Ribbon Cutting: Muskegon’s First-Ever, Student-Built LEED Certified Home

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The Construction Trades – LEED program at the Muskegon Area Career Tech Center (MACTC) will celebrate its first- ever Silver LEED Certified home on Thursday, October 28, 2010, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 3:00 p.m.  The home, at 2543 Chestnut Trail in Muskegon, was built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Standard, under the providership of during the 2009-10 school year.

Immediately following the ceremony, all are invited to travel a few blocks to the MACTC Fall Open House at 200 Harvey Street.  Visitors may explore the facility, meet school staff and students, view equipment demonstrations, and enjoy door prizes and refreshments until 8:00 p.m.  Both events are open to the public.

For more information visit www.muskegoncareertech.com or call (231) 767-3613.

About The Muskegon Area Career Tech Center

Opening in January of 2005 to serve juniors and seniors in the Muskegon Area. This “world class” training center provides our students with the opportunities to ensure their success in their occupation of choice. The 58,000 square feet Career Tech Center (CTC) is located at the corner of Harvey St and Stebbins Rd on the northwest corner of the Muskegon Community College campus. The CTC site is home to 16 different programs.

Durability Planning and Prerequisites in LEED Homes

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Flooding impacts a building's durabilityThose familiar with the LEED for Homes rating system know there are many prerequisites that all projects must meet prior to Certification. These are spread across the credit areas, so there are prerequisites in Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy, Materials and Resources, and more.

One area that is a bit confusing is the Innovation and Design prerequisite for Durability Planning and Management (ID  prereq 2). This is a two-step process to help ensure homes are durable and built to last by mitigating any local climate variables on the home.  The first step is to identify risks, and the second is to identify strategies to address those risks. For example, if the home is being built in an area with high air infiltration, heat loss, and water infiltration, what design and construction strategies are being used to mitigate these issues?  Read more

Greenbuild Affordable Homes Tour: 11/20

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Affordable and Green: Greenbuild Legacy Home Project
November 20, 2010
8 a.m.-1 p.m.
Early: Member $45/Non-Member $45
Regular: Member $65/Non-Member $65

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity have been successful in providing affordable housing to families they determine can handle the financial and maintenance obligations of the new homes they build. The anticipated energy and maintenance costs of ownership figure prominently in qualifying potential future homeowners. This project is designed to Read more

USGBC Cuts Prices on Materials

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Good news for those seeking authoritative green building information on a budget – the USGBC has discounted all educational publications by 20% through the end of the month!

If you’ve been thinking about taking the LEED Green Associate exam and want to purchase the USGBC study guide, or you’re embarking on a LEED for Homes project and need a Reference Guide – this is the chance to get one at a great discount!

You’ll receive 20% off any publication or education simply by entering a promotional code at checkout: FALL2010

Details at USGBC.org

Financial Incentives for Green Remodeling

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It’s no surprise that there are a lot of incentives out there for folks that are doing any remodeling that help encourage green strategies – everything from tax credits, tax deductions, rebates, grants,  municipal incentives, and more!  The USGBC Illinois chapter has been working on pulling much of this information together into an educational seminar that will be held Tuesday, Oct 19 in Chicago’s north suburbs. If you are a builder, designer or remodeler looking to capitalize on green building and better serve your clients, this is the event for you.

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The Vineyard Project

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Nestled in South Western Michigan’s wine country this home is located next to a vineyard in Paw Paw, Michigan, thus the project name. This home is a site specific, Passive Solar Prairie style home built with BuildBlock ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) from foundation to the roof. The exterior elevations of the home were designed with deeper roof overhangs, determined by using solar calculations, to both maximize and minimize the sun exposure based on the time of year. In addition, solar awnings on the lower level windows further shade the South-facing windows. The exterior used two of our favorite products CertainTeed FiberCement Siding and Andersen 400 series casement and awning windows. The interior of the home has stained concrete floor on all levels which makes for great thermal mass. The home was also designed with lifetime design principles and has zero step entries. Click here to view the project profile


art of the site specific design was to locate the garage to act as a wind break, to stop snow drifting from the northwest prevailing winds that we have here in Michigan. Part of the passive solar design is to have very little windows on the north side of the home, to keep heat from escaping through them. That is why this homes attention to detail is spent on the Southside of the home, where most of the homes windows face south. In the winter, the sun will warm the living space during the day and shine on the concrete floors on both levels which will store some of the heat gained, for gradual release. The roof overhang will shade the house from excessive solar heat gain in the summer, and west-facing glass is minimized to reduce cooling needs in the summer. ICF construction was perfect for this project because with ICF’s there are no concerns with noise and wind.

The “Vineyard Project” is a Zero Energy Home (ZEH) thanks to the Passive Solar Design, 3.3 kW of Photovoltaic, Solar Hot Water and the Geo-Thermal heating and cooling system. The home is also pre-wired for future installation of a Wind Generator. This home only uses about 600 kWh of electricity per month and has been generating a minimum of 20 kWh of electricity per day with many days’ net-metering backwards since the home was completed. The home was built for $134.00 per square foot (before the 30% rebates from the Solar Hot Water, Photovoltaic and Geo-thermal systems) making it more affordable for the general public.

Besides the pending LEED for Homes “Platinum” certification this home received 5+ Energy Star certification and a HERS score of 34. This is the lowest score every tested in the State of Michigan making it the most energy efficient house in Michigan. This home will be 66% more efficient than typical construction of a similar home of this size. In addition this homes toilets, faucets and shower heads are super low-flow for superior water efficiency. The home also has low-VOC paints, adhesives and finishes and uses recycled content for the flooring, decking, foundation and siding.

Click here for more information and project profile.

Legacy/Habitat Homes Counter tops

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Can you be environmentally aware, considerate of Life Cycle Impact, cost conscious, and still have beautiful counter tops in your home or commercial building? Yes!

Habitat for Humanity Lake County is using an exciting new cement counter top product in the Waukegan homes being built for Greenbuild 2010. Read more

New LEED for Homes Pre-approved ID: Food Garden

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The White House isn’t the only residence earning accolades for having a food garden on its property.  With the newly-released pre-approved Innovation and Design (ID) credit, LEED for Homes projects that incorporate a food garden into the design will be eligible for an ID point, if certain specifications are met.

The intent of the Food Garden credit is to provide a functional and sustainable means of supporting the homeowner’s food needs. A project may earn credit for an on site food garden if Read more

Download the Energy Code for Free

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The folks at ICC have made the download of the IECC 2009 Energy Code available at no cost – yes that’s right – you can download it for free at www.iccsafe.org/FreeIECC.

The national model energy code of choice for states, cities and counties that adopt codes, the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is referenced in federal law determined by Congress through the Energy Policy Act of 1992. It is the only energy code that serves as the basis for federal tax credits for energy-efficient homes, energy efficiency standards for federal residential buildings and manufactured housing, and state residential energy code determinations. The 2009 IECC is the target building energy code that all 50 Governors agreed to achieve compliance with under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

We’ve talked before how IECC 2009 compares with LEED for Homes, and this reference material being made available for free is a great tool for residential design and construction teams.