Morgan Park Place Tour

Hey Y'all! I took a fabulous tour today of the "Morgan Park Place" homes that are being built here in Nashville by Lawrence Bros. LLC (click on the post's title to see their website). Bill Lawrence walked me around and they are all gloriously green inside and out. Let me show you what I learned...

On top of being cool to look at, the outer structures were built in very durable way (another key to sustainability is durability) They don't use wood on the outside because the wood is harvested too young now and doesn't hold up. On that same note, they use high quality materials and fixtures so there isn't a need to replace them and toss the old ones in the landfill. Most windows are north and south facing. The gutters all run the rain water into the gardens. Even the runoff from the driveways soaks into a permeable parking pad and seeps back into the earth. I wasn't tall enough to get a photo, but the roofs are a white reflective material to reflect the sunlight, v. cool.

Bill reiterated what I already thought was true, insulation plays the biggest role in energy efficiency. These homes have blown in open-cell foam insulation throughout, are wrapped in insulation, even the garage door is insulated. For our remodel home, re-insulating the attic and crawl space will play a big role in what we do. For older homes, he said insulating the roof rafters instead of the ceiling is key.

The second biggest role is played by the HVAC unit. I have a lot more to learn about that! The interesting point he made was they put a fresh air intake to their HVAC units. Most are using the air from the crawl space (which might be moldy) or the attic (which usually has loose fiberglass particles floating around in it) and lower the air quality in the home.

Something that I totally want to give this family is a tankless water heater! Here's a good one. Bill said this was an easy switch from an existing tank hot water heater if the home's water was heated with gas (this makes me want one for my own home!!) The hot water tank is responsible for as much as 25% of the homes energy usage!! With tankless you never run out of hot water because it makes the hot water as you need it and never stores more than a quart. Also, think of the extra space you would have in that closet or utility room for your brooms and such without that big ol' ugly tank there!

this is the beautiful kitchen (sorry for the blur). The appliances are all energy star, the cabinets contain no formaldehyde & under foot is beautiful bamboo flooring.

The surprise for me was the granite, which doesn't seem inherently green to me, but it is a solid surface, contains no glue or resins and is incredibly durable so there ya go... granite=green, who knew!

Some other highlights of the tour were the 100% recycled sheetrock, carpets made of recycled plastic bottles, front loading washing machine (which are SO much better than top loaders at water and energy efficiency they sell their units with one already in place!) gorgeous stained concrete floors (i was too captured by their beauty to remember to take a picture, duh), triple paned low-e windows, composite decking, low-VOC paints, etc., etc.

What a great tour and a wealth of information!! Thanks so much Bill Lawrence!

Eco-mmunity

Hey y'all, I was just browsing the Sundance Channel's "the green" website (because I love their green programming) and joined the eco-mmunity! So now The Fresh Green Start Project is officially on the map. It is so cool, anywhere you are in the country, you can find others who are like minded or who are starting up a project of their own that you may want to help with. And others can find us! What a great thing...
Just click the title of this post to go straight there. Check it out.

the plan

I have gotten some great responses so far and feel even more energized than yesterday! I wanted to give y'all some more details of the plan and timeline of the project as I hope it plays out.

Once a property is secured, I am going to get an energy audit inspection to see exactly what changes will make the greatest impact to the home and tailor the plan to fit those specific needs. I have talked to the folks at CHEAP (Community Home Energy Audit Project) in the past about doing this, but just tried them again today and the number was cutoff. I will do some more digging, I hope they are still out there, what a great program.

From the research I've done there are a few biggies that we will definately need to address and others that will make the home fabulous and fresh.

1) Insulation: the single greatest energy saver... This means attic, pipes, crawlspace, etc.
2) Windows: depending on the state of the current windows this will be either recaulking and low-e window film application or brand-new windows
3) Resealing or replacing doors
4) Upgraded Hot Water System (hopefully tankless or solar, still researching the benefits of each)
5) Fresh interior Low VOC paint and exterior (depending on exterior material)
6) Sustainable flooring (bamboo would be my first choice)
7) New Energy Star Appliances (kitchen, w/d, furnace, etc.)
8) Native landscaping

a few things that will be the cherry on this sundae are:
1) new roof
2) new walkways and driveways with water friendly pavers
3) a rain catching irrigation system
4) solar energy panels
5) shade shutters for the most sun-vunerable windows
6) some furnishings and extras for the family

Of course this is all hypothetical not knowing what shape the house is in, but a good jumping off point.

I hope to have a property lined up by the end of October so the fundraising and donation getting can be in full swing throughout the winter with the actual remodel taking place in April/May of 2008. YAY!

first steps

The first step as I can see is to find a house or a small apartment building to do this remodel to! I live in East Nashville (an area of the city just over the river from downtown nashville) in the neighborhood of Edgefield (http://historicedgefield.org/ if you are interested).

East Nashville is not short on low-income options, but most of them are managed by Metro Housing and they have so far been hard to reach. I don't think, from what I have heard, that Government housing is the way to go, I would much rather find a private landlord that is interested in this project and who's heart is in it. I must start talking to people in East Nashville about this and see what I can come up with. Feel free to make suggestions!

My other first step is to find a group of people that want to help this project get off the ground. Wanna help?! I will keep you posted on the fabulous people who join me.

If you have any questions or comments please email me at freshgreenstart@yahoo.com

here goes!

I've been talking about this project for over a year and have only gotten more and more excited and sure that it is a great plan and needs to come to life. So, here goes... first steps... and I wanted to document it here for you. The project is called "Fresh Green Start" and what I aim to do is remodel low-income housing in an environmentally sound way to do two very important things. One, benefit the family living there by lowering their energy costs as much as possible and allowing them to spend thier wages in more productive ways. And two, benefit the earth by lowering that homes carbon emmissions. It is a perfectly balanced cycle for the families who need it most: lower the energy output, lower the cost of living!
I named it "Fresh Green Start" because I hope to give that family the feeling of a fresh start by moving into an affordable, yet newly remodeled home. One that will allow them to feel pride in thier home, and inturn renew pride in themselves. It is my hope that the children living in this home will feel empowered learn more and to share thier knowledge.

a little about me:
I was raised in West Virginia by a mother who was a counselor and a father who was an engineer and an environmentalist. From these two lovely people, I have a very strong sense of the importance of service to other people as well as the earth. The idea that what I do effects not only myself but everyone living on this earth today and for generations to come. I am so grateful to have had this education as a young person. For years I was best at the service to other people, especially children, until the need for environmental action hit me right upside the head, literally. We were living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Watching our sweet city wash away was one of the hardest and most helpless moments of my life. I was sent an email days later warning, with chilling accuracy, about the environmental events that had begun to unfold. I dug deeper and learned more about the recent effects of the global climate change and the role that humans are having in effecting the earth so severely. And closer to home I now see the great need for affordable housing and not the stereotypical Projects that keep those living there in a cycle of poverty and despair, but a new kind of affordable housing. I wanted to build a house or apartment that a family could feel proud to come home to and that moves in a direction toward the well-balanced relationship we should all have with the planet we live on. Letting it help us with solar energy and rain water, and us helping it by not carelessly using more energy than is necessary.
Helping people and helping the earth, ah, a fresh green start...

If you have any questions or comments please email me at freshgreenstart@yahoo.com