Green Homes

Gorilla Design to build Salt Lake City’s first (that I know of) shipping container home.

Last Friday I had the great pleasure of meeting with Roi Maufas and Alyssa Kay of Gorilla Design to discuss their new shipping container project just South of Liberty Park here in Salt Lake City. We had a very nice discussion about the project and I am excited to share what I learned with you.

The first home will be located at 580 E. 1300 S. in Salt Lake City, Utah and will be constructed of shipping containers with a 12″ inch exterior coating of highly insulative Fibrous Cement. The anticipated cost of the prototype build is $70 sq. ft. However, this price per sq. ft. is for the prototype home and cost will vary depending on client needs. Not everyone will want wind and solar energy and not everyone will want solarium’s and atrium’s so cost can go up or down based on needs and wants.

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You don’t have to move to live in a green home.

I am a firm believer that the greenest thing you can do with a home is take an old home and re-use it.  Nothing is more sustainable.  Not only do you save one more piece of land from the bulldozer, you save a boat load of natural resources as well.  You also keep pollutants locked on site and out of the waste stream.

Over at TreeHugger they recently posted Victorian Houses Can Have A Green Makeover Too.  In this post they discussed the recent Eco Open House tours in Brighton, England.  In this tour the majority of the homes were older or very old and saw significant reductions in utility expenses through green upgrades. 

I have also made significant performance increase in my 100 year old home through very simple and mostly inexpensive upgrades, that can be seen in the video below. 

So the next time you think about moving just to be greener, know that you can do it right where you are. 

Free Green Announces the Simple Villa

On July 4th I posted on FreeGreen, the new online free home plan site for green homes.  Today I received the press release announcing that their latest home design is now online and available for download.

This latest design is called the Simple Villa.  It is Mediterranean in design and was inspired be California’s outdoorsy lifestyle and are perfect for temperate or warm climates where cross-ventilation and passive cooling can reduce the cost of air conditioning.

This is personally my favorite of all the designs so far and I cannot wait to see what else they bring online.  From the press release, “Relaxed elegance and a Spanish influence provide curb appeal and comfort. Integrated patios and garden spaces extend the living area, creating a smooth transition between indoors and outdoors. The three bedroom Simple Villa is a European-inspired home that features an open living room plan, a blend of indoor & outdoor living spaces, and generous exterior living areas. The FreeGreen designers have taken care to include several design options that cater to different aesthetic tastes and accommodate different budgets. The home is large enough to accommodate a typical family but modest in size to ensure efficient operation. For this house we wanted to create a simple design that, with a multitude of different options, would allow changing from soft contemporary to Spanish influences.”

I expect that we will see a lot of FreeGreens homes in the future.  More and people are looking for custom homes at a good value that provide the green features that they not only want, but are also now demanding.  FreeGreens plans and website make this type of home easily available to public and provides a nice option to cookie cutter homes in the suburbs.  It is a great option for urban in-fill as well. 

About FreeGreen Inc.

FreeGreen was co-founded by Ben Uyeda and Dave Wax as a spin-off from their first startup, Zero Energy Design (a leading high-end custom green home architecture firm). FreeGreen launched on April 1st, 2008. Its website provides consumers and builders with free energy efficient house plans. The designs range from traditional to modern and come with an energy performance analysis to prove how “green” they are. Also provided are computer generated interior and exterior renderings, detailed construction documents including framing plans and construction details, LEED-H analysis and checklist, and a list of green products that were included in the design and energy reports. FreeGreen is able to give away such high quality designs because product vendors pay to have have a spot in the photo-realistic renderings. Custom reviews, green aspects, and applicable third party certifications are provided so consumers can make judgments on products for themselves. In addition to its free stock plans, FreeGreen also offers design customization and consultation.

Want to build a Green House? Can’t afford an architect to design it? Try FreeGreen.

So how does that sound?  Free green home plans?  Don’t believe it?  Check out Free Green.

A feeling that green design should be accessible to everyone is what spawned the creation of FreeGreen. Through paid placement from product manufacturers, they are able to do this so there is no cost to you.  You can learn more about the Why and How of FreeGreen here.

I am personally very excited by what I see with FreeGreen and cannot wait to see more home plans come online. 

How the site works is by first visiting the site and entering the criteria you are searching for and hitting the search button.  Your search will then populate with home designs that will fit your needs.  Currently, only three design exist so you don’t need the search function, but more are coming online on a regular basis (The next on July 7th).  Once you have populated your search you chose the design you most like and then take a virtual tour.  If it fits your needs you can order printed plans or download the plans and print them yourself.  The energy features of each home are also provided for comparison. 

FreeGreen provides this to you free of charge through paid product placement from green product manufacturers and will provide you with a list of the products along with the home plans.  To create the Green Home you are looking for you will need to use these products, however you can substitute. 

This quote is from the FreeGreen Site:  “FreeGreen would not exist without paid placement from product manufacturers. In order to avoid product bias, we present every product and material in a fair and clear light. Users can see ratings from established third-party green certification programs such as LEED and NAHB for each product (good or bad), or research performance through our energy modeling reports. Our goal is to show you a multitude of material and product possibilities through various lenses, including quality, health, and energy performance.”

The pictures below are of the home designs currently available.

Toyota Looking to Expand Stylish Prefab Homes Unit – Jetson Green

Preston over at Jetson Green has done it once again. Yesterday he posted this incredible blog on Toyota’s modern prefab homes division. Apparently they are working to expand this part of their business.

The homes are amazing and beautiful so head over to Jetson Green and check it out.

