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Bulletin Board
The Coolest Cool House Tour Ever
Despite the heat, over 3,000 people attended the 12th Annual Cool House Tour, produced jointly by Austin Energy Green Building and the Texas Solar Energy Society, on Sunday, June 22nd. Green building has clearly hit the tipping point in the past year as people get serious about the cost of operating and maintaining their homes. For comparison, last year’s tour drew about 1,500, which was considered a huge number at the time. With so many homes to choose from, traffic was steady, but not overwhelming, at all the locations.
Attendees had the opportunity to view green-rated homes of all types—small and large, traditional and modern, production and custom, lower-cost and luxury--single-family, duplex and condo homes. These homes featured good designs for passive cooling; high-quality thermal envelopes and heating and cooling systems; healthy, durable and low-maintenance materials; rainwater collection
systems and water-wise landscaping. Some had solar photovoltaic systems as well.
From the questions they asked, visitors were a pretty sophisticated group in regard to green building principles and techniques, many having attended an AEGB Green by Design workshop. Of course, some questions are asked over and over. "With my particular house, everyone wanted to know what the countertops were," says local architect Nick Mehl. "I think people focus on the finishes even though the systems are what's featured."
Everyone had kudos for the Tour volunteers. "What stands out to me is how eagerly volunteers came forward to be a part of this tour and how over and over again they told me how much they enjoyed greeting and guiding people on the tour," says Lucy Stolzenburg, assistant to TXSES Executive Director, Natalie Marquis. Tour volunteers work 4 hour shifts and do a fabulous job of managing the traffic flow and generally helping to keep everything running smoothly, even gently deterring some of the youngest visitors from
touching the art and personal items.
Mary Simon of Solluna Builders answered questions at an affordable infill home. "We were often asked if this was a new home or a remodel," says Simon. "Which we took as compliment because the house was built on an infill lot in a 1960's neighborhood, and was designed to fit in with the surrounding homes." Obviously, a job well done.
The tour drew folks from as far aways as San Antonio, Houston, and Bastrop. In fact, Terry Orr, mayor of Bastrop, Texas, visited with Patricia House, engineer with Austin Energy Green Building, at one of the houses. He gleaned a lot information from the tour, and inquired about the City of Austin's successful residential and commercial energy efficiency and water conservation programs.
Habitat for Humanity and Home Depot Launch Sustainability Initiative
Home Depot and Habitat for Humanity launched the Partners in Sustainable Building initiative this spring. According to Catherine Lee Doar, Design Coordinator for Austin Habitat for Humanity, Home Depot will provide $30 million over five years to Habitat affiliates all over the U.S. with the goal of building at least 5,000 sustainable homes. This will impact about 17 percent of all single- and multi-family homes built by Habitat over the next five years. Funds and resources provided by Home Depotwill help Habitat affiliates expand their use of energy-efficient equipment, install more water-conserving fixtures and ensure good indoor air quality. The funding will also help Habitat affiliates secure third-party verification of nationally recognized green building standards.
Partners in Sustainable Building is an opt-in program that will be available to Habitat affiliates across the United States. Future components of the program will include educational and scholarship programs to provide technical resources and training to help affiliates establish a foundation of green building expertise. As green building becomes Habitat's model for the future, the impacts for Habitat, homeowners, and the planet will be significant.
During the first year, 30 Habitat affiliates (including Austin) from all climate zones and of all sizes and levels of sophistication in green building will participate in a pilot program before the national launch in 2009. The pilot affiliates will have two paths of participation. They can use the Energy Star Program and add indoor air quality features with a maximum award of $2,000 per home. Alternately, the pilot affiliates will work with LEED-H, Green Communities, NAHB, or an approved local green building program (such as AEGB in Austin) with a maximum stipend of $4,000 per home.
The Austin chapter of Habitat for Humanity is very experienced with green building. Habitat homes are routinely rated by Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB). With many 4-star ratings, and one 5-star rating already, Habitat hopes to use the Home Depot funding to make all their new homes 5-star. They are already working with AEGB to decide how to get the best bang for their buck.
"We've been using all of the design and low cost green strategies for years," says Doar. "We're so excited to have this funding because it will allow us to incorporate things like spray foam insulation in the attics, blown-in insulation in the walls, dual-flush or HET toilets, and some landscaping measures – perhaps grading for insoak and more or larger trees. We will also be adding front-loading washing machines to our options list."
About Habitat for Humanity
Austin Habitat for Humanity is the local affiliate of an international organization dedicated to providing well-built affordable housing to qualified families worldwide. The homes are built using volunteers as the primary labor source. Each homeowner must provide several hundred hours of labor on their home and other houses before they can close on their project. This "sweat equity" serves as their down payment. After closing, the homeowners receive a 20- to 30-year no-interest loan which usually
reduces their monthly payments and increases their standard of living. Improving a home's energy and water efficiency makes it more affordable over the long-term by lowering the homeowner's utility bills.
Resources
Austin Habitat for Humanity
Habitat Re-Store
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