Building Green

[Chris Stewart]

So your thinking (with energy prices going up and all this talk of the consequences of global warming, etc.) you want to make your next home more energy efficient. There are so many new high tech products available (and such little information on if they actually work) it is extremely difficult (even for design professionals) to figure out what works best.

The best place to start is with builders and designers who demonstrate a commitment to sustainable and energy efficient homes. Look around their office, if you find books on the subject there is a good chance that green is more than a buzz word to them.

Next, find a home site that has good potential. The qualities you need to look for vary depending on the climate zone you are in. What works well in my area (hot and humid south) may not be appropriate in a colder northern climate.

Once you have a suitable piece of land, you can design a house that takes maximum advantage of nature. Many people over look this simple idea. Instead of finding all sorts of expensive products to help make a poor design energy efficient, start with an efficient design.

[Eric Hughes]

In the Great White North we also position are home to have are most windows to the south if at all possible!

[Chris Stewart]

Here is an example of a house that was designed for the site (left) and one that was just put there (right)

(This is the back of the house I had published on the CORA site.)

I worked hard to design a house that would fit on this very tiny lot and save this beautiful oak tree. Here in Texas, sun is not our friend about nine months out of the year. The porch of the house on the right faces southwest which will make it uncomfortable for most of the year. In addition evening sun will come into the living room and probably hit the area where the TV will be.
Also facing the side gives it much less privacy (even stepping off this porch will be a challenge)

The porch on the left will extend the occupants living space to the outside, the porch on the right will be a place to keep their grill out of the rain (but not out of sight).

[Chris Stewart]

From: http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%2...dies/index.htm





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Residential Case Studies

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Capitol Court Home & Studio

Jackson & McElhaney Architects
Michael McElhaney, AIA

Holt Residence Addition

Smith Holt, Architect

Johnson/Chronister Residence

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Black Residence

Rick Black, Architect

Seiler Residence

Shelter Design & Construction

Holt Residence

CHC Construction Services, Inc.

(infill) Residence

I & I Revivify

Pesado Studio

Pilgrim Building Company

Case Griffith Residence

Stanley Architects & Artisans, Inc.

[Chris Stewart]

So what will this new "greener" more efficient home of the future look like?

Simple logic may tell us that traditional homes, built before air conditioning, would be the best model for future homes. I would say that this is not true. 100 hundred years ago our knowledge of using natural resources to the best advantage was not as good as it is today. Also what we expect for minimum comfort levels are much higher now. Finally the materials and components we have to work with today allow us to do things which where not possible then.

The biggest challenge we face in designing a passive solar house is site orientation and existing trees. If every site in the world faced North and was in the same climate zone than we could have fairly consistent elevations. Then it would be possible to simply pick a plan out of a book and build it.

Unfortunately this is not the case. In order to take full advantage of natural conditions a home has to be designed at a minimum for it's orientation and climate zone. Certainly there are things we can do to make a poorly designed house more efficient. (low e windows, better insulation, etc..) but these things will only make a house better. They can not make the house as good as it could have been if it where designed correctly in the first place.

That being said, I don't think "Modern" style homes are necessarily better. The truth is that most homes are designed for a "look" or "style" more than efficiency and that has been true for a long time. I think that in the future if we choose to move to a low energy lifestyle our homes will be some combination of traditional and modern and the exact look will be dictated by efficiency and the site.

[kmapro]

I have gotten to where I try to design and build green whenever I can. All of my custom clients - and even some of my production builders.

I am a firm believer in ICF housing. I like the energy ratings and safety an ICF home can provide. For instance, American Polysteel advertises that their building system can reduce the home owners heating and cooling costs by 50% - 80%.

Couple that with the fact that the walls themselves can withstand a wind gust speed of 350 mph...the forms are manufactured with borate (a termite repellent) and you have one helluva home.

My clients are very impressed with the pluses, but are scared off by the higher price that seems to come along with it.

So, I tested it. I built an ICF home next door to my home. Well, i built the shell and the internal walls. I got it to the sheetrock stage and then sold it to one of the guys who flips houses.

One of the stipulations I had with this guy was that he had to convey to his purchaser that I wanted to see their first few months of power bills.

When all was said and done, the only cost difference I saw in the build was the cost of the concrete that went in the walls..about $4000. The homeowner should save that in the first two years of occupancy.

I am also a Jackson EMC (local power company) certified Right-Choice Home Builder. Right Choice is a program that is published by the Southface Energy group.

When I attended the right choice class, I mentioned the Polysteel structures I was building and mentioned that I wanted to start building more of them. The instructors were excited. They said that their home office (Atlanta) was being constructed with Polysteel IC Forms.

My second biggest challenge of selling a client on a "concrete" home is they are afraid of what the appearance will look like. When they here that their external walls will be made of concrete, they automatically think that their house will look like a concrete wall. I have to convince then that the home will look like any other home aside from the thicker window sills and door jambs.

I have to explain that any external product can be used..hardi, brick, stone, even vinyl.

I hope that, one day, I will have the funding to develop a small subdivision using ICF technology...I guess time will tell.

[Chris Stewart]

With all that recent tornado activity ICF walls may become more popular.

I would be interested in seeing the actual power consumption data. This kind of material is hard to come by. We are starting to see a few ICF structures being built around here. $4000 is a pretty small difference.

[Eric Hughes]

As I told you before I have the show house for the Michigan Energy Fair. We are currently working on a SketchUp model and sun study of it as we speak. And then we will start rendering it. I will post it when its finish. We are having issues with the deed restrictions on some of the green products since the deed restriction were written 10 years ago and the development has been sold twice since then. The house is passive solar, wind generated, solar hot water, lifetime design and zero step, ICF forms, pour in place conrete deck/floor in the garage with a shop below it, metal roof and hopefully reaching LEED H Gold the first in Michigan. I have several other green built ICF homes going or in the design phase plus we are hopefully going to be involed with to green built developments

http://www.litedeck.com/

http://www.thorntreecommons.com/

http://www.glrea.org/events/Michigan...2007/index.php

[Chris Stewart]

Yes Eric, I have been looking forward to hearing more on that project. I think you are leading the way for sure.

I will be looking into doing a sealed attic on an upcoming project. Insulating at the roof line with either:

http://www.sealection500.com/dem/s500/index.php
or
http://www.icynene.com/

I still have not had anyone approach me who is interested in passive efficiency. I try to sell it but there is very little interest here. I suppose in colder climates the idea of using solar energy is more common and in the desert thermal mass is excepted and my area is just between these two

[Eric Hughes]

Look in to using this Soy based product instead of icynene. I have used both and like the Soy based better.

http://www.biobased.net/index.php

http://www.prosealinsulation.com/