Builder - January 2009 - (Page 55) GREEN HOUSE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, PRODUCTS & SALES ■ EDITED BY RICH BINSACCA SPARKLING GREEN: Good looks, convenience, and location will attract empty-nester buyers, but builder/developer Robert Thornton hopes that preserving natural features will help seal the deal. Inside: 56 Green Daze New survey shows consumers are still baffled by what defines a green home. PLUS MORE > > Wonder Wall M illenia Wall Solutions (www. milleniawalls.com) has devised a decorative segmental retaining wall system that replaces and replicates natural concrete and stone blocks and veneers with 100 percent post-consumer recycled–content. A reinforced, interlocking plastic frame (an evolved CMU design) and polymeric resin front and side pieces molded and colored to replicate four popular stone styles combine for a lightweight, ecofriendly alternative that GREEN DEVELOPMENT Raising the Bar Green communities are providing builders and developers with attractive economies of scale and marketing advantages. photos: left: Courtesy Silver Stock Properties; right: courtesy millenia wall systems earns up to eight LEED credits and won’t crack, chip, or decay, according to the manufacturer. D elaware’s new Super Green program sets a higher environmental bar for land use and infrastructure and will reward developers and builders who adhere to the voluntary standards with fast-tracked approvals that may shave two years off the average planned unit development application process. Builder/developer Robert Thornton, who helped draft the policy, looks forward to applying the standards to the remaining phases of Silver Woods, an approved, 357-unit, 129-acre community in Ocean View, Del. He’s already made a commitment to green development by preserving trees and open space and providing nature trails instead of tennis courts, as well as building upper-end empty-nester homes to the current NAHB Model Green Building Guidelines and rating system. “It’s value gained, not money lost,” he says of the likelihood that he’s sacrificing some parcels to gain faster approvals and also benefiting from larger, more desirable lots. “We may actually get a check at the closing table.” Silver Woods is one of several green developments taking shape across the country. Thornton’s project, among the first out of the ground, is selling. Within the first nine months of the first 30-lot release, with house prices averaging in the $450,000s, he’s closed (see page 56) on eight homes and has contracts SIPs on Steroids T hey’ve got a weird name, but kamaEEBS insulated wall, floor, and roof panels are SIP sandwiches without the heavy bread. A marriage of light-gauge metal framing and exposed, 100 percent recyclable expanded polystyrene foam, the ▶ W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM ja n ua ry 2 0 0 9 BUILDER ■ 55 http://www.milleniawalls.com http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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