Aron Buterbaugh's blog

Growsmart Maine – Part I (Maine is the first state in the country to develop a Green Building Standard for its State Housing Authority, www.growsmartmaine.org).

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending my very first Growsmart Maine campaign meeting 2007 Summit held at the Augusta, Maine Civic Center. GrowSmart Maine is a statewide, non-profit citizens' organization working to promote sustainable prosperity and to protect the state's distinctive character and quality places. The organization is made up a broad range of citizens, businesses, non-profit organizations and political leaders who share a commitment to finding and promoting new ideas and new approaches that build bridges between people across different parts of the state that will lead to common ground to move Maine forward.

What Growsmart is to me: A good collection of citizens, business people, and legislators, who are trying to work out a solution to future growth here in Maine. Solutions seem to come from all angles, governmental, private, and public. Maine is a referendum state which means anyone with enough signatures can get their message on a voting ballot, which can become law.

So let’s peer into one of the workshops and see if there is any information which can be shared to a larger audience shall we?

One of the workshops I attended: BUILD IT GREEN: LEED-ND LEED for Neighborhood Development: This new rating system makes the connection between green building and smart growth development and certifies that developers will save energy, minimize land consumption and reduce environmental impacts. This national system and other local initiatives will help developers gain municipal approvals, funding resources, and citizen acceptance. Affordability is espoused.

· Jay Waterman, Evergreen Communities, moderator

· Richard Graves, US Green Building Council Board, WBRC Architects-Engineers

· Gunnar Hubbard, Fore Solutions

· Dale McCormick, Maine State Housing Authority

“Maine is the first state in the country to have developed a State Housing Authority set of Green Building Standards”, Dale McCormick, Maine State Housing Authority, Growsmart Maine Summit 2007. Big deal. But why? Well, the facts present a compelling case.

· Fact 1: 6 projects funded by Maine State Housing loan money have seen zero cost increases for abiding by its Green Building Standards. (http://www.novoco.com/low_income_housing/resource_files/qap/maine_green_...) · Fact 2: Indoor Air Quality: Requiring non-smoking units in affordable housing decreases overrall operating costs of multi-unit affordable housing by a factor of three.

· Fact 3: Maintenance costs are lower than traditionally funded buildings.

· Fact 4: % of US Income spent on Housing is 27% and 29% for Transportation.

Dale also spoke of many more important systems in place by Maine State Housing’s Green Building Standards, such as the HELP loan which offers 1% lending rates on loans for houses who wish to upgrade energy efficiencies if they have an energy audit and 3% for those who don’t. Why wouldn’t anyone go for this? The payback is immediate and more than pays for the interest charge of 1%!

Gunnar Hubbard, registered Architect and expert on LEED certification (www.fore-solutions.com) provided some insight into how programs like Maine State Housing Authority are playing a role in LEED-ND or New Development. LEED-ND is still in its pilot testing stage, but offers some interestingly different angles for community development which affect planning and zoning boards across the country. For more information on LEED-ND visit the USGBC’s website www.usgbc.org.

Gunnar’s comments go to the heart of the existing and future planning and zoning programs across the country. The old program called, “inclusionary”, is one in which a predetermined percentage of housing in a project must be reserved for low-income housing (usually funded by state or federal housing boards such as Maine State Housing or HUD). Unfortunately, this did nothing to maintain the “character” of the community. Is it the best choice to build a multi-unit housing complex by displacing a community center?

Fortunately, one new offering is the ‘% of profits’ offering which maindates a percentage of profits from the development to be earmarked to a Civic Trust which maintains the “community” aspect of the area which is being developed. Now that’s an idea!

So, how did Maine State Housing develop their US leading Green Building Guidelines you ask? Why they asked the architects, developers, contractors, and consultants for their input. One amazing outcome to this discussion process, developers wanted not a tax credit, but rather a building allowance to do more with the existing buildings they were financed to build.

Now, this is smart development!

Go Maine – Growsmart!

Aron Buterbaugh

Building Green TV Contributor

Meeting House Designs

Principal

The Department of Energy hosts a very informative website called Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/. Their motto is: Bringing you a prosperous future where energy is clean, abundant, reliable, and affordable.

Well, let’s take a closer look shall we?

BIOMASS: Of most recent published data, Biomass comprised 47% of all renewable energy or 4% of the total energy produced in the United States (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/biomass_today.html). Most of this energy was consumed by the pulp and paper industry who also supply the input material to produce the energy, as a by-product of the lumber industry. Other current uses of Biomass include Ethanol & Renewable Diesel. Also, certain products are now being made out of Biomass such as, textile fibers, polymers, adhesives, lubricants, soy-based inks, and other products. Use of biofuels reduces toxic air emissions, greenhouse gas buildup, and dependence on imported oil, while supporting agriculture and rural economies

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ Our nation's 81 million buildings consume more energy than any other sector of the U.S. economy, including transportation and industry. DOE’s results have mostly been devoted to improving the Energy Star program which sets a basic threshold for appliance efficiencies. The Emerging Technologies division of the DOE is working on Advanced Refrigeratro-Freezer designs which will save ½ the energy of the latest government standards. Also, they have conducted a series of real-world tests which conclude horizontal washing machines save 60% of energy and 40% of water usage over their vertical competitors, giving new meaning to laying low. Last, but not least they have concluded that drop-in residential heat pumps are much more efficient than standard electric water heaters. We should see these quite soon according to the DOE.

The End of the Air Conditioner

During the recent renovation on my personal kitchen, I had an interesting discussion with my plumber about this revolutionary wallboard material which acts like a major air conditioner without power requirements. I thought what in the world was he talking about? In fact, he was planning on building his new “Maine camp” out of this material which would allow him to lower his heating bill in the winter and eliminate his cooling requirements, i.e. his AC, in the summer. Interested, so was I.

Where will it be used? I hope in my next house reno project!

For futher information, BASF recommends checking out

http://www.micronal.de

http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/welcome_english.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_Change_Material

or Contