Quick Share: This study compares three affordably built homes, the energy consumed and the thermal comfort of each. The ICF-built home used 20% less energy than the stick-built and achieved slightly better thermal comfort ratings for the occupants. This is a fairly significant difference and good news in areas where wood is not as readily available as it is in other areas.

Ah, the 100K House. Finally someone did an experiment to see how low they could go while designing a green home. They are aiming for LEED Platinum, no less. This house sparked a discussion at the LinkedIn Affordable Green Homes Group: Does green affordable have to be ‘modern’ when most people like traditional style homes?

When it comes to ‘traditional’ home styles, there are a lot of decorative aspects that are very costly. The goal of green affordable housing should include options that allow for ‘traditional’ features, but the quality of material and space, daylight, views, energy consumption and private/public space integration should be of higher importance than things like excessive trim when money is the most pressing control over a green design. You could argue that the quality of home building has declined in part because the public feels that traditional-style features like trim are mandatory for a ‘good-looking’ home, urging them to spend their limited budgets on tacked-on architectural elements like faux brick and stone, instead of things that really make a home enjoyable and healthy.

Perhaps what you are feeling is that modern prefab architecture lacks a vernacular identity (FOR ALL NON-ARCHITECTS, THAT MEANS REGIONAL STYLE). I would also agree that this is unfortunate, but there are many cases in which a standardized, affordable home gains its own identity from its inhabitants, rather than from the designer.

Last week at Boston Society of Architects’ monthly “Conversations on Architecture” Rahul Mehrotra spoke about his project located outside of Jaipur, India that will provide housing for elephants and their keepers’ families. At ten dollars a square foot, stone walls and light frame roofing shelter both people and elephants. No decorative elements were included in the design, and someone asked, “Why not?” Mehrotra answered that his hope was that each family will move in and decorate entryways and walls themselves, giving each home a unique character. The project is on hold due to lack of funding (at $10/square foot… the excavation portion of this project is more costly than the homes themselves) but I can definitely see this post-move-in decoration happening upon eventual completion of the project. This is much more reflective of the people that live there than any “traditional” architectural elements. This minimalist attitude is what would get this project built so as to make homes for the otherwise homeless. Keeping our sights on this goal of affordable green housing is important. A flexible design that can be erected almost anywhere and endure the climate is necessary to meet the goal.

Ultimately, no style of architecture is unique. It’s a style, a fad, something that we may like or hate, as a group or individually. It is something that we copy over and over until it starts to give a location or region a sort of definition; think Swiss chalet.

Swiss Chalet

The 100K home breaks down basic elements that make the indoor space of a home and tries to amplify the benefits of ceilings, walls, floors, and windows to help make the most of very little. I feel that the designers did a wonderful job of transforming a little bit of material into a high quality space with multi-functionality- something that every family with small pockets needs. Tacking on traditional elements to this home could easily bring up the cost another 50%. When this means the difference between making the mortgage, and making the mortgage and putting food on the table, you begin to see that the traditional elements are not as critical as just getting by.

At some point, designers must give up the thought that their skills will be required with each family in need of an affordable home. For some people, the need for a clean space in a sturdy structure is more important than individuality. The 100k House has perhaps a far too unique facade, that when replicated, is too recognizable as the same as the neighbors model. A change in exterior color and a simple re-arrangement of windows could fix that issue. The 100k team already about of that: facades. If you consider the beautiful light achieved inside the 100k home, which splashes down the open stairwell from the light scoop on the roof, you can see that this highly affordable home is reaching far beyond what, typically, $100,000 would get you. Since this project was also publicized, the design team must have wanted to make a splash that would get some attention as well. So that can be taken into consideration- if this exterior material had been one color and the windows were all symmetrical along the building, it would be boring and maybe even ugly. So again, I feel that this design is great and puts a little bit of material to good use, making the utmost impact on the world of uber-expensive, exclusive designs that are not feasible for the general population.

Surely, a family that can only afford to build a 100k house would be very proud of this residence, when compared to the alternative in Philadelphia. This listing is going for 100k… click the pics to see more 100k homes in Philly.

See Kelly’s post (her comment is below and her post is very relevant to this topic).

By Guest Author Joe Lederman

In the home design and construction world, there are many additional responsibilities home owners have. Highly regarded throughout the 20th century, asbestos was the pinnacle of building materials, containing flame resistant and durable qualities that industries sought out. Fueling many aspects of life in the United States, environmental sustainability is on the minds of citizens and those involved in construction in many states.

Potential home buyers, designers or those involved in construction should be aware that homes may contain asbestos and other obsolete methods of construction. This isn’t to make you worried because asbestos exposure is easily prevented by taking simple precautions. There are now many green Eco-friendly design alternatives that replace the need for harmful asbestos and can reduce annual energy costs in the home.

