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LEED and HEALTHY BUILT HOMESBuilding green can save
you money. The word green is often abused and over used by
entities which have no plausible claim to do so. The most honest
definition of the new word green in buildings includes
efficiency, durability, and sustainability.
LEED and
HERS are two competing national certification programs for the
design, construction, and operation of high performance green
buildings. Both programs look at the plans for a building on
paper before the building process and rate them accordingly.
Both require third party observation during the building
process, have an extensive check list for the third party to
observe and check off such as use of Energy Star appliances, low
flow plumbing fixtures, and blower tests after construction to
test air "leakiness" of the building and duct work.
Both concentrate on building efficient, durable, and sustainable
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Currently many manufacturers of various materials call
themselves green because perhaps a part of the producing plant
recycles trash. Others assume the title arbitrarily because
their product is bamboo flooring and bamboo is sustainable or
reproducible. Or the factory has recently switched to
fluorescent lighting, cutting electric bills, but has done
nothing about its inadequate insulation or its antiquated
heating system. These examples are called greenwashing, and they
are ubiquitous.
The carbon footprint of an item is the
amount of CO2 (from burned fossil fuel) produced in the
manufacture, delivery, use over its lifetime, and safe disposal
of that item. This becomes quite complicated to determine
accurately for a single item, and overwhelming for the number of
products making up an entire house. If something must be shipped
around the world, much more energy is required than if it is
locally produced. (Look at bamboo flooring from Indonesia and
granite countertops from India). Also, one must consider the
waste in the manufacturing process, toxic byproducts, cost to
reproduce and replace after its useful lifetime, costs of
disposal, and its contribution to maintaining landfills.
This
brings us to employing common sense. Ideally, we should look at
the totality of products which make up a building, their
beneficial and harmful qualities, their sustainability (are we
using them up, or can we reproduce them at a regular interval at
an acceptable cost?), their durability ( how long will the
building and components last?), and the efficiency (what will it
cost over the life of the building to heat, cool, and power
it?).
LEED and HERS are both directed at producing
buildings which utilize these three criteria.
Timber
frame buildings with Structural Insulated Panels or SIPS are
inherently efficient from the beginning. They commonly cost one
half as much to heat and cool as equally R-rated stick built
structures with fiberglass batts between studs. SIPS have been
used for some eighty years in the food refrigeration industry.
The SIPS we use are made from Styrofoam (approved for food
containers by the FDA) and oriented strand board, made with
formaldehyde free glue. Sips do cost more initially, but usually
pay for the difference in 5-6 years in reduced heating and
cooling costs.
difference in 5-6 years in reduced
heating and cooling costs. Rather than just give lip service to
these goals, we at Cabin Creek Timber Frames actually put our
money into it. Unfortunately, no provision was made in LEED or
HERS for buildings built before the programs' inception. We have
been building extremely efficient buildings since 1996. We have
kept records of energy cost for a house we built in Western
North Carolina in 2005 which enjoys timber frame and SIPS. It is
2800 square feet, and to heat, cool and power cost $85 per month
until incandescent bulbs were replaced with fluorescent bulbs,
bringing the cost down to $75 per month. Although we are unable
it get it certified due to government burocracy, the blower
tests and actual cost of energy placed its efficiency or energy
usage at 59% of the projected reference house.
A
recent engineering study compared our complex, both office (SIPS
and timber frame) and beamery (metal building), 9250 square
feet, using energy use data over the past two years, with an
imaginary complex, same size, minimum code requirements, using
an all electric heating system. We heat the entire complex with
a detached wood burning boiler using waste wood from our
operation to heat hot water for our radiant floor system. The
results show our actual complex uses 43% of the energy used by
the standard building. The other 57% or approximately $9000
saving is not being spent on Middle Eastern Oil. Waste wood is
carbon neutral as it would become CO2 whether it burns or decays
in a landfill.
For a more detailed article on the
house mentioned above and the office and beamery please click
here.
From a practical standpoint, it makes good
financial sense to spend the extra money initially required to
build a more efficient building in light of the decreased costs
of operating and the rising costs of energy.
Cabin
Creek Timber Frames can work with the homeowner, the general
contractor, and either LEED or HERS to build your efficient,
durable and sustainable home, get it certified, and obtain
federal, state, and sometimes municipal tax credits for even
more savings.
CABIN CREEK TIMBER FRAMES
828-369-5899
6624 Georgia Road Franklin, NC 28734
www.cabincreektimberframes.com
jbell@cabincreektimberframes.com
Links:
Sips.org
Suretight.com
Hers or Home Energy Rating System
www.energy.ca.gov/HERS/index.html
www.healthybuilthomes.org
Energy Star www.energystar.gov
LEED
www.usgbc.org
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