OK, so I’ve whined enough about the individual designations. Let’s talk about where the rubber meets the road – the buildings themselves. There are almost 100 local and regional green building programs out there with a wide range of requirements to get a building certified as green. Some have very stringent requirements including 3rd party testing of each house, others are a simple as the builder filling out a checklist and self certifying. I tend to prefer the former, where someone other than the builder is responsible for making sure the work is done right. In addition to that, some programs require that you test only a certain percentage of projects, assuming (usually incorrectly) that if you do some of your projects right, they will all be right. I like the idea of testing every project every time to make sure that they are as high performance as expected.
Beyond the local and regional programs, we now have several national options. Energy Star has been around the longest. Until recently, it only covered energy efficiency, although they are in the process of expanding to include indoor air quality and water savings, bringing them more in line with other green programs. LEED for Homes, a program of the US Green Building Council, is probably the highest profile program. It is available for new homes and total gut renovation projects, and has some very stringent, if obtuse requirements that will tend to limit it to builders who can deal with the administrative complexities. This year, NAHB released their new National Green Building Program (doesn’t that name just roll off your tongue?). Created specifically to give builders an alternative to LEED for Homes, it is a program that is both stringent and more manageable at the same time. At the lower end, it leaves the option for self certification, but at the higher end it does require the 3rd party verification that every program should have. This program will eventually have a remodeling component, but it currently only addresses new homes. Time will tell which program, if any, takes control of the market and becomes “the” standard out there.
Thus far, programs that certify residential remodeling are limited to a few local areas such as Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Scottsdale AZ, (my apologies to any that I have missed). USGBC developed an interesting set of guidelines for remodeling (full disclosure – I was one of the co-authors), but they are not planning on certifying renovation projects anytime soon. Home Performance with Energy Star is another option for renovators to learn about green remodeling and provide certification for their projects.
I haven’t made up my mind where I stand on these programs. I like the idea of local programs which address regional climate conditions and building conventions. I also like the idea of a national standard and brand for green building.
Conclusions? Who knows where this will end up and which program will end up on top? There are many options out there, all I can say is take advantage of them, learn about green building and remodeling and get your projects individually tested and certified. Having spent most of the last 8 years working on this, I can tell you it will be worth the trouble.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Monday, September 29, 2008
Green designations and certifications
I’m going to go out on a limb here and complain about what NARI and NAHB are doing with their green professional designations. Hopefully I won’t make too many enemies, but I think this deserves some serious discussion. NAHB has a 2 day green building course which leads to obtaining the CGP (Certified Green Professional) designation. NARI has a 12 week long web seminar (once a week), that leads to their GCP (Green Certified Professional) designation. Talk about confusing, just shoot me now. I was involved, at varying levels, with both the training and the criteria for the designations, and, not uncharacteristically, I was the fly in the ointment in many discussions about how to make them more, rather than less, rigorous. I attempted to require extensive experience and a history of having completed projects that were certified by a third party in order to obtain these designations, but those requirements were not included.
I have been concerned for a long time that there are too many people out there calling themselves green builders and remodelers who are not really doing truly “green” projects. It concerns me even more that, now that these designations are becoming more common, that consumers will see them as “certification” that the work that these professionals do will be green. It may or may not, but in any case, the average consumer will not have any way of knowing unless they are extremely well educated in the subject. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited that the training is available, and lots of professionals are taking advantage of it to expand their knowledge. I am just very wary of expanded “greenwashing” that we will likely be seeing as the suddenly trendy green movement explodes in the market. Green building is not always easy, and it is very possible that a professional with a designation will not have all the experience they need to make the right set of decisions, creating more problems than had they not even tried to build green.
Stay tuned for more on this subject….
I have been concerned for a long time that there are too many people out there calling themselves green builders and remodelers who are not really doing truly “green” projects. It concerns me even more that, now that these designations are becoming more common, that consumers will see them as “certification” that the work that these professionals do will be green. It may or may not, but in any case, the average consumer will not have any way of knowing unless they are extremely well educated in the subject. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited that the training is available, and lots of professionals are taking advantage of it to expand their knowledge. I am just very wary of expanded “greenwashing” that we will likely be seeing as the suddenly trendy green movement explodes in the market. Green building is not always easy, and it is very possible that a professional with a designation will not have all the experience they need to make the right set of decisions, creating more problems than had they not even tried to build green.
Stay tuned for more on this subject….
Getting in Hot Water
As homes become more and more efficient, we need to look for new frontiers in energy and resource conservation. One of the next ones on the horizon is water heating. We have many great options for heating water efficiently including tankless heaters, super high efficiency tank units, geothermal, and solar. They all have their pros and cons, depending on the particular project. One thing that they all have in common is that none of them are effective when connected to a poorly designed hot water distribution system. I have heard stories of homeowners replacing their old tank water heater with a new tankless unit, only to be upset that the hot water didn’t arrive at their faucet instantly, and incorrectly blaming it on the new heater. The tankless heater was working perfectly, heating water only when needed, but the problem arises when that nice hot water needs to travel seventy or eighty feet to the fixtures, wasting water which runs down the drain waiting for the hot water to arrive, and wasting any energy used to heat water that remains in the pipes and cools off. We need to reconsider how we move hot water around the house using structured plumbing systems, on demand hot water pumps, and just plain common sense when designing our homes. We put too little thought into our house design, sticking bathrooms all over the place when placing them in close proximity to a water heater would save energy and water with little or no effort.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Watch Out for Vampires
Not the Dracula type, the household ones we all have. Vampires are all the little (and some big) electronics that are always in the on position. Just look around your house at night and you will see all the little lights that are on – clocks, cable TV boxes, DVD players, stereos, TV’s charges, appliances, and the list goes on. While houses have become more efficient over the years, the extra electrical load has offset most if not all of the energy savings from efficiency. Manufacturers are currently redesigning chargers for cell phones and other devices to cut down on their standby power usage when not charging, which is a start. Unplugging many of these when not in use helps to cut down on electricity usage. Using a power strip that you can turn off is a low tech way to accomplish this. It is possible to use remote control switching to turn off selected equipment automatically when you leave the house. Unfortunately, programming is often lost and clocks are reset, so many of these products can’t be turned on and off regularly without great inconvenience. What we need is for manufacturers to redesign their products so they use less, or preferably no power when we aren’t using them. We may have to suffer a little by waiting a minute or two for the TV to turn on, but in the long run, changes like these will allow us to enjoy our luxurious lifestyles longer than not making them.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Water
Parts of the country are seeing truly historic drought conditions. Water supplies are dwindling in the south, yet truly effective conservation measures are avoided like the plague. In Georgia they actually relaxed water restrictions on the same day a court decision came down denying the city of Atlanta the rights to water from the only significant lake in the area. Great governing! One local county just started requiring the replacement of inefficient plumbing fixtures with low flow units when homes are sold. This is a good start, but will barely scratch the surface of the problem.
In most of the country, the generation of electricity requires the use of fresh water. One study determined that 39% of our fresh water is used for power plants. So one of the best long term solutions to water shortages is to use less electricity. That means making homes more efficient and using fewer and more efficient appliances and lights. If we are smart, the current real estate crisis will lead us towards more reasonably sized and efficient homes, ultimately reducing our need for power, leaving more water to drink in the long term. We can survive without power – sweating is rarely fatal, and there are always more jackets and blankets to keep us warm, but we can’t live without water.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
In most of the country, the generation of electricity requires the use of fresh water. One study determined that 39% of our fresh water is used for power plants. So one of the best long term solutions to water shortages is to use less electricity. That means making homes more efficient and using fewer and more efficient appliances and lights. If we are smart, the current real estate crisis will lead us towards more reasonably sized and efficient homes, ultimately reducing our need for power, leaving more water to drink in the long term. We can survive without power – sweating is rarely fatal, and there are always more jackets and blankets to keep us warm, but we can’t live without water.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Get a Load of This!
Today’s subject has little, if anything, to do with green, but it is definitely curmudgeonly. I walked into Home Depot the other day and to my surprise (well only somewhat, as I had heard about this and was looking for it), I spy a flyer for their custom bath remodeling services. The interesting thing about the flyer is that the bath photograph was not a remodeling project. Why do I know, you ask? Well, because it is a bathroom in a new house I built in 2007. Not only is it not a remodeling project, it had nothing to do with Home Depot. Now, I don’t think there was any malicious intent in their using this photo. They probably got it from one of the manufacturers who provided products for the house. It ended up in their marketing department, or an outside agency, where someone putting together an ad, looking for a nice bathroom shot, ran across it and popped it. About a million printings later, and viola, I am famous in my anonymity, serving the purposes of the big orange box.
I don’t have any ill feelings towards them, as a matter of fact, I kind of appreciate finding something new to complain about. I was running out of ideas, and BOOM!, one lands in my lap. Hopefully they will learn the errors of their ways and change the photo. I would like to get credit for the work, but the chance of that is somewhere between zero and non existent, so I won’t hold my breath. In the meantime, I will just keep whining about it and sharing it with friends and foes alike.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
I don’t have any ill feelings towards them, as a matter of fact, I kind of appreciate finding something new to complain about. I was running out of ideas, and BOOM!, one lands in my lap. Hopefully they will learn the errors of their ways and change the photo. I would like to get credit for the work, but the chance of that is somewhere between zero and non existent, so I won’t hold my breath. In the meantime, I will just keep whining about it and sharing it with friends and foes alike.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Don't Drink From the Fire Hose
For many contractors, making the change to green can be challenging. There is so much to learn, changes in materials, procedures, and often it requires doing things that are completely different than you are used to. I have seen talented, experienced professionals walk away from green remodeling because the energy to make the change was just too great. Their problem is that they think they have to do everything at once, but they are wrong – you can go green in steps. In fact, you pretty much have to do it in steps. Trying to do everything at once is like drinking from a firehose – you will die before you quench your thirst. Learn about green, figure out what changes you can manageably handle on your first project, make those changes your standards, adding more on future projects. Try the drinking fountain instead of the fire hose, it’s easier and more satisfying.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Code is Only a D-
I can’t take credit for this line, it comes from Mark LaLiberte, a leader in building science. The fact that it isn’t original doesn’t make it any less valuable. Over the years, lots of remodelers talk about building “to the code”, as though they had a choice. If you don’t build “to the code” you are breaking the law. This is critically important in the case of the energy code. Most states have excellent energy codes that require contractors to build and renovate high performance homes. The problem is that most of those codes are not enforced. This allows us to create poorly performing buildings that waste energy and increase costs for the owners for years to come. Understand your energy code, then build better than it. We shouldn’t be proud of our D- work. Go for an A+!
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
The Green is Dead! Long Live the Green!
Not really, green is on the rise, but the name we seem to be stuck with isn’t a very good one. It is a very vague description, open to interpretation, confusion, deception, and abuse. Green is the name we are stuck with, at least for a while, but we need to be thinking about what we are doing with our homes that make them “green”, and figure out how to label it clearly with limited room for variation. To some, green means using natural materials. Others see it as super efficient homes. Many non-professionals instantly think of solar power when they think of green homes. It is like the blind men and the elephant. Green is whatever a particular person thinks it is at that particular time. There are some excellent programs that help to quantify what are green homes and renovations, but they are only a start. The challenge for builders and remodelers is to understand what makes their projects healthy, durable, efficient, and healthy, and incorporate those into all their projects, making them as “green” as possible.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Weird Man Walking
The Atlanta metro area, where I live, has the longest commute in the country (http://www.cobbrides.com/pdfs/Atlantans%20crank%20up%20commute%20times.pdf), has the 12th highest rate of pedestrian casualties (http://www.peds.org/theissue.htm), and only a fair mass transit system. Friends think it is weird that I walk and take public transportation, even though I only do it occasionally. I once took a 2 mile walk and had a friend stop me and ask if I was OK. I recently started taking mass transit to meet friends at movies to avoid driving during rush house and just give myself break. My friends were astonished – particularly since I drive a hybrid and get almost 50 mpg. Since I live in a relatively pedestrian friendly neighborhood, I regularly walk to the cleaners, the bank, the drug store, and various bars and restaurants. Every once in a while I bike somewhere, but being a big guy, I sweat a lot and can’t do that if I need to look respectable when I get there.
Unfortunately, the transit system is limited and typically takes longer than driving, so I usually drive to business meetings (although I do walk to some that are very close by). Since I don’t commute to work, (unless you call the walk from my bedroom to my breakfast room/office a commute), I drive less than most people.
So what’s my point? Well, I’m not really sure, but this whole idea that if you do anything different than most people you are seen as weird is starting to trouble me. How this relates to green building, at least in my opinion, is that too many homeowners expect that they don’t have to think about anything in their homes. We keep our windows sealed up tight and heat and air condition our homes even when the weather is nice, just because we are too lazy to turn off the thermostat and open some windows. Even worse, I know people who leave the AC running with doors and windows open. Others like to turn the heat up in the winter and sleep with the windows open. Lately I have been thinking about how to interconnect our HVAC systems with alarm sensors to turn them off when windows and doors are open. I like the idea, but while it is available in some high end home control systems, it is still too complicated and expensive for the average house. So this leads me to the thought that, why are we so lazy that we can’t just flip a switch and open some windows. Are we that useless? It reminds me of what happens to the humans in the movie Wall-E – if you haven’t seen it, go. Everyone is totally catered to and has become so bloated and lazy that they can’t even stand up anymore.
Enough whining for today. I’m going to act weird by opening my windows and taking a walk now.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Unfortunately, the transit system is limited and typically takes longer than driving, so I usually drive to business meetings (although I do walk to some that are very close by). Since I don’t commute to work, (unless you call the walk from my bedroom to my breakfast room/office a commute), I drive less than most people.
So what’s my point? Well, I’m not really sure, but this whole idea that if you do anything different than most people you are seen as weird is starting to trouble me. How this relates to green building, at least in my opinion, is that too many homeowners expect that they don’t have to think about anything in their homes. We keep our windows sealed up tight and heat and air condition our homes even when the weather is nice, just because we are too lazy to turn off the thermostat and open some windows. Even worse, I know people who leave the AC running with doors and windows open. Others like to turn the heat up in the winter and sleep with the windows open. Lately I have been thinking about how to interconnect our HVAC systems with alarm sensors to turn them off when windows and doors are open. I like the idea, but while it is available in some high end home control systems, it is still too complicated and expensive for the average house. So this leads me to the thought that, why are we so lazy that we can’t just flip a switch and open some windows. Are we that useless? It reminds me of what happens to the humans in the movie Wall-E – if you haven’t seen it, go. Everyone is totally catered to and has become so bloated and lazy that they can’t even stand up anymore.
Enough whining for today. I’m going to act weird by opening my windows and taking a walk now.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Pervious Paving Really Works!
Pervious paving, or porous concrete is a great way to control storm water. It allows rainwater to drain into the ground instead of running off your property into the storm sewers. It helps keep rivers cleaner and replenish aquifers. Not convinced? check out this demonstration - on the left side, the pervious material soaks up all the, uh, liquid, while the right side puddles up.
Lipstick on a Pig
This is a re-post from early this year, long before the presidential race got caught up in this cute phrase:
That is what you get when you do green remodeling in the wrong order. The right order is making you are remodeling green from the beginning – air sealing and insulation, moisture control, and high quality HVAC systems for starters BEFORE you select the pretty “green” materials like bamboo floors, recycled tile and the like. If your project is leaky and inefficient, wasting energy and water, and is not durable, then no matter how many green materials you install, it will never be a green home, it will just be a pig that you put lipstick on.
While there are some materials that are really toxic and dangerous, they are really few and far between. Most available building materials can fit into a green renovation project, provided the project is truly green, and they are used properly.
If you want to remodel green, learn the basics by taking classes and getting good advice on your first projects. Make sure that the building is planned to be efficient and durable, then start looking at green products to include in the job.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
That is what you get when you do green remodeling in the wrong order. The right order is making you are remodeling green from the beginning – air sealing and insulation, moisture control, and high quality HVAC systems for starters BEFORE you select the pretty “green” materials like bamboo floors, recycled tile and the like. If your project is leaky and inefficient, wasting energy and water, and is not durable, then no matter how many green materials you install, it will never be a green home, it will just be a pig that you put lipstick on.
While there are some materials that are really toxic and dangerous, they are really few and far between. Most available building materials can fit into a green renovation project, provided the project is truly green, and they are used properly.
If you want to remodel green, learn the basics by taking classes and getting good advice on your first projects. Make sure that the building is planned to be efficient and durable, then start looking at green products to include in the job.
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Green Starts with BS - Redux
I have just temporarily relocated my blog to this location and will be reposting old entries as well as adding new ones regularly. I look forward to your comments.
Building Science, that is. Building science is the concept of the “house as a system” – every part of a house affects the other to make a complete, efficient, and well operating machine. For too long contractors have not taken a hard look at all the systems in a house and how they relate to one another. The framers do their thing, the HVAC sub does his (or hers), then the insulators to theirs, the house gets finished, and when its done, the owner complains of drafts, hot spots, humidity, mold, and, eventually, rotting siding and windows. Homes are incredibly complicated structures that need to be looked at very carefully to make sure they operate properly. We need to keep water out, heat in (or out, depending on the season), dehumidify when it is humid, keep the moisture in when it is dry, and, generally, make sure that the house is detailed correctly for local climate. High quality building science training is the key component of green remodeling. Make some time in your busy schedule to take a class or two to learn more about how homes work – you will be a better contractor for it.Links:
EEBA Houses that Work Training
Home Performance with Energy Star
NAHB Green Building for Building Professionals
NARI Green Remodeling Training
REGreen Guidelines
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
Building Science, that is. Building science is the concept of the “house as a system” – every part of a house affects the other to make a complete, efficient, and well operating machine. For too long contractors have not taken a hard look at all the systems in a house and how they relate to one another. The framers do their thing, the HVAC sub does his (or hers), then the insulators to theirs, the house gets finished, and when its done, the owner complains of drafts, hot spots, humidity, mold, and, eventually, rotting siding and windows. Homes are incredibly complicated structures that need to be looked at very carefully to make sure they operate properly. We need to keep water out, heat in (or out, depending on the season), dehumidify when it is humid, keep the moisture in when it is dry, and, generally, make sure that the house is detailed correctly for local climate. High quality building science training is the key component of green remodeling. Make some time in your busy schedule to take a class or two to learn more about how homes work – you will be a better contractor for it.Links:
EEBA Houses that Work Training
Home Performance with Energy Star
NAHB Green Building for Building Professionals
NARI Green Remodeling Training
REGreen Guidelines
This post was originally published on www.housingzone.com
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