If you locate asbestos in the home, you shouldn’t panic. Most asbestos that is in good condition does not pose any health risks. Most experts suggest leaving it undisturbed until an inspector can determine the legitimacy of concerns. Asbestos still regularly appears in roof shingles, dry wall, attic insulation, popcorn ceilings, joint compounds and electrical wires.

Frequent exposure to airborne asbestos fibers may lead to the development of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare but severe form of asbestos lung cancer. Manufacturers of asbestos were aware of its toxic qualities, but repressed any evidence that demonstrated that. The amount of asbestos incidents has lead to mesothelioma lawyer firms fighting for victim rights. Thousands of workers, citizens and military personnel were wrongfully exposed as a result of the asbestos scandal. This has become known as one of the more formidable cover-ups that took place in the 20th century.

Green: Better for Your Health and Your Pocket

Most people are unaware to the fact that Eco-friendly products can cut energy costs by 25 to 35 % per year. Many cities in the U.S. have created lumberyards which re-store where you can purchase recycled building materials that are authentically strong and inexpensive. Rather than expensive and mal-treated wood, interior walls can be made from steel and concrete, avoiding many of the problems associated with asbestos and other insulation methods. Green alternatives to asbestos include the use of cotton fiber, lcynene foam and cellulose.

Cotton fiber is also becoming a favorite insulation method. Made from recycled batted material, it is then treated to be fireproof. Water based spray polyurethane foam, Icynene, is a healthy insulation which contains no toxic components. These new environmentally-sustainable alternatives create healthier, quieter and more energy efficient homes in the 21st century.

Joe Lederman is the Awareness Coordinator at the Mesothelioma Cancer Center. (www.asbestos.com) For more information also visit The Mesolthelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center at http://www.maacenter.org/.

See? Like a tomato.

A home is like a tomato. When seeking one out, you just can’t go for size, you’ve got to go for taste.  There is not much that excites me as the topic of green homes does.  I mean green like quality, endurance, longevity, and functionality. If something does not do its job well, it will not be used for long.  A home that is not comfortable, useful, and affordable is a home in the landfill.  Quite possibly the only topic that could get me going more than the topic of green homes is the topic of America embracing a more thorough definition of what a green home actually is.  For a home with solar panels, geothermal heat, FSC certified wood and no-VOC furniture is not green if it has 8,000 square feet of living space for two people and a dog.  And a cat.  And four children.  It is just too big to be considered green due to the exorbitant rate of consumption of materials during construction and energy throughout its lifespan.

Getting back to me being excited, this is why I flipped over the recent article in Trim Tab, a new quarterly e-magazine that highlights green building trends published by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. The article talks about Sarah Susanka’s book series, from which one of my favorite books comes; The Not So Big House: A Blueprint For the Way We Really Live. If you are interested in these two things, you will thoroughly enjoy this read:

1) how the design of your home effects your health and well-being

2) how the size of your home effects your health, well-being, and wallet

It conceptualizes how “The American Dream Home” has transformed over the last several decades and reveals blunt truths about McMansions, over-sized, empty boxes that are built using cheap materials and are poorly designed. In other words, a large investment that does not give a fraction of the satisfaction or longevity you expect of it and, to top it off, grossly increases your carbon footprint and energy bills. Not So Big gives solutions to many of the obstacles we encounter in the quest for a dream home, like how to get good design on a budget and how to figure out what size home works for you. It also plunges into detail about how subtle design moves are the ones that create the most treasured nuances in a home and how you can achieve them with very little space.

Trim Tab’s article gives so many great pieces of information that make your Green Home IQ sky-rocket. Not only does it steer you towards one of the most useful books regarding home design, it sums up how the issue of wanting ‘too much house’ has become grossly out of control and unnecessary. It gives statistics that show the trend in increasing square footage in single family homes and underlines the need for quality design and materials to create homes that are comfortable and long-lasting and work with our lifestyles without energy-gorging. The idea is to build smaller and smarter. It’s kind of like going with that organic, medium sized farm-stand tomato instead of the colossal, wan, peaked hybrid that was grown using chemical fertilizers and contains one tenth of the vitamins and flavor of the former.

You can find the article here in Trim Tab. It is free.

photo source: http://www.worth1000.com/emailthis.asp?entry=251912

The Slow Home Report discusses how American tastes in home design and arrangement in communities will change as an effect of the Recession. Services that feed the demand for this change in the direction of design will be offered by companies like ThinkDwell.

“How do you deal with electrical and plumbing change from frame to straw bale homes?

-Andrew

Andrew,

Thanks for the great question. Here is food for thought: Ceilings, frame walls, and stem walls are always an option for plumbing and electrical locations. When you do have to run these systems through a bale wall, here is how you do it.

Plumbing in a straw bale home.

