green home

FreeGreen.com Launches—Offers Free Green Home Plans to Consumers, a New Advertising Medium to the Home Products Industry and an Open source Platform for Designers

Boston, MA, (PRWeb) June 12, 2008 --Consumers who once believed “green” to be a status reserved for those in the upper echelon of the housing market can now get green home plans for free.

David Wax, Ben Uyeda and the Freegreen team are upending the traditional stock house plan business model. They are bringing their green plans to the masses by charging exactly what most builders and clients are willing to pay for house designs: nothing.

In the home design industry, good design is hard to come by. The majority of the 200 web sites offers the usual colonial and ranch style designs, provide consumers with basic construction documents and charge $750 - $2,000 dollars per plan.

FreeGreen wants to change this. They offer modern green designs, detailed construction documents, 3D computer generated renderings, and a slew of other features.

To generate revenue, FreeGreen will charge green product vendors, retailers, and other home building firms a slotting/performance fee for specifying their products and services in the home plans.

In the building of a green home, the selection of green materials and efficient mechanical systems is of equal importance—not only for the design, but to achieve the desired performance of the home and applicable green certifications.

David Wax, CEO of FreeGreen Inc., explains that, “Selecting these products can be an overwhelming task and an experienced green architect is not an option for most consumers.”

FreeGreen allows builders and homeowners to select and customize home plans in a well organized online experience. Based upon user selections, a large-format PDF of buildable architectural documents, product lists, and local contractors is compiled and provided free for download.

Chief Architectural Officer, Ben Uyeda says, “We encourage users to submit feedback on the FreeGreen Blog and even submit design ideas. Our team is working towards providing an open source platform that will allow the site’s online catalogue to grow exponentially.”

TreeHugger writer Lloyd Alter is excited about the new site.

Architects can't make money doing one-off houses and most people aren't willing to pay for it, or don't even value it. The traditional model is broken, so why not market architecture like software or blogs and give it away, making money from the ads? Finally there is a model where somebody "looks forward to helping you [architects and designers] get the exposure and revenue you deserve."

There are three designs currently available for download in modern and traditional styles. Uyeda is promising at least one new plan month.

FreeGreen’s initial launch produced 1,500 registered users and 2,000 free house plan downloads. Its instant success stemmed from the viral nature in which word of the company and its free and high quality plans spread through the blogosphere on sites such as Inhabitat, Treehugger and SpringWise.

About FreeGreen Inc.

FreeGreen was co-founded by five principals as a spin-off from their first startup, Zero Energy Design (a leading high-end custom green home architecture firm). FreeGreen launched its site on April 1st, 2008. In addition to its free stock plans, FreeGreen also offers design customization and consultation.

At FreeGreen we hope to encourage progressive building practices by making green home designs free for everyone.

Postgreen of Philadelphia has contracted ZeroEnergy Design of Boston to perform energy consulting on the 100K House project in order to design the most energy efficient home possible on a small budget of $100,000 in the Delaware Valley region of the US. Postgreen and ZeroEnergy Design are determined to create an urban infill home that uses only 53% of the energy consumed by a standard new home while using a substantially smaller construction budget than is typical in the area. The combined effort is part of a case study - The 100K House - being built by Postgreen in an effort to prove that quality, green homes can be built for the same or even less cost than traditional homes. Postgreen is working on a construction budget of only $100,000 USD to build the infill home in Philadelphia with the goal of achieving high energy performance and a LEED Platinum rating. The average US home of the same size will consume 2.5 times as much energy as the 100k house. "In order to accomplish the lofty energy goals for the home on our budget, more time and care must be taken during the planning and design phase of every aspect of the home from insulation to HVAC equipment," states Chad Ludeman, President of Postgreen. "ZeroEnergy Design is the perfect company to ensure that we will get the most bang for our buck in terms of energy efficiency on the 100K House and we are excited to have them be part of the project," continued Chad. ZeroEnergy Design focused on cost effective passive aspects of the house first, looking for additional ways to conserve energy. Then the active systems that consume energy were analyzed for efficiency, including heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water, appliances, and lighting. And finally, renewable energy systems were considered with solar thermal being the top contender. Each improvement was reviewed on a cost versus benefit basis, considering the incremental change upon the home’s annual utility bills and Postgreen’s strict construction budget. “Knowing that 38 of the 136 possible points for the highest LEED certification score are energy related, any performance improvements we can make will not only be good for the LEED rating, but also good for the environment and the homeowner’s utility bills,” said Jordan Goldman, Principal Engineer of ZeroEnergy Design.

About Postgreen: Postgreen is a real estate development company focusing on modern, green and affordable buildings and homes in Philadelphia's urban neighborhoods. Our success is measured using a triple-bottom-line approach that ensures that each project benefits not only the bottom line, but the people in our community and the planet as a whole. Find out more at http://www.postgreen.com

About ZeroEnergy Design: ZeroEnergy Design is a professional services firm providing Custom Home Design and Energy Design services for residential new construction. The unique collaboration between in-house architectural designers, mechanical engineers, and financial analysts drives a competitive advantage and enables the firm to deliver fully integrated design for high performance homes. (ZeroEnergy Design was formerly known as Independence Energy Homes). Find out more at http://www.ZeroEnergy.com

I'm starting to feel sorry for myself :-(... nah, I know I shouldn't, but it's been tough because I am finding that this house and lot appraisal method is so frustrating because we are building green.

