| "Green" home achieves the gold standard (Twelve TV) |
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From the ground floor up, a Habitat for Humanity home under construction in Crystal is a model of green building. At the construction site Tuesday, corporate sponsors Cargill and Waste Management and environmental nonprofit Minnesota Environmental Initiative touted the home's earth-friendly features. "The goal is to go above and beyond and really raise the bar," said Mike Harley, executive director of Minnesota Environmental Initiative, which provided guidance for the home's green design. Each step of the way, the project was carefully planned to reduce waste and last longer. Outside the home, Waste Management will grind up and recycle wood debris from the construction site to use as landscaping mulch. On the inside, recycled paper becomes insulation, windows are energy efficient and short, glued together two-by-fours make the home's studs stronger while also preventing unnecessary harvesting of older, taller trees. Up top, volunteers prep the roof for steel shingles that will last three times longer than traditional asphalt shingles and keep the home cool. "What's unique about this project is that we're really pushing the envelope," said Habitat spokesperson Sharon Rolenc. After implementing green features into homes for more than a decade, the Crystal site will be Habitat for Humanity's first home in the Twin Cities to be LEED certified. The special rating system has quickly become the gold-standard in green building nationwide. Rolenc says achieving LEED status will pay off for years to come. "An energy efficient home is also a home that is more affordable to cool. It's a home that's more affordable to heat in the winter," Rolenc explained. "So it helps those homeowners maintain that long-term affordability." For the family of five that will soon move in, it's the promise of a better life ahead. "A home that is safe and affordable is a springboard for future success," said Rolenc. Habitat for Humanity says the green home also fits some important criteria in that it's easy enough to install that volunteers can do it and it can be replicated in future Habitat homes.
By Jennifer Anderson |
