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Photo Gallery: Homes Gone Green
Photo Gallery, which follows, is a regular feature of NAHB HouseKeys, the consumer-oriented e-newsletter from NAHB for home owners and prospective home owners.
Photo Gallery showcases a portfolio of homes, with each feature focusing on a different theme. The feature that follows, which was originally published in NAHB HouseKeys on March 20, showcases homes designed and built green.
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Green doesn't always mean solar panels and straw bales. This home, built in Chapel Hill, N.C. by Chandler Design Build, took a more subtle approach — focusing instead on using the most energy and resource efficient systems to build a home that is sustainable for the environment as well as for the resident family's pocketbook.
An Energy Star® Home, the home was a finalist in NAHB's National Green Building Awards and followed NAHB’s Green Building Initiative Guidelines. |
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The Galleries at Turney, built by Modus Development of Phoenix, Ariz., features eight detached residences. In addition to high-efficiency Bosch appliances, the homes also utilize low water-use plumbing fixtures, low-emittance windows and doors, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, and low volatile organic compounds (VOC) paint. Innovative design features include a “rainscreen” façade system of corrugated zinc paneling and a fiber-cement skin that “floats” over the home and shields it from the harsh effects of the sun.
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Waldsee BioHaus, an environmental living center at Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, Minn., is the first building in North America to be certified as a “Passive House” — one of the world’s toughest energy standards — by Germany’s Passivhaus Institute. Germany’s Passivhaus standard is the world’s leading criteria in energy efficient construction.
The center uses 85% less energy than comparable U.S. buildings by using innovative and broadly applicable insulation, heat recovery and air exchange systems and high-quality windows and doors with low-E (emittance) glazing.
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This Albuquerque, N.M. home, built by the Strosnider Company, is designed to maximize living space with elevated ceilings and abundant natural light throughout.
Features include engineered lumber, blown-in insulation throughout, low-E windows, Solatube skylights, a foam-seal air filtration package and Energy Star® digital auto programmable thermostats. As a result, the home's air quality is improved and it has an average 30% reduction in utility costs and a significant reduction in water use. |
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An important aspect of building green is incorporating an environmentally-friendly lifestyle for residents. The “Pull-a-Part”™ town house, designed by national architectural firm BSB Design, does just that. It's a townhome-style structure pulled apart with just enough spacing between the units to give both the home owner and builder the privileges of a single-family home and to avoid the insurance issues that come with an attached product.
With a long, 40- to 50-foot-wide stretch of a communal front yard, or paseo, and private backyards for each of the homes, the community is nestled in an environment that promotes walking to shops, schools and recreational facilities. The homes and community design provide increased affordability and sustainabilty and foster less car use. |
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This home, located in Paso Robles, Calif., and developed by Estrella Associates, Inc., is an example of how the production housing market is addressing green building. It was built using PolySteel insulated concrete forms (ICF) rather than traditional wood-framed construction, an innovative practice that reduces reliance on lumber (sustainable building), improves energy efficiency and soundproofing, and increases resistances to termites, water intrusion and seismic forces. |
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This home located in Pacific Highlands Ranch, San Diego is built by Pardee Homes of Southern California.
Pardee has been a pioneer in green building in Southern California and Nevada, and was the first regional builder committed to building only Energy Star® homes, which can save home buyers up 30% or more in energy costs.
Pardee’s innovative LivingSmart® program, which encompasses a comprehensive array of green building standards, plus multiple, user-friendly ways for buyers to expand their choices, is offered at several Pardee neighborhoods in Southern California and Las Vegas.
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The next Photo Gallery will showcase outdoor spaces. To submit homes for consideration, e-mail Niki Clark at NAHB. Put "Photo Gallery: Outdoor Spaces" in the subject line of the e-mail.
For more information about NAHB HouseKeys, or to subscribe, visit www.nahb.org/HouseKeys.
 HouseKeys Articles Available to NAHB Members
NAHB member companies are invited to use non-bylined articles in NAHB HouseKeys for their consumer outreach, including Web sites, newsletters or magazines.
NAHB will provide a graphic that can be posted on your own Web site or in print products to promote NAHB HouseKeys to home buyers and prospects.
For more information, visit www.nahb.org/HouseKeys, or e-mail Niki Clark at NAHB.
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