Source: Toyota Looking to Expand Stylish Prefab Homes Unit – Jetson Green

GE Announces Tankless Water Heaters

I am happy to see an American Company finally manufacturing something that has been around in the rest of the world for decades! GE announced recently their new line of Tankless Hot Water Heaters are now available. However, they are only available directly through builders, which is a bit disappointing as it makes it very difficult to find any pricing.

From the GE Press Release:

Unlike conventional water tanks that heat and store hot water around the clock, GE’s tankless gas water heater only activates when you start to use hot water, and immediately de-activates when you are done. The result is a more energy-efficient system; using a tankless gas heater can save homeowners up to 25% annually on water heating costs on their energy bill over a standard 40-gallon gas tank water heater.** Those savings are a result of eliminating standby losses-the energy lost from warmed water sitting in a tank. GE’s tankless gas heaters have an Ef rating of. 82, whereas a standard gas water heater has an Ef rating of just .53-.62. The tankless system delivers continuous hot water at the precisely heated temperature to every faucet, fixture or appliance in the home.* The electronic digital control allows the homeowner to adjust the hot water temperature at the touch of a button, while the Precise Temp feature keeps water temperature within three degrees (+/-)of the heater’s set point.

*Size appropriately, as flow rates may diminish based on simultaneous use of multiple showers/baths and/or appliances.
** Based on testing conducted by the Department of Energy.

GE® Tankless Gas Water Heater: Hot Water and Energy Savings without the Hassles : Water Systems : Appliances : Press Releases : GE Consumer & Industrial Press Room

Forward Thinking Town To Provide Funds To Make 65,000 Homes Energy Efficient!

How is this for exciting?  The Town Of Babylon is basically going to offer each homeowner up to $12,000 with a low 3% interest rate.  The home owner then will pay back the town.  The idea is that the savings from the energy upgrades should offset the monthly payment to the town.  The amount loaned to each homeowner will be based on the results of a required home energy audit which will dictate which changes they need to make. 

Basically this is the same thing you would get with an energy efficient mortgage or heloc, but since we are facing the slowdown in the lending industry, these programs have disappeared.  It is nice to see a city making such a proactive change. This will stimulate the city’s economy, provide local jobs and ultimately save the city money in infrastructure upgrades. 

From the Town Website:

“Under the Long Island Green Homes Program residents can make energy efficient improvements to their homes at little or no cost and without assuming new debt. This innovative new program will help combat global warming by reducing carbon emissions by 65,000-130,000 tons, reduce energy costs for homeowners and create 6,600 new green collar jobs.  

Most homes, even newer construction, have been built without much consideration for conserving energy. The average home is leaking considerable amounts of energy on a daily basis which in turn means that homeowners are  wasting money. With energy costs at all time highs, especially on Long Island, homeowners can no longer afford to waste energy. Under the Long Island Green Homes Program the average resident will reduce their energy costs by $1,160 a year.   

The average home in Babylon is responsible for the emission of approximately 25 lbs. of carbon per day.  In Babylon, there are more than 65,000 single family homes emitting 1.6 million lbs of carbon on a daily basis. Babylon’s Long Island Green Homes Program will reduce the carbon footprint of each participating household by 20-40% taking an average of 1-2 tons of carbon out of the atmosphere a year.”

Power from EVERY flush! Electricty from the drain. “pooptricity” even.

Everytime my wife steps on the brakes in her Prius she generates electricity to charge her batteries.  Now, everytime you flush the toilet you can also be generating electricity.  Shower = generates electricity.  Laundry Day = electrcity, Wash dishes = electricity.  Rain in your rain gutters = electricity.  How cool is that? 

I learned about this product today over at treehugger.com.  Called Leviathon, the idea is that running water powers turbines that generate electricty and it is an old idea.  Our sewers are full of running water, so why not generate elctricity.  Everytime you flush or shower, you run water, so generate eletricity.  This is another great invention that I plan to keep an eye on.  It is definately something I would install in my home, if I were to build new. 

Read more over at Inhabitat.com as well.  There they call it “pooptricity.”  I like that!

 

 

What Drives Green Building? How The Slowing Economy Has Helped!

The short video below appeared in the Green Biz Journal yesterday and is presented by Kavita Gupta, Director of Business Development for commercial architecture firm Perkins + Will.

“Green is profitable, I think that’s the biggest driver”, Says Gupta. Green doesn’t have to cost more. “It clearly doesn’t have to.”

Source: Jeston Green and Green Biz Journal

Have an idea for a shipping container (ISBU) project? Check out Live the Box.

On the Northern tip of Newark, NJ’s Central Ward sits a bit of land, covered in old buildings that has a dream of being home to the next shipping container project.  The great thing about this is that you can be the one to design the project.

The partnership of AIA Newark and Suburban and the Young Architects Forum invites international designers to find innovative, visionary and compelling proposals for container constructed multi-family mixed-use project.

The competition is entirely presented and managed via the website, www.livethebox.org.

PURPOSE:

Thousands of unwanted shipping containers clog our ports and the land around them. AIA Newark and Suburban challenges the world’s most innovative thinkers and designers to re-invent the box with their most inspired and creative utilizations of shipping containers as the primary construct of an urban multi-family mixed use project.  The selected site is adjacent to a major train station and walking distance to the downtown major cultural centers of Newark, New Jersey. (The site originally contained a large brick manufacturing building. This building is not to be considered as part of your proposal.)

MATERIALS:

Designs must utilize standard height shipping containers 8′-6″ exterior height, in either 20′-0″ or 40′-0″ nominal lengths as the main building block of the structure. These containers may be utilized in any configuration or quantity and may be cut or solid.

So what about it?  Have you got it in you to deign something like this?  If you do, you better hurry.  The deadline to register is July 1 and the deadline to submit is July 31st!

For all the details and more information visit Live the Box here.

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