I found the article below interesting in how we define environmental consciousness in America. I would hardly call a 4200 square feet home friendly to the environment regardless of all the energy savers. On top of that I suspect the owners are working in Huntsville and driving from Ardmore each day using precious fossil fuel. We have a long way to go in understanding how to conserve our natural resources.
A real green house
Saturday, April 05, 2008
By YVONNE BETOWT
Times Staff Writer
[email protected]
Enviro-conscious building choices save money in long run
Like most people, Bruce and Marie Webb wanted their dream home to be something special. On the outside, their 4,200-square-foot, two-story, Federal-style, home on 21 acres just south of Ardmore looks normal.
But on the inside, it follows a trend of new homes that are environmentally friendly and, in the long run, moneysavers for their owners.
The National Association of Home Builders is behind the eco-friendly movement, and the Webbs' builder, Southern Construction and Design, owned by John Allen and Bob Goff, will soon be certified in the Green Building Program.
"We wanted to incorporate some green features in the house," said Webb, an engineer with SIAC and a Scottsboro native. "We tried to include as many as possible in the budget that would provide the most benefit in the shortest amount of time."
The house has 11-inch thick insulating concrete form (ICF) poured walls by Eco-Block, compared to most homes with four-inch thick wood frame walls. The amount of concrete used for the wall system was around 100 square yards.
"The ICF cost ranges from about 5 to 7 percent more up front, but you have between 40 (percent) and 50 percent less energy use throughout the life of your home than standard construction," said Allen.
It also has an advantage over wood-framed houses because it can withstand wind, fire and termites.
"Insulating Concrete Forms are hollow blocks or panels made of EPS (expanded polystyrene) plastic foam that construction crews stack into the shape of the exterior walls of a residential or commercial building," according to the Eco-block Web site (
www.eco-block.com). Workers then add reinforcing steel and fill the gap (typically 4-8 inches) between the two layers of foam with concrete, which cures and hardens into a monolithic core. The foam panel stays in place. This combination of concrete, steel and foam creates an incredibly strong and energy-efficient structure."
In addition to many of the eco-friendly aspects of the house, the Webbs, who are in their 40s, also included a storm shelter (basically a large hidden closet) on the south side of the house to provide a safe place for them and their dog during severe weather.
"It was a little difficult trying to figure out the best place for it, but we finally figured it out and it looks pretty good," said Webb, a graduate of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Marie, a native of Philadelphia, works on the arsenal and is a graduate of the University of Scranton.
The attic has R-41 insulation which is a bio-based spray foam, water- and soy-based that was sprayed on the roof truss rafters and completely seals the attic space. Most houses built today use R-30 insulation.
The Webbs' house also has a pair of two-ton, geo-thermal heating and cooling units with a vertical bore geothermal loop. There is one 300-foot bore hole for each two-ton system.
Geothermal, which means earth heat, is the use of the fairly constant temperature of the ground or water a few feet below the Earth's surface as source of heating and cooling.
The house's location was also considered in making it eco-friendly. It faces east, with several pine trees in the back yard to block the afternoon sun.
Unlike the Webbs, Allen said few people rarely think green when planning to build a house. But he said the construction industry must make "a paradigm shift" to encourage people to consider being more eco-friendly when constructing a home.
"People never think much about energy when building," said Allen. "They mostly think about the principal costs of the mortgage and insurance. But the big variable is the utility rate. This is the way to lock in a drastic reduction quickly of your current and future energy costs, which will continue to rise."
Allen recently attended the International Building Show in Orlando that drew more than 92,000 builders from around the world. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) held its first Green Day at the show to demonstrate all the eco-friendly materials in the building industry. It included green education seminars and officially kicked off the NAHB National Green Building Program and the Certified Green Professional designation.
"The National Association of Home Builders is encouraging builders to go green," said Allen. "The green drumbeat is starting to roll. It's all consumer driven because people are starting to look more at energy costs than anything else."
The Webbs, who live in Madison, had never built a house until now. But they did their homework to find as many energy-efficient measures they could for their home before embarking on building it last July. They hope to move in the next few weeks.
"We considered solar heating, but it was very expensive up front," said Webb. "The geo-thermal system was fairly expensive up front, but we felt we could get a quicker return for our money with it. We spent between 10 (percent) to 15 percent more up front for everything, but the ICF walls and foam spray will pay off in about two years and the geothermal system will pay off between five and 10 years."
The Webbs chose the dual pane Marvin windows, which are low emissivity and energy efficient, said Allen. The house has 32 windows, most 3 feet by six feet, at a cost of between $500 and $600 per window.
"The cost is recouped in the energy it saves," said Penn Dilworth, a sales representative for Marvin windows. "The argon molecules in the windows reduce the heat, cold and sound transmissions. You lose only about 1 percent of the argon in a year because it leaks out slowly."
Another green aspect of the house is the hot water generator which preheats the water to the on-demand gas water heater, reducing the amount of energy used before it becomes hot from the faucet.
The Webbs have also incorporated an irrigation system, Xeriscape, which collects and saves rainwater in an underground tank to water the lawn.
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