Building Budget-Conscious Energy-Efficient & Sustainable Homes

Created to promote and educate building professionals and the public about high performance housing and encourage a greener, healthier, more sustainable living experience in northwest Indiana, the NWI Green Building Alliance of the Home Builders Association of Northwest Indiana (HBA of NWI) kicked off its quarterly 2012 seminar series with a dynamic presentation of "The Big Picture: The Impact of Design, Construction and Appraisal Processes" featuring the Purdue 2011 INhome Solar Decathlon Team last week.

"Building a high-performance, healthy green home is more than adding a highly-efficient furnace," NWI Green Building Alliance chair Sarah Oudman of Treasure Homes Inc, said. "Optimal results are produced when design focuses on the final product and the value can be attached to the project."

Sponsored by Thermocore Panel Systems of Mooresville, IN, which provided the structural insulated panels (SIPs) key to the Purdue INhome's strong, tight insulation, the event also gave attendees the opportunity to meet architects, design services and draftsmen who specialize in sustainable building.

Oudman began the evening by welcoming over 60 attendees that were a nice mix of builder members, real estate professionals, appraisers and energy verifiers along with a group of students from various construction disciplines at Purdue North Central, followed by the Green Building Report for 2011.

Based on the numbers she shared, green building is making significant strides, and there are now over 1,600 green and Energy Star-certified homes in Northwest Indiana.

According to Energy Star, qualifying energy-efficient homes since the program was started in the mid 1990s totaled 26,208 in Indiana, 7,166 in Illinois and 9,122 in Michigan. In just the 4th quarter of 2011, Indiana added 893, Illinois 189 and Michigan 771.

Then, since there has been some difficulty in giving value to energy-efficient homes as the appraisal process changed over the last few years, Aaron Ingram of Valuation Service in Valparaiso discussed the green appraisal process and offered tips regarding the types of information (what are the facts behind the features) and documentation (copies of reports from your energy verifier) that are always helpful.

Next, Mark Miller of the Passive House Alliance in Chicago explained how to create buildings with better indoor air quality, increased energy efficiency, greater energy independence and reduced carbon emissions using Passive House Standards similar to the ones incorporated in Purdue's INhome.

Finally, representatives from the Purdue Team took center stage.

Eric Holt, McKenna Regan and Jordan Wallpe described how a multi-disciplinary group of students designed and built INhome, which earned 931 out of a possible 1,000 points to take second place overall in the 2011 Solar Decathlon, an international competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy.

Held every other year, the Solar Decathlon challenges collegiate teams to design and build energy-efficient houses powered by the sun. The teams compete in 10 contests, and the overall winner will have a house that is affordable, attractive and easy to live in; maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions; supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning and entertainment; provides adequate hot water and produces as much or more energy than it consumes.

A deliberately Midwestern home, Purdue's INhome is a realistic and balanced vision for ultra-efficient housing that demonstrates some of the ways to live sustainably without sacrificing quality or comfort.

Along with the SIPs which allow INhome to be built with 6 self-contained sections which can be assembled in a day and a passive design that features south-facing windows with overhangs that invite the sun in during the winter and keep it out during the summer, PV panels (photovoltaic or solar) panels power the home and one heat pump provides efficient cooling while another uses ambient air to help heat water.

INhome also features a biowall or self-watering vertical niche of low-light plants in the central living area to filter the air and remove harmful VOCs such as formaldehyde and benzene.

"The biowall is certainly a unique feature," Oudman said. "It's a brand new product just being developed by one of the team members."

Of the 19 homes entered in the Solar Decathlon, Purdue tied for first in the Energy Balance category (producing more energy than it consumed) and placed second in both Affordability (just over $250,000) and Comfort Zone (meaning the home stayed within a narrow range of comfortable temperatures and humidity).

"Second place overall is pretty spectacular for a first-time entry," Oudman said. "Purdue's INhome is currently being reassembled in Lafayette and will be open for public tours until an owner takes possession in August."

The next seminar sponsored by the NWI Green Building Alliance "Sustainable Landscaping, Hardscaping and Maintenance" is scheduled for April 19. Call the HBA of NWI at (219) 464-2944 for more information.