Builder - January 2009 - (Page 56) GREEN HOUSE system eliminates thermal bridging to enable higher performance in application than other insulated framing assemblies, the manufacturer says. The design also creates panels that weigh less than standard, wood-sheathed SIPs, mitigating the need for a crane or forklift. For more information, go to www.kama-eebs.com. Got Green? T he NAHB is calling for exceptional green projects, people, and programs for the 2009 Green Building Awards. New and remodeled homes and entire developments started after June 2007 and substantially completed by December 2008 are eligible. Other categories include green advocates, marketing programs, local governments, and HBA-sponsored building programs. Submissions via e-mail or CD only (to save paper) are due by Jan. 31, 2009. For more information and to download an entry form, go to www.nahb.org/green buildingawards. and reservations for eight more, generating about $4 million in revenue. While the potential for sales in a tough housing market and achieving faster approvals are attractive enough, the benefits of going green beyond one or two houses in a community also include greater control of the parcel’s built and unbuilt environment, economies of scale for materials and labor, and a more distinct competitive advantage. “We’ll certainly be able to lower hard costs with the type of home and the volume we’re building,” says CJ Crowell, president of Green Light in Hereford, Ariz., the developer/builder of The Cliffs at Ramsey Canyon, a planned 140-unit townhome project near Tucson, Ariz. Like Thornton, Crowell sees himself as a steward of the land he’s developing, leveraging the existing terrain of the parcel to create a natural rainwater collection system and develop an alternative, off-grid sewer treatment facility while preserving natural features. Texas builder Don Ferrier, meanwhile, has never dipped his toe into land development, but he’s willing to get out of his custom home comfort zone for Rheudasil Farms, an eight-lot enclave in Flower Mound, Texas, near Fort Worth. “It will allow us to control the whole subdivision and create a neighbor- hood of people with the same eco-goals,” he says. Ferrier is counting on his decades of green building experience and the landowner’s edict to build “deep green” homes on the parcel to achieve a steady sales and production pace for homes priced up to $550,000. He’ll build to the new National Green Building Standard and LEED for Homes rating system and have each home certified by the NAHB and the USGBC respectively to drive home the point. He’ll also gain some cost and time efficiencies to reduce his investment burden and risk. “Vendors and trade partners love multiples, and we expect some volume pricing as a result,” he says.—R.B. CLEAR VALUE: Homes at Silver Woods don’t skimp on the finer things. “Green is just one item on the menu,” says builder Robert Thornton. DEFINING GREEN F green building, Shelton recommends that A recent national consumer survey finds that buyers aren’t so savvy builders sell a baseline green house with few in the ways of green building. (if any) eco-options ew buyers understand vey, released earlier this year, and have their homes builderspeak, the insider’s indicates that consumers are rated and certified green by a lexicon of the construction both overwhelmed by the op- third-party program not only to industry, but it turns out tions presented to them by the qualify them but also to enable they don’t know greenspeak, housing industry and clueless buyers to gauge the difference. either—at least not the dialect about what’s “required” to cre- She also sees knowledgeable being used by builders and their ate a green-built home. For in- green builders becoming trustsupply chain partners. “There’s stance, 82 percent of the 1,005 ed sources of accurate green indefinitely a lack of knowledge Eco Pulse respondents thought formation. “A builder who really and trust among consumers Energy Star–rated appliances knows this stuff becomes a conabout what’s required in a were a required specification, sultant,” says Shelton, instead of green home,” says Suzanne followed closely by water-sav- just a salesperson. Shelton, CEO of Shelton ing features, high-performance To purchase the Eco Pulse Group, an advertising agency in windows, and solar panels. survey and the companion Knoxville, Tenn., specializing “They think they have to do Energy Pulse report, released in green and energy-efficient them all,” says Shelton. in October, go to www.energy products and services. To get buyers over their fear, pulse.org or www.shelton The agency’s Eco Pulse sur- mistrust, and ignorance about groupinc.com.—R.B. Consumer Confusion photos: left: courtesy kama-eebs; right: Courtesy Silver Stock Properties TO READ MORE STORIES ON GREEN BUILDING, GO TO W W W.BUILDER ONLINE.COM/GREEN. GOT GREEN PROJECTS, PRODUCTS, OR DESIGNS? E-MAIL DENISE DERSIN AT: ddersin@hanleywood.com 56 ■ B U I LD E R ja n ua ry 2 0 0 9 W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM http://www.kama-eebs.com http://www.nahb.org/greenbuildingawards http://www.nahb.org/greenbuildingawards http://www.energypulse.org http://www.energypulse.org http://www.sheltongroupinc.com http://www.sheltongroupinc.com http://www.ONLINE.COM/GREEN http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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