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Wege Foundation Funds Green Affordable Housing

In 2015, the GreenHome Institute (GHI) will also be continuing their work with affordable housing developers by replicating a very successful program delivered in partnership with their Chicago office and USGBC Illinois. The Wege Foundation will be supporting the GreenHome Institute’s Green Affordable Housing training with a $20,000 grant. This grant will help thirty to forty affordable housing developer stakeholders become LEED credentialed and trained on how and why to design, build, and rehab multi- and single-family buildings to the new LEED v4 standard, which is due to launch in October of 2016.

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Terri McCarthy, Vice President of Programs at the Wege Foundation says, “We are very excited to continue working with the GreenHome Institute because we are very supportive of LEED in the affordable housing sector in Kent County. This program will help ensure healthier and more energy efficient affordable housing for residents who are most in need, through design and trades training, credentialing along with credible third party inspections and energy testing of these homes.”

The GreenHome Institute is thrilled to continue this partnership with a foundation who has helped them in the past to jump start the LEED for Homes provider-ship with a $36,000 grant. It is clear the foundation wants to see LEED v4 be just as successful as LEED 2008. Without support from the Wege Foundation, it would be near impossible to educate, train, and consult to help overcome the stringency of the new program.

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Throughout this project, GHI will be sharing the lessons we learn with the USGBC IL chapter and their programming committee who in the past 3 years attracted nearly 70 participants with roughly 30% going on to become LEED for Homes accredited. Some have even gone forward to develop green- and LEED-registered affordable housing. We believe every USGBC chapter can create partnerships locally to expand Green Affordable Housing in their communities. We hope that what we learn during this process can help reduce the barriers to develop with LEED v4 for Homes.

We plan to start this project in early spring and complete training in the fall of 2015. Stay tuned as we progress!

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Partnership with Blue House Energy for Online Training

GreenHome Institute has partnered with the Blue House Energy to deliver to deliver convenient online education that earns you CEUs. This is training is ideal for contractors, remodelers, trades, architects, raters, and more.

Building Science Basics is the ‘fundamentals’ course. It covers heat, air, and moisture flows, indoor air quality, ventilation requirements and air sealing fundamentals. Once you’ve completed Building Science Basics, you can pick and choose from a series of modules that build on the basics. GHI members always get special pricing and great offers on all BHE training that relates to GreenStar program requirements.

Building Science Basics Course 

  • House as a System
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Ventilation and Combustion Spillage
  • Bonus Module – Air Sealing Fundamentals

Continuing Education Units – CEs Available 

  • BPI 4.5
  • GBCI 10
  • AIA (HSW) 10
  • NARI Green 10
  • State contractor / designer may be available*
  • NATE – Pending

Register now!

Member – Registration
Non Member – Registration

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Holland Partners with GHI for Home Energy Education

The GreenHome Institute trains and executes home energy audits in partnership with the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and with the City of Holland, Michigan.  The City of Holland has recently been undergoing their major community energy plan which involves all sectors improving energy efficiency through residential, commercial, industrial and major municipal utility support. The City of Holland has also been announced as a quarter finalist in the Georgetown Energy Prize in attempt to win 5 million dollars based on competing to improve residential energy use.  aha_logoGreenHome Institute has be contracted to educate 50 homeowners in Holland on how their homes use energy and give their homes a performance label based on the residential energy performance score. This pilot will help the city assess the best way to help encourage, educate, and genuinely excite their residents to reduce energy, save money, and improve comfort and health. The GreenHome Institute will be giving these MPG-like home energy scores while also assessing homes for water conservation, indoor environmental quality, solar PV energy opportunities, and help with plans for green remodeling if desired. GHI will be provided unique funding opportunities as well to reduce the cost of moderate to deep energy retrofit projects. City of Holland planner Mark VanderPloeg sees the GreenHome Institute as a key partner in achieving their long-term sustainability goals: “In our long-term community energy plan for the city, it is important that we promote an easy to understand ‘miles-per-gallon-like’ rating for a home that has value and recognition in the community and is backed by an affordable, proficient, and easy to understand home energy audit. After a few years of research we believe the GreenHome Institute’s label will provide us with that.” Here are more details about the program in Holland.

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‘s New Name: GreenHome Institute

The Grand Rapids based non-profit, formerly the Green Home Institute, has changed their name to the GreenHome Institute.

