired back in 2007 to build a showcase green home. They had a vision of a traditional home that was truly green without looking one bit out of place in a suburban neighborhood. They also believed it could be done within a normal middle-class budget. So that’s exactly what they set out to do; and today the house is well on its way. Trish and Mark and their children should be moved in to the home in the Pleasant Oaks subdivision of Greensboro before Christmas. 

What makes this house a bit extra special is that they chose to make a showcase of the home so others right here in Greensboro, and elsewhere, could see the potential for affordable green suburban homes.  They setup a website at www.Greenspirationhome.com where visitors have the opportunity to share the owners’ journey as they make critical decisions regarding design, hvac systems, building materials, and more. The site also offers product information and demonstrations, on-site training for builders and contractors and notification of open houses.

Habitats building greener

Just as my back starts to recover from Saturday's work at a Habitat home in Durham, I'm delighted to read in the N&O an article about how charity built homes are getting greener.  The N&O article says that 80% of these low income homes built by charities like Habitat for Humanity are now equipped with energy saving features. See the full article here.

The home I was working on, is being built by Durham Habitat and sponsored by the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF).  ERUUF member and green builder Tom O'Dwyer persuaded the Habitat team to build in a number of additional cost effective energy saving features and then encouraged several fellow members to cough up the extra $1200 - a paltry sum really for what was done. Tom's improvements to the design include increasing the overhangs, increased insulation to R60, radiant barrier roof deck and increased caulking of all joints. He also sealed all of the edges  of cabinetry wood components to minimize any off gassing.

And the really great news is that the Habitat team like the improvements so much that they're aiming to include them in future builds.

 

R-Anell wins award for its downtown Asheville Lexington Station project

R-Anell Homes has won the 2008 National Modular Housing Council Design Award for the modular multi-family category with its Lexington Station project.

Lexington Station is located in downtown Asheville. It integrates 70 residential condos, 25,000 square feet of office and retail space on the first level, a restaurant and 100 underground parking spaces across three multi-story buildings.  It also features outdoor plazas and courtyards.

The condominiums range in price from $170,000 to $500,000. Inside, the condominiums feature hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, gourmet-style kitchens and thermal windows.

Lexington Station was built using elements of R-Anell's Build It Green construction program. R-Anell has modeled its Build It Green program to incorporate many of the requirements of the North Carolina Healthy Built Home program, the NAHB Green Building Standards and the USGBC’s LEED program.

Green Community in the heart of Charlotte

Celadon is a unique community with a green vision. Developer James Funderburk seeks to "lessen our footprint on the Earth by promoting smarter development," according to  their website.  There's no denying it's a very slick urban development. And it's obviously struck a chord as the 24 units are nearly sold out, with only two remaining.

Celadon's location is directly on the Wesley Heights Greenway with extensive walking and biking trails. Plus it has a dedicated bike trail that runs directly uptown on the 4th Street Extension. 

The units will feature Low VOC paints, bamboo flooring with low VOCs meeting the European E1 standard, dual flush toilets, tankless water heaters, high efficiency HVAC, "cool roof" technology to reduce the heat island effect and many other green features.

Natural Homes Design Build - timber frame green homes

Joi and Ron Tannert who run Natural Homes Design Build are earnest and passionate about building quality homes. They also build very elegant homes that don't skimp on luxuries. Joi's interior design experience means they can deliver the whole package with interiors if that's what you want. Ron's 30 years of construction experience means they really know their stuff.

While they're not fitting solar panels the house I saw was solar ready, which is very smart and will save someone a bit of money if they want to fit solar hot water later on.

They certainly do build them tight and insulate them well which is great. And while the timber frame components are typically shipped from the West Coast with all that embodied energy, that might be something I would live with given the sheer beauty and luxury that they create.

My Home Building Help LLC helps owners build their own sustainable homes

Bill Klotz found his mission in life, helping people to build their own homes. Best of all he's steering people toward sustainable, high-performance building that save owners money.  Bill maintains that it doesn't have to cost much more to build a high performance home. It can be done by following good building practices and paying attention to detail. His company, My Home Building Help, started helping self-builders achieve better results at the start of this year. They offer services from Building Science Plan Reviews for clients anywhere in the country through to a complete General Contractor Package that takes on the full responsibility of the build for a flat fee.  They'll even act as agent when the owner chooses to build with a contractor, and ensure the owner gets what he wants.

What makes Bill Klotz so right for this role? He's not only worked for one of the largest builders in the Country, but he worked with Advanced Energy, a cutting edge national construction consulting firm right here in Raleigh. There he learned about the latest developments in building science and helped builders diagnose and solve problems. And he developed methods to simplify the construction management process so anyone could do it.

Construction Resources exceeds Energy Star standards by 350%

Local builder Construction Resources, has built a home that has been independently rated at 350% above the Energy Star standards for energy efficiency. And no it hasn't been done with any fancy new technology, or at least not much. Basically it's just a solidly build home that has been sealed tight and insulated well with the addition of a solar hot water system.  Of course, it has a sealed crawl space.  Sealing it tight (and this house rated 178% better than Energy Star in the Blower Door test) is all about the details. They've caulked everything including the cabinetry and sub floor.

The walls which are simply framed with 2x6s are insulated for an R21 with fiberglass batts, but the attic has a whopping R-62 from cellulose. And another little detail, there's an R49 hatch cover for the attic stairs, where you'd otherwise have a great big heat loss.  Tech Shield sheathing also does a great deal to hold back the heat in the attic. 

So, according to the independent raters at Southern Energy Management, the home which is about 2500 square feet will cost about $25 per month for heating and cooling over the year. 

Construction Resources' Tom O'Dwyer has shown that attention to detail, good building practices and most of all just caring can do a lot to make homes super energy efficient. 

Southern Ideal Home Show coming up this weekend

The Southern Ideal Home show is on at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh this Friday, Saturday and Sunday September 21-23.

I'm not sure how recently they started the Green Building category but it's clearly growing. I count 18 listed companies at this show compared with 12 at the previous show.  That seems to show either an increasing interest in Green Building from the public (which I think is true anyhow) or a realization on the part of vendors that the show helps them grow business - possibly both. After all I'm now considering if I should be an exhibitor at the next show. 

This year show I'll be there working with one of my partner companies, Healthy Home Insulation. So if you're at the show, drop by and say hi.

Chandler Design Build

"Green" doesn't work well enough to describe the homes Michael Chandler builds. I think "authentic" gets closer. Certainly his work is authentic in terms of expressing his character as well as the materials that go into the buildings. Things like soapstone fireplaces, shingle siding and gorgeous wood details throughout showcase the materials for their natural beauty. The designs are all very easy to love and easy to live in as a result of the time and care he and his wife put into understanding each client.

What most impresses me most is the build quality and the engineering. They've learned to build very tight and energy efficient homes that are generally 60% better than code standards. Of course, code should be simply unacceptable as a standard for any homeowner today, but this is a commendable achievement.

Michael is also very active in the National Association of Home Builders'  (NAHB) Green Building Initiative (GBI). As a caring thinking person, he wants to work for more improvements in building standards across the board. But as a lifestyle choice he limits his team to 4 homes per year. To reconcile that Michael takes a role as co-chair of the GBI educational committee, which gets him out talking to groups of builders who want to improve their practices.