Plumbing leaks are more critical within straw bale walls than within stick frame walls for obvious reasons: straw rots pretty quickly if it gets wet and stays wet - a lot quicker than 2×4s would rot. As a precaution, it is best to keep most of the plumbing within interior walls and run the water into the house through a stem wall. The highest standards of fitting can help minimize the risk of leaks. Careful planning eliminates unsightly messes at this point. Before beginning construction, you should plan for water to enter where pipes will not be seen in plain view, such as under a sink or in a mechanical closet. Use of the stem wall is appropriate for running water into your structure.

Electrical wiring in a straw bale home.

The electrical system in a bale home is the same as in a stick frame home from the circuit breaker to the switches and fixtures. However, electrical wiring has different installation methods in a straw bale wall. UF (Underground Feeder) cable is recommended for its durability and moisture resistance. A metal “needle” is used to thread the wire from the exterior to the interior where necessary. A chainsaw is used to cut a 1.5 inch channel in the straw bale walls. The wire is stuffed into the channel or in the seam between bales and run to switch and fixture locations. Plug and switch boxes are screwed to a wooden stake which is driven into the bale to keep the box in place.

Thanksgiving: what a wonderful idea. It is a day to give thanks for all that you have. In this current time of economic turmoil and governmental transitioning, you may find your head hanging low or your level of anxiety pushing through the roof. It may be difficult to add any of the recent events in this nation to your list of things to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving holiday. In a country where our worries cannot compare to the hardships of others, I would like to offer a positive spin on this time of hectic worry: that perhaps we should be thankful that sometimes things, whether bad or good, happen, and that whether they have a positive or negative effect momentarily, there is always a lesson to learn. I recall talking to my late great Uncle Charlie, an immigrant from Italy married to an Irish immigrant living in Southie (Boston) during the Great Depression. He said that electricity was too costly to waste and the family would put some coins in a meter that supplied power only when they needed it some nights and when the power that had been bought ran out, the family went to sleep - no matter how many errands you still had or if you had already cooked dinner. Perhaps that type of system was not so uncommon, but the way he told that story, I knew, the lights were not often on. “What do you worry about?” he asked in 1993. “Things are easy, life is wonderful. Always remember that.” Those were times when the Frederico’s of the US had to change their name to Fredericks to get a decent job and your family did not look at you if you married out of your culture. This country has come a long way and it will go much further. We all have to keep our sights on the things we should be thankful for, even if those things are tough reminders to value our way of life and the opportunities we are afforded.

This year I am making Indian Pudding, a corn-based dessert that early New Englanders made at the holidays, and still a Boston favorite. It is definitely a recipe to share… Indian Pudding Recipe

River Wired explains how they test the effects of green roofs on the heat island effect and how they work.

Green Open House - ca. 1818 home retro-fitted with modern green building systems

The NESEA (Northeast Sustainable Energy Association) is hosting an open house on Saturday, October 4, from 10 am to 4 pm. The organization has coordinated with home owners and facility managers to provide access to numerous green buildings. Visit the site to see if there is an open house in your area and drop in to ask questions and see the installations that make new and remodeled homes more energy efficient. Just click on the map search, enter your zip code, and click GO. You can also search for projects that involve a specific type of green feature, like a geothermal heat pump, grey-water collection, or LEED rating in the drop down menu at left. I’m going to visit a home built in 1818 in Andover, MA that exhibits grid-tied Photovoltaics, a geothermal heat pump, a tankless water heater, and an alternative fuel vehicle for daily use.

Excellent: people are catching onto the benefits of investing in radiant heating systems. This video gives us a good idea of how radiant floors are installed. They cost more than your standard forced air system, but in the long run, your home will be more comfortable (warm floors heat interiors more evenly and are nice to walk on without slippers or socks) and will not have dust, mold, mites and other allergens that forced air systems send through the air in your house. This greatly benefits people with respiratory ailments such as asthma or emphysema as well as allergy sufferers.

Cleaner air, more comfortable temperatures throughout your home. So why does anyone bother with any other system? Cost is usually the inhibitor here. I found this info on radiantheat.net:

“ A typical force-air furnace system for a 2,000 sq. ft. home will cost you between $3,800.00-$4,500.00 versus a hydronic boiler system costing about $4,000.00-$5,000.00. The average life expectancy of a forced-air furnace may be between 10-25 years where the average boiler system can last between 30-45 years. The cost of filters and other maintenance including, bearings, belts, fans and motors for forced-air systems can dramatically increase the amount of your investment from a service standpoint. Radiant heating systems are less maintenance and more efficient which means less cost to operate.”

When you take into the account that with a radiant system your energy bills will be reduced, the value of your home is increased, and your indoor air quality is improved, the upfront costs should no longer an inhibitor; it should be seen as a worthy investment that will pay back the cost difference plus in the long run.