When it comes to sustainability, health, and energy efficiency in our homes, there are so many different options, choices, and conflicting messages. It can be difficult to know what to do. The GreenHome Institute is taking the guess-work out of green through:

  • online and in-person education and training
  • free resources and tools
  • third-party inspection services

Executive Director Brett Little believes consumers have plenty of options when considering sustainable housing. “We are a non-profit that exists to empower people who seek healthy and sustainable choices in the renovation and construction of the places we live. We are very excited to help people make sense of all the green home information, products, and programs out there.” GHI accomplishes their goal by providing timely, relevant, and accurate resources so that the public can compare options and rule out the possibility of ‘green washing.’

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Through their LEED for Homes program and GreenStar Certification, the GreenHome Institute has verified over 5,000 new and existing residential buildings that are now certified healthy, durable, energy, and water efficient. Little believes these buildings improve the communities they are in: “A green home should be attainable to anyone, regardless of socio-economic class or race. It should be the norm in all construction and remodeling in the future.”

As director of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, Dan Schoonmaker says that now is the time for the GreenHome Institute: “The market has evolved significantly over the past 14 years since their inception (as the Green Home Institute) but it’s the next 14 years that I am excited about! McGraw/Hill Construction predicted this year that 30% of the residential market will commit to green activity, equating to nearly a $100 billion industry by 2016. This new name and realigned programming better communicates to the market what the GreenHome Institute is trying to do and how they can help.”

When building and renovating, it can be tough to determine which products or processes lend to a greener project. The GreenHome Institute offers two free online education sessions for both LEED and GreenStar that homeowners, designers, and contractors can use to generate green scopes of work for subcontractors (such as insulators, heating and cooling, electricians, plumber, energy raters, and other professionals). These can be used to prompt design and bidding for light remodels in all areas of a home (including basements, kitchens, or additions) as well as “full gut-rehabs” or even new construction projects.

The GreenHome Institute serves anyone in the Midwest who lives in a residential building—single-family or multi-family—who seeks design, construction, renovation, or weatherization services. Our mission is to empower people to make healtheir and more sustianable choices in the places we live. 

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Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Simply by Updating Your Fireplace

The typical American household produces a carbon footprint of an estimated 48 tons per year— approximately doubling the global average. We are a nation in need of an environmental makeover, starting in the home.

Lowing your carbon footprint may seem like a daunting task, seeing that humans themselves are made up of carbon. Many may wonder how they can reduce their household’s carbon footprint without sacrificing their entire lifestyle.  One relatively simple way to lower your carbon footprint, as well as make your home more environmentally friendly, is to start with your fireplace.

Gas Log Systems versus Wood Burning: A Question of Efficiency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that America has more than 12 million wood stoves and fireplaces in homes present-day, 9 million of them being outdated and not up to the EPA’s standards. These burn at a rate that’s 50% less efficient than updated systems.

Thus, gas-burning fireplaces are largely more environmentally friendly and more efficient than their older, wood-burning counterparts. The EPA also claims that replacing your older fireplace will cut your need for wood by two-thirds, which effectively saves you a lot of time, money, fuel, and resources.

Emissions

Your car isn’t the only thing that has emissions—fireplaces have emissions as well.  While both wood and gas-burning fireplaces release emissions into the air, gas systems do so in a massively less significant portion. It’s been found that natural gas fireplace systems can have much less of an impact than wood— with 99% less pollutants. This huge cutback in emissions means your gas-burning fireplace will produce less unhealthy pollution in your home, as well as outdoors. It will also cut Creosote build up in your chimney, which is a highly flammable byproduct of burning wood in your fireplace; not to mention that you’ll no longer have to deal with pesky soot or ashes. A good rule of thumb is: the lower the emissions, the higher the efficiency.

Health Benefits

Not only does replacing your wood burning fireplace with a gas burning one reduce your carbon footprint, but it can also reduce health risks. A gas burning fireplace will naturally reduce wood smoke pollution, which has been linked to cancer, asthma, and a slew of other health issues. This simple change can make a big difference in your family’s health.

Vented and Vent Free Gas Burning Fireplaces

There are two types of gas burning fireplaces: vented and vent free. Each have pros and cons depending on what you’re seeking for your household. Venting gas-burning fireplaces, for instance, will expose one to less Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), but they do not produce as much heat as vent-free systems, nor or they as efficient. Still, both options are considered to be safer and more efficient than older, wood-burning fireplace systems. Regardless of which you chose, fireplace experts suggest installing CO detectors in any gas installation.

Vented or not, replacing your outdated, wood-burning fireplace with a gas-burning system is not only financially savvy, but is also a simple and safe way to:

  • Lower your carbon footprint
  • Reduce the health risks associated with burning wood
  • Bring your home into a more environmentally-friendly and efficient way of life

Thus, hopefully you’ll stop to consider how you can make a difference in your own home, simply by reconsidering something as small as your fireplace.

