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!
4 comments:
Oooh. How neat. All great ideas. Another thing I recently learned about (did I already mention this in an e-mail?) is "radiant coating" done in the attic. Our family in Dallas had this done for $1500 and they are saving all sorts of cooling energy in the summer, and their electric bill has been about 25% less. Knowing Dallas is much hotter in the summer with more direct sun, I don't know if the same results could be had here in nashville, but it is worth looking into. From what they told me, a contractor comes and "paints" the stuff onto the attic roof and also adds some insulation.
Doing a quick google, I found that it is actually called "radiant barrier". Here are some links you might enjoy: http://www.prnewsnow.com/PR%20News%20Releases/Home%20and%20Family/Radiant%20Barriers%20an%20Integral%20Part%20of%20Green%20Construction
http://gogreensolarscreens.com/RadiantBarrier.html
http://www.insulatingpaints.com/radiant-barrier-coating/index.cfm
And looking at the facts, I'm thinking we might investigate this for our own home!
that's a great idea, i've seen that too and it looks really interesting. It's amazing what technology exists that can save SO much energy!! Someone call the building codes dept and get this stuff on the books!
That Rinnai tankless is the 1st step but the phoenix or phoenix solar is the holy grail in a combined heating and DHW with the addition of solar thermal.
www.stssolar.com
Billy and company need to take the next leap and go solar.
The rest is beautiful. I had a chanced, while in Nashville last year to tour the different projects. I don't know you Jenna but I'm a friend of Billy's out in CA. The Lawrence Bros. Are going down the right road!
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