Ten Years After
February 7th, 2010Last Wednesday I had the great honor of speaking to the USGBC folks down in Visalia. The U.S. Green Building Council is the organization that developed and runs the LEED program, which stands for Leadership in Environmental, Engineering, and Design. USGBC has chapters all over the U.S. and the one in Visalia is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic.
Most of the time, I try to limit my presentations to one or two of our projects, but I knew that this audience was familiar with ICFs, SIPs, PV etc. Therefore, I decided to do an advanced version, covering several of our projects and a few that we had consulted on as well. It turned out to be sort of a crash course in what we have learned about energy-efficient building over the past ten years.
Each project brought new insights, not only about materials, but also about what it actually takes to build “green” here in the San Joaquin Valley. When we first started in 2000, insulated concrete forms had barely been used in California. Structural-insulated panels were a little more common, but it was still difficult to find subs that had the experience of working with these materials. Therefore, we did a lot of the work ourselves with a great deal of hands-on learning. There is just no substitute for that type of experience.
What we have found is that energy-efficient homes can be built cost effectively, but it requires good planning and cooperation between the designer and the builder, and between the builder and the subs. We have found that the substantial reduction of waste is possible. In fact, building an ICF-SIP hybrid home with virtually zero waste is possible with the proper design, engineering, and manufacturing. This type of design also lowers labor costs by greatly speeding up construction.
Now, ten years after starting our first integrated home, we are hearing about “The New Green Economy” based on energy efficiency and renewable energy. To make this a reality, it is imperative that we understand how to incorporate energy efficiency onto our homes and buildings.
–Mark Alvis