HOW LOCAL BUILDERS ARE EMBRACING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRACTICES.
Illustrations by Steve Haske
An emphasis on green building has flourished in the real estate and home construction worlds. But what exactly is “green building?”
Green building, also referred to as green construction or sustainable building, refers to the use of environmentally friendly materials and resource-efficient technologies.
This can encompass solar panels, reclaimed materials, high-efficiency appliances, eco-friendly insulation, and more. These investments in the future of your home are not only easier on the planet, but can actually save you money in the long run. We spoke with four builders throughout our region who are incorporating eco-conscious practices in their homes.
Bramante Homes Incorporated
Building Homes in Augusta County and Albemarle County, VA
Photography by Chris Inman
What is your favorite green building feature that you integrate into your homes?
“One of our favorite green building best practices is the introduction of fresh air into a home. Many builders are taking the time to make a home’s envelope tighter but this can result in a home that has stale air. To offset this, we introduce fresh air in a balanced and measured way so you get the best of both: energy efficiency and fresh air. And to top it off, we use a device called an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) which uses a heat exchanger to temper the fresh air. We realize we’re dorks about green building, but we’re okay with that.” Christopher Brement, President
To learn more about Bramante Homes Incorporated, visit bramantehomes.com.
Longview Builders Inc.
Building Homes in Asheville, NC
Photography courtesy of Longview Builders Inc.
What is the most important green building feature that you integrate into your homes?
“We find it important to integrate green features that make our homes both beautiful and energy efficient. In this modern farmhouse, which received the 2015 Craftsmanship Gold Award recipient in the Asheville Parade of Homes, the wood walls were built from wood that was destined to be white oak hardwood flooring but was culled for having one ‘defect’ or another. We were able to salvage it and found that with a little care, it had just the right amount of character for our purpose. This home not only makes use of reclaimed materials, but also features energy efficient mechanical components such as a hot water reclamation geothermal heating and cooling system with an energy recovery whole house ventilator. By capturing excess heat produced by the geothermal unit, we are able to send preheated water to the gas-powered on-demand water heater, which increases efficiency as well.” Kevin Hackett, President
To learn more about Longview Builders Inc., visit longviewbuildersinc.com.
STATESON HOMES
Building homes in Blacksburg, Radford, and the NewRiver Valley
Photography by Michael Speed Photography
What is the most important green building feature that you integrate into your homes?
“ Stateson Homes includes several green building features that I believe add significant value for our homeowners. Our homes are designed in a way that allow us to keep all of the ductwork and HVAC equipment inside the thermal envelope. The thermal envelope of a home is the area inside the physical separation created to keep unconditioned air outside of the living space. Many homebuilders place ductwork and HVAC equipment in an unconditioned attic or basement. However, when conditioned air is transferred through an unconditioned area, it degrades the temperature of the air making the system work harder to obtain the desired thermostat setting. Not only do we contain the HVAC system inside the thermal envelope of our homes, but we also completely insulate all of our foundation walls and size our HVAC equipment to handle this space. These energy efficient features make the home more comfortable year-round and allow our homeowners greater use of this space.” Todd Robertson, President
To learn more about Stateson Homes, visit statesonhomes.com.
Ellison Building Company
Building Homes in The Cape Fear Region, NC
Photography courtesy of Ellison Building Company
What is the most important green building feature that you integrate into your homes?
“ Our favorite and most important high-performance building feature that we integrate into every home we build is airtightness of the building envelope. Most people don’t realize that a tight building envelope is critical to energy savings and durability. Keeping air, water, and water vapor from moving through your walls will save both energy and money as well as extending the life of your home. We accomplish this with a mixture of high-performance tape on wall sheathing, long lasting, flexible polyurethane caulk, and polyurethane spray foam in strategic areas around the home. This is a time-consuming detail of our building process, but it’s well worth it to make sure we achieve the right results. We even employ third-party energy consultants to perform tests to ensure we’ve done it correctly.” Lucien Ellison, President
To learn more about Ellison Building Company, visit ellisonbuilding.com.
We shared this story with you in our Spring/Summer 2017 Issue of NEST Magazine. To view the full issue, click here.