[Ex-Ithacan]

An innovative development in an Ithaca suburb (from the Lansing Star online):

Innovative Development Mixes Affordability and Green
Friday, November 19, 2010 00:00 | by Dan Veaner | |
You hear a lot in Tompkins County these days about the need for affordable housing. You also hear a lot about green building. But it never seems like anybody is doing much of anything about it, in large part because of how expensive building is -- especially building green. One Lansing development is innovatively merging an unlikely combination of elements from home building in Ecuador and market-rate house building in Lansing to volunteer builders and reforestation and a free starter solar panel. That will bring down the price considerably for four houses in Farm Pond Circle, a mixed-income community.

"We've discovered that one of the barriers to green building is cost," says Lansing Developer Jack Jensen. "There is pressure to spend your money on square footage, gross size rather than quality. If it appraises for more it's worth more and you get more. There hasn't been an ethos that says it's better to have a 1,400 square foot house that costs no energy than a 5,000 square foot house that costs $10,000 a year to heat. God knows how many BTUs of junk that puts in the atmosphere."

Read more: http://www.lansingstar.com/business-...#ixzz16zqjtDuU