Photovoltaic Systems

Archive for the ‘LEED’ Category

What’s planned for construction by students on an infill lot and aiming to meet the Living Building Challenge with LEED Platinum certification?  That would be Canada’s Greenest Home in Ontario.  Students enrolled in The Endeavour Centre’s Sustainable New Construction: Building a New Future program will build the 2,000 square-foot home during a five-month period this summer.

The home is expected to use a fraction of the energy of a conventional home and will have an energy-efficient foundation, prefabricated straw bale walls, grid-tied photovoltaics, solar hot water, rainwater collection, greywater recycling, composting toilets, and natural paints and finishes.

Canada’s Greenest Home will go on sale at the end of the program and proceeds will be used to help offset tuition costs.  Before that, though, there’s a lot to follow — including a blog with student feedback and commentary on the build.

[+] Follow the construction progress of Canada’s Greenest Home.

Credit: The Endeavour Centre. 

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This is the first LEED Platinum home in Athens.  Designed by Lori Bork Newcomer, principal of Bork Architectural Design, Inc., the 2,632 square-foot home blends native materials to maintain neighborhood context and contemporary design to suit the aesthetics of owners Lori and Quint Newcomer.  Lori and Quint self-contracted the build for about $125 per square foot and, perhaps more impressively, the home uses about the same amount of energy as one a third the size.

The exterior is completed with Tennessee fieldstone, stucco, and white clapboard, while the traditional gable facade is made with glass to allow natural light to the kitchen, living, and dining area.  Inside, the floors are covered in locally-sourced, reclaimed heart pine and the certain accent walls feature reclaimed barn wood.

Lori sought energy efficiency through air tightness, superior insulation, reflective roofing, Energy Star windows, and solar hot water (which reduces energy use by up to 20% by itself).  To conserve water, the home has low-flow fixtures, drought-tolerant landscaping, and a 1,100-gallon cistern that collects rainwater for irrigation.

Other green elements include an EPA-certified wood burning stove, interior mineral paints by San Marco, USA, polished fly ash concrete floors, recycled content FLOR carpet tiles, formaldehyde-free EccoDoors, low- or zero-VOC finishes, cellulose and Ecobatt insulation, Icynene spray foam in the roofline, a high-efficiency heat pump with an ERV, and LED and CFL bulbs in more than 50% of light fixtures.

[+] Watch a slideshow of more Lori-Quint Home photos.

Photo credits: Elizabeth Maves.

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1. Traditional LEED Platinum in Georgia
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3. HGTV Green Home Earns LEED Platinum

I’ve pulled together projects, mostly homes, of all kinds — new, old, modern, traditional, etc — that we discussed in the last year.  These projects either obtained or sought LEED Platinum certification from the USGBC, and they’re some of the greener homes you’ll find most anywhere.  Click the links below for hours and hours of reading.

HGTV Green Homes Earns LEED Platinum

This year’s HGTV Green Home is in the popular Stapleton infill development of Denver, Colorado and took LEED Platinum for the show. Read more.

Live Work Home Takes LEED Platinum in Syracuse

The Live Work Home has a perforated screen that wraps the western and northern facade, allowing dappled light to filter through the windows into the interior.  Read more.

New Norris House Seeks LEED Platinum Certification

The New Norris House builds on Tennessee history with a prefabricated home, solar hot water, rainwater collection, and all sorts of other green features.  Read more.

Vicino House Achieves Sustainable Luxury

This Pacific Palisades home gets all of its electricity from a 28-panel, 5.2 kW rooftop photovoltaic array and about 70% of the domestic hot water needs from two solar thermal panels.  Read more.

NZE LEED Platinum Home Complete in Cupertino

This 2,400 square-foot home is net-zero energy — it uses as much energy as it produces on an annual basis — and zero carbon — it uses only electricity and solar hot water with no carbon-based fuels.  Read more.

Traditional NZE Platinum Home in Connecticut

This LEED Platinum project in Killingworth produces more energy than it uses and does it with a design to minimize energy consumption, solar panels, and a geothermal HVAC system. Read more.

Multifamily Prefab LivingHomes Complete in Los Altos

This is the first multifamily project by Ray Kappe, FAIA, and it’s built with eight modules built in an off-site factory setting.  Read more.

Platinum Total Renovation Hits the Chicago Market

This LEED Platinum home was created from an 1890s two-flat and is a fascinating case study of salvage and reuse.  Read more.

The Power Haus is a -22 HERS Index Home

With a negative HERS score, the Power Haus produces more energy than it consumes on a yearly net basis. The home has a 14.2 kW Uni-Solar Flex-Lite amorphous silica array to bring it into climate positive territory. Read more.

Nine Luxuriate LEED Platinum Homes in California

Nove — Italian for nine — is a handsome nine-unit project in the Mission District of San Francisco. There’s a common green space running through the middle of the structure.  Read more.

C3 First Modular Green Home in Chicago

This 2,000 square-foot modern home has a vegetated roof and deck, and the project team is pursuing both Energy Star and LEED Platinum certification.  Read more.

LEED Platinum Gut Rehab Finished in Chicago

The Helenowski Residence, a net-zero energy gut-rehab in Chicago, achieved one of the highest LEED for Homes point totals ever with 119 points.  Read more.

Craftsman Style LEED Platinum Home in Tallahassee

This ultra-efficient home features SIPs construction, a large solar PV array, and EPA Indoor airPLUS certification. Read more.

Near NZE Morning Sun Home in Oregon

This near NZE project has a passive solar design that negotiates a sloping lot with 90% solar access and mountain views to the south and east. Read more.

Ellis Residence Has a Lush Green Roof

Seattle has its fair share of LEED Platinum homes, but this is the first LEED Platinum single-family home in the state of Washington outside of Seattle. We give the home a second look. Read more.

Award-Winning LEED Platinum Condos at Primera Terra

Special attention was given to optimizing the 52-unit building’s envelope in order to maximize performance andcontrol costs.  Read more.

If you have a newly built or renovated LEED Platinum home, make sure to submit your green home to the editors for publication in 2012.

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SUNY’s Centennial Hall, a student dorm completed this summer, has earned LEED Gold certification, according to gbNYC, making it one of the largest modular construction projects in the state of New York.  It’s not the only modular student building — The Modules is but another modular project on my mind — though The Centennial showcases what’s good about off-site construction with a total of about 184 wood modules.

The Centennial was designed by WTW Architects and HKK & Associates and built by Hueber Breuer.  On their website, HB said the modular construction method enabled a shorter build schedule, increased worker productivity, reduced site costs, reduced construction utility costs, minimal site disturbance, reduced material waste, increased quality, and better soundproofing.

Students moved into The Centennial upon opening in August 2011.  The 454-bed building houses 280 freshman and 174 upperclassmen.

The Centennial has indoor bike storage and EV charging stations for resident convenience.  The design also facilitates energy and water savings through rain gardens, native-plant landscaping, windows placed to take advantage of natural lighting, high-efficiency mechanical systems, and the like.  It was built for $31.4 million.

[+] More information about Centennial Hall at SUNY College.

Credits: Hueber-Breuer, Centennial Hall. 

Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:

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