Why? You see, in order to get a construction loan for your house, you have to get your houseplans and lot appraised so that the lender can base the loan on the total appraised value. They basically compare your house square footage and the area where you're building and try to find comparables in the neighborhood. The problem is, there aren't too many green built homes to compare to, so they end up comparing your house to the shoddy stick builts and it's simply NOT FAIR!!! I've been talking to appraisers around town and they are saying the same thing... it doesn't matter because we have to go by what is around you. So tell me, how are we going to get comparables around us when they make it so hard for people to build green in the first place? Add the fact that they don't appraise green features/building for a higher value, even though you're saving thousands a year in energy costs, you're not breathing dangerous vapors, as well as being the benevolent and eco-conscious hero of your neighborhood.

And so I ranted and vented and said, but we're building with SIPs, got geothermal and rainwater collection and all these other cool features but to no avail. I am so thinking of going political over this. If anyone has any insight on how I can go about lobbying for making it easier for green built homes, then I'm very open to suggestions and will put on my marching boots.

Here's our situation, and I'll be an open book (as if I haven't already exposed enough):

We need to appraise both our house and lot at about $740K so that we can get 100% financing for our construction costs which came to be approx $590K (80% of the appraised value). This allows us to put no money down because in essence we are using our equity for the 20%.

We are doing this as owner builders with U Build It. And if that's not hard enough, building green can be costly upfront, and so we require more of a loan than if we went conventionally stick built. Then add on the fact that the nation is under a house decline....

We did find ONE appraiser who has specialized in green building in Austin, can you believe that? Here's his info (free PR for him):
Ward Appraisal Services

Also, here's a mortgage company specializing in green building lending:
Green Mountain Mortgage

I guess when people build green, it's their 2nd or 3rd or more house, but we are the pioneer-spirited ones who decide to build our very 1st home properly and green! Woohoo! :-D

The hope is that our land has appreciated enough to cover any large differences. Acreage lots around the Hill Country are getting expensive, so maybe that will be a good thing for us. It's almost becoming a mini California out here. They even built the Hill Country Galleria 8 miles from us and will be developing out this way.

Despite the above, I am trying to stay positive. Really truly, because we deserve this house and want to do it right!!! I am SO HOPING we get the appraisal we want. Wish us luck and as always I'll update with what I find out!

I should do a before and after picture of us when we start the building....

Greetings Greenies,

If you enjoyed the West Coast Green Residential Building Conference + Expo, then you will enjoy their latest endeaver at the Western Interiors Design + Home Show. Western Interiors is renowned for their classic and contemporary take on high end design and interior decor. However, this year they have taken a big step in the green direction, and with the help of Wet Coast Green have incorporated a "green home pavilion" into their tradeshow.

The 1,500 square foot staged home, complete with living room, dining room and outdoor area, will be arranged and designed by Interior Designers Deborah Coburn of Naturally Inspired and Tamara Blackstone of HomeLife.

There will also be an "ask the experts" booth with representatives from west coast green to answer green building questions, and give green living advice.

Eric Corey Freed will be giving another of his renowned keynote presentations on the inevitable future of green building and design, and well as distributing his own expert advice.

The green home will feature:

• Complimentary consultations with green home professionals

• Large selection of high quality eco-friendly products and furnishings

• On site examples of how to increase your homes energy efficiency while
decreasing its ecological footprint

**Compact Fluorescent light bulb giveaway to the first 2,000 attendees, provided by Sylvania

For more information check out www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com

WESTERN INTERIORS DESIGN + HOME SHOW INFORMATION

LOCATION: Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123-1382

HOURS: Friday, October 26 – 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. VIP preview breakfast reception
Friday, October 26 –10:00 a.m – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 27 – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 28 – 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Tickets: Tickets are $15 day, $35 for a three-day pass and can be purchased online at www.westerninteriorshomeshow.com. For more information, call 323.549.3449 x229.

If you're in North Texas in late Sept thru early Oct, feel free to come by the Green Built Parade of Homes - it will consist of 7 resource-efficient, GREEN homes - the event will consist of resource-efficient, GREEN homes, showcasing the construction guidelines set forth by the HBA's Green Built North Texas program.  These guidelines address strategies for improving energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor air quality, material usage, site management, waste recycling and homeowner education.

For more information about this event, visit www.dallasbuilders.com.

Do you need some tips on the whole "owner-builder" building process and you want to get with the Green kick and learn about eco-friendly, healthy or energy efficient features and methods that are in use today? Visit this blog by clicking the icon below!



http://sjodindreamhome.blogspot.com

We want to implement the latest and best green design principles in the most cost-effective and/or affordable way. We are in the process of building our home in Austin Texas (one of the hottest places in the U.S.) and feel we will be a good test case being in such warm climate where we live in energy-sucking, air-conditioned abodes.

We will blog as often as possible - letting you know our successes and pitfalls (hopefully very few!) as well as tips and non-sales biased reviews of materials or products we want to use.

Here are the green design features we hope to have for our home:
- Rainwater collection
- Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) walls and roof
- Solar water heating
- Geothermal cooling/heating
- Geothermal mass
- PVs (Solar panels)
- Stained concrete floors with fly ash
- Bamboo flooring
- Space efficient design (2419 a/c sf, 4 bedroom, 3 bath space)
- House orientation to sun
- No VOC paints
- Graywater use
- Compost use
- Dual, low e windows
- Use of recycled materials (for our concrete countertops and catwalk)
- Eco-smarte chlorine-free pool sanitation

We want to do a lot ourselves (DIY) and are trying our hardest to minimize costs without compromising quality. It's not an easy feat, but we are up for the challenge! Please visit our blog and feel free to contact me with questions or suggestions!