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West MI Home Nears Zero Energy – One Thing Missing

We reached back out to Sam Pobst to take a look at his LEED Platinum home and he sent us his latest utility bills of energy use vs energy produced. You can review it here.

What we found was that from Aug 13 – Aug 14 he had roughly used about 3,000 KWHe (heating and cooling) of energy over what he produced.

Sumac Grove

Sumac Grove

“In our original energy model we had included a solar hot water collector which we never installed.  This would have generated about 10% of our total energy requirements for the home, and put us slightly energy positive.  I hope to install it one day, but it is not in the budget yet,” says Sam.

We also asked Sam to talk a little bit about the ROI versus a conventional home built in Michigan. He says, “The ROI with all of the technology we implemented I estimate at about seven years.  The PV has a payback of three years largely because of the EARP grant, the tax credit, and my labor to install it.  The cost premium for the Serious 925 windows over a standard Energy Star window is less than two years.”

EARP or Experimental Advanced Renewable Program is a program from consumers energy where homeowner’s and business owners can be selected to receive almost double the going rate for the electricity sold to the grid.

“I have somewhere around $20,000 invested in the insulation and sealing of the building envelope.  I can’t say what the payback on this is because I don’t know what the baseline cost would be for code built construction.  This includes all of the insulation, extra framing, and the extra plywood sheathing.  Assuming a code built home with 2×6 construction, a quarter of the insulation, and OSB sheathing, would cost at least half this much, I estimate that the payback is around ten years for this.  This payback continues for the life of the home which I estimate to be around 200 years if well maintained,” remarks Sam.

Sam’s home was a targeted passive house but he never made it. Below he details how he surpassed some areas of the program but not in others.

He says, “While we did not meet the heat demand requirements, we more than met the air infiltration requirements, and we devastated the actual primary energy demand by over half.”

                      Required                        Actual

Heat demand                           4.75                             6.47

Pressure result                         0.6 ACH50                0.44 ACH50

Primary Energy Demand    38 kBTU/ft2yr            17.5 kBTU/ft2yr

“Based on these metrics, and what I heard at the last PH conference, a restructuring of the organizing principles of PH to weigh these three critical PH components to arrive at a score make more sense,” says Sam.

Catch a video about Sam’s project from start to finish, review the profile, and stay tuned to learn if Sam goes Net Positive.

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Eco House 2009: New Home Gold

Minnesota State Fair – Built to MN GreenStar Standards

For the third year in a row SALA Architects was honored to design the ECO House for the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience. The General Contractor the did the work was Showcase Renovations, Inc. The 2009 ECO House is an innovative design solution using sustainable principles for domestic needs. This house’s focus is Net Zero, which we’ve defined as “using only as much energy as it produces on site.” The house features a south facing working facade that incorporates photovoltaic and solar hot water panels into the architecture. Not only does this working facade aide in the production of energy, it is designed to also serve the many other needs of the house such as; summer shading, winter passive solar heating, water collection, and operable thermal blanketing. Our goal is to design a house that not only responds to the demands of today, but also to the future needs of our planet.

By SALA Architects

For more information on this project visit www.salaarc.com.

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Welcome new member Image Design!

Image Design, LLC, owned by Eric Hughes, is a national award winning
sustainable/organic residential design firm located in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They specialize in designing new homes, cottages, remodels, additions and developments and can create a custom home that is suited to the clients individual lifestyle and the unique nature of the choosen site.
Image Design has over 24 years of residential design experience on sustainable construction methods such as Advanced framing, Insulated concrete forms (ICF’s), Superior wall foundations, Structural insulated panels (SIP’s), Earth bermed, Light Clay Straw, near zero energy, renewable ready, Passive and Active solar designed homes. They have designed over 25 Homes that have been certified through the LEED for Homes certification process. Their designs have been published locally and nationally and have been built thru-out Michigan and as far away as New York. We are actively learning new methods of sustainable construction every chance they can, such as Passive House and Living Building Challenge certification and “we are very excited to support the new Michigan green remodeling certification program, GreenStar.”See Image Design’s most recent projects
GreenStar is a leading cold weather climate residential building standards program that provides third-party verification and certification of projects for new and existing homes. GreenStar is a resource providing training, testing, and rating services for homeowners and industry professionals alike. GreenStar is apart of the 501 c3 non profit the Alliance for Environmental Sustianability. 
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Former NARI Chicago President becomes member and remodels green

Ron Cowgill, Owner of D/Restore the North Shore Services Unlimited, has been in the remodeling business for over 25 years and is a Certified Remodeler (CR), Certified Kitchen and Bath Remodeler (CKBR), Green Certificate Professional (GCP) and Universal Design Certified Specialist (UDCP) through NARI, EPA Certified in lead safe practices, Past President of the local NARI Chapter in Chicago, Licensed electrical contractor, Licensed general contractor in Chicago, Highland Park and Evanston. Ron has contributed to articles in “Crain’s Chicago Business”, “Remodeling Magazine”, “Qualified Remodeler”, “Chicago Sun Times”, “Chicago Tribune” and wrote a “How To” colum for” Chicago Home Improvement Magazine”. Ron is the host of Mighty House, a homeowner DYI Chicago online radio with national audience
Chicagoland radio shows & HGTV’s before and after segment and New Spaces episode. Ron’s company, D/R Services Unlimited, Inc. has been completing “Green” remodeling projects for many years. Many of these “Green” techniques have been incorporated in to the normal operation of his business.

Ron is thrilled to be participating in Chicagoland’s 2nd annual GreenBuilt Home Tour with the Wellington Ave, Type 1 – whole home remodel featured above. This project is registered and on track to certify at the coveted Gold level. Project features are a: Complete gutted kitchen, first floor bathroom, second floor, basement, all new electrical/plumbing/HVAC, closed cell foam on second floor, basement insulation panels, LED/CFL lighting, Water saver faucets, dual flush toilets, New windows, No VOC paints. Reclaimed floors, light fixtures, interesting use of old doors. A energy and green home 3rd party audit was done before and after remodel to ensure quaity assurance and energy peformance goals are met. The rater on the project is Jason La Fleur of Eco Achievers and AES regional director.

Once certified, Ron will be Chicago’s and IL’s first GreenHome Professional.

Don’t miss the 2nd annual Chicago GreenBuilt Home Tour coming up next week!

The 2014 GreenBuilt Home Tour features 18 exceptional, award-winning, and nationally-recognized Chicago area homes which highlighted attractive, affordable, and sustainable building practices. The tour is coming up on July 26 and 27 from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

During the two-day event, attendees learned ways the built environment contributes to a healthier community. The tour included Northern Illinois’ finest builders, designers and homeowners who created healthy, energy saving green homes. Together they send a clear message: to reduce our nation’s need to produce energy we must “make it tight and vent it right.”

All homes on the tour were third-party verified (or pending verification) to ensure they were built (or being built) to national standards, earning certification through programs such as: ENERGY STAR for Homes, LEED for Homes, the National Green Building Standard, DOE Challenge Home, Illinois GreenStar, and Passive House.

2 other ILGS homes will be featured too. Plan a trip to Chicago today and sign up now! 

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Welcome MN Member More Than A Beautiful Home

More Than A Beautiful Home blends the art of home and the science of better to help you get more from your home without sacrificing beauty.“Go ahead. Picture your dream home – the bold paint colors, coordinating fabrics, vibrant countertops, polished appliances, and stunning floors.”

They are on a mission to improve the environment by empowering women to create better homes.

“Now, envision a better home. Say good bye to uncomfortably hot or cold rooms, musty smells, drafty windows, ice dams, high utility bills, toxins and chemicals, and wanting to do something better for the environment but not knowing what to do.”

Currently More Than A Beautiful Home sends monthly and relevant, stylish but useful newsletters for homeowner and remodelers with content. You can follow them now or subscribe here. Another unique call to action is the Million Plus 3 Better Home Challenge. Imagine when one million women taking 3 actions each will create better homes and the biggest energy movement the country has ever seen! Take action now!

More than a Beautiful home is ran by Cindy Ojczyk and Christine Bleyhl who are passionate advocates for the marriage of beauty and sustainability. Christine is the former chair of MNGS Technical Committee as of 2013. Cindy, long time voluntary educator for MNGS qualiication training, co-author of GreenStar Certified Green Homes and Remodeling program, owner of Simply Green Design sustainable interior design, and member of the NorthernSTAR Building America team for the U.S. Department of Energy, brings a wealth of experience grounded in research and practical application to her consumer outreach website www.morethanabeautifulhome.com

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The GreenHome Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that is funded by members who support the green building movement. Bonus benefits include reduced green certification costs, free continuing education, and more. Become a member today!

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The GreenHome Institute is a non-profit organization that empowers people to make healthier and more sustainable choices in the renovation and construction of the places we live.

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