Green Home Design
Our world is changing. The combination of explosive oil prices and global warming are lighting a fire under homeowners and homebuilders to change business as usual. Homeowner want more environmentally friendly materials used in their homes, and they want those homes to be more energy efficient to offset rising utility prices.
Architects are at the forefront of the sea change that is coming, slowly, to the building industry. Ware Architecture in Dallas, Texas, specializes in green and energy efficient design, so we asked Billy Ware what homeowners are requesting of him. “Most home owners are just requesting green attributes be incorporated into their homes along with energy efficiency. Most do not know enough to tell you specifically what they want. A few do and they want things like lower energy costs, better insulation, better air quality, low VOC paints, lower maintenance, etc.”
Michael Malone, of WKMC Architects, also in Dallas, has seen the push for green change his interaction with customers. “In our practice it has required us to help educate our clients and help them understand what it means to be green. The initial idea for being green comes to us from our clients and it is met with support, but in execution there can be challenges (and additional costs) which often make their initial enthusiasm wane. For merchant (speculative builder or developer) housing the idea that they are green is often driven by marketing trends which can seem like a cynical application of this idea. In almost every meeting with potential clients, green concepts almost always come up and we discuss them and try to gauge the willingness of the clients to really follow this path and incorporate it meaningfully into their homes.”
What design elements can be incorporated to be more green? According to Malone, “In our experience people are not requesting specific designs or design elements to be green, they are asking for the entire project to be developed in a manner that is green and sustainable. I don’t think green is a style yet…many green principals can be adapted to any number of home design styles and often things that were elements of more traditional homes make a lot of sense for green design. Simple elements we try to use that often seem pretty old fashioned include screen porches and window screens, ceiling fans, overhangs on roofs and over windows, driveways that are not fully paved but include grass strips or grass planting elements. These can be combined successfully into any type of residential style and are limited only by the creativity of the designer.”
Most of the push to be green is taking place in the choice of materials. Malone said, “We select materials for the construction of our houses that are sustainable and either recycled or recyclable (commercially grown and harvested wood, local stone, metal, concrete). We also like products that take the place of more traditional materials but are durable and low in maintenance (cement board panels and siding). We discourage carpet in every form other than rugs, which can be removed for cleaning and airing. We like light colors to be sued throughout the house to make it feel open and bright and to increase the reflectivity of the available lighting. We like metal roofs because properly selected they reflect the sun and don’t absorb it. We like properly installed masonry and stone because it is durable and water resistant and with normal care never needs to be refinished or repainted. One component of green building is the use of materials that are local so they don’t have to be transported very far. For us that means local limestone from Texas and southern yellow pine for framing and finish woods. We also have a wide range of locally manufactured brick, which does very well in our climate. One reason to use materials like these is the longevity of their use without major upkeep and refinish. You don’t have to paint a brick or stone wall. It may cost more to build initially, but it is a ‘permanent finish.’”
The placement of homes and of entire housing developments can also be done with green consideration. Situating a house so it takes advantage of the sun’s angles to reduce heat buildup is one way. And according to Ware, “When you get to the community level of green, there are many important strategies to implement:
· Combination of densities and home types.
· Provide public open space and community space.
· Combining residential with local community retail amenities so people can actually walk to the stores they go to the most often.
· Home orientation can be determined by street layout– Orient the house to take advantage of the sun – This can save 15% on the energy bill by itself.
· Provide easily accessed public transportation.
· Focus on the pedestrian rather than the car.
· Size the roads to be appropriate for the use. Much narrower roads for residential streets, wider sidewalks for commercial.
· Push commercial closer to the street and have cars park behind so that it encourages pedestrian access more than car access.
· Reduce light trespass to the sky and to adjacent properties.
· Reduce black and dark surfaces on the site and on roofs. Dark surfaces absorb more heat from the sun and create a heat island effect. Cities typically are hotter than open countryside due to this and therefore require more air conditioning. By doing this you reduce the areas ambient temperature and therefore people’s energy bills.”
What lies in the future for green homebuilding? Ware says, “We see significant energy reductions due to putting the existing technologies we have into better practice. There are many very bad standard practices that could be changed for no up-front cost increase and reduce the energy use by at least 50%. The most important of these is to get the HVAC unit and air ducts into conditioned space, so they are not affected by 130-degree attics. The next is to seal the home very tightly, which allows you to reduce the size of the A/C unit. Designing the A/C unit to the correct size is critical; too big and you have humidity problems and too small you have temperature problems. Also, lighting is making huge strides in energy efficiency every year. LED lighting will be very predominate in the years to come.”
Mr. Malone also sees green construction being legislated. “Green and sustainable building is the right thing to do, so in the future either we will develop our designs to be as conscientious as possible in our use of materials or it will be mandated for us,” he said. “I think we are on a path where green concepts will be legislated to the building industry with the same sense of importance as we have all adapted to universal handicapped accessibility.”
Our world has now changed to the extent that green building may not be a choice in the future, but a legal requirement. For those of us who can recall, it seems a lot like 1974.
