Jan 12, 2008 3:31 pm US/Central
Project Little Green House Wins National Award
(WCCO)
A
remodeled home right here in the Twin Cities has won the highest energy and
environmental rating it could get and it's the first in the world to do it.
That
means the spotlight is on the little old green house in Minnetonka, Minn.
that "Project Energy" has followed for months.
WCCO
has taken you through the green remodel of the 1948 rambler from the very start
with general contractor Keith Poetes.
"Basically, we stripped
out the house. We stripped out all the old wiring, all the old duct work which
was contaminated. And we're really kind of starting from scratch, but we are
re-using the initial frame of the building," said Poetes.
Then
on to landscaping with Paula Westmoreland.
"We use native plants as a foundation and add
a lot of edibles in. We feel like it's really critical to connect people back
to the land in a way and the land for most people is their back yard. And being
able to harvest some food from your back yard is a really good way to connect
people," said Westmoreland.
And
finally, all the way to the finish line with homeowner Peter Lytle.
"Well there's just a lot of technologies in
this home. We had
250 people and 7 teams and during that we figured out everything we could think
of to make this more energy efficient, more sustainable," said Lytle.
Costing
more than a million dollars, the house was never a "typical" remodel.
"Is this a going to be just a show house ... or is this for people to live in?" asked WCCO-TV's Don Shelby.
"It's going to be lived in, but it is also an
educational laboratory. We're going to be testing a lot of different
components," said Lytle.
And
now the house is being honored with the highest certification for Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design -- a LEED platinum rating from the U.S. Green
Building Council.
"A
platinum certification is extraordinary, really," said David
Ejadi, an architect who's worked on sustainable design and construction.
"To
go from LEED gold to LEED platinum is a huge challenge because they're asking
you to do everything, to literally leave nothing on the table," said David
Eijadi, from the The Weidt Group.
That's
why this house goes so far, even recycling used shower water to the toilets.
"And it does have a overflow system on it in
case you're not using your toilets as often as you're using the shower
water," Steve Bradow.
In
addition to solar and wind power, there's geothermal energy.
"We use a refrigeration system to remove the
heat from the ground and deliver it to the house," said Jim
Cusack.
"What kind of savings would something like the
geothermal heat pump give the average consumer?" asked Shelby.
"Fifty to 80 percent savings on your heating
bill," said Cusack.
However,
not every green building in the state is LEED certified like this one.
In
fact, a state program called energy design assistance has created more than 250
really energy efficient buildings in Minnesota.
The
Science Museum of Minnesota, Lawson Software, the Minneapolis Public Library,
the Guthrie Theater, the new Walker Arts Center
and even the new MacPhail
Center for Music are all
examples of energy efficient buildings.
Ejadi
said the LEED award is further proof of Minnesota's
longstanding commitment to building for the future of our environment.
"If
you look at the history of the green movement, much of it really begins in the
heartland, but it doesn't make a lot of news until it gets to the coasts," said Eijadi. "It becomes quite a challenge to get noticed here in the Midwest
partly because we don't want to get noticed."
The
green house in Minnetonka
is already getting noticed.
People
from all around the world are touring the house for ideas on making homes greener.
The
home is kind of a living lab, so it gives companies a chance to figure out how
to bring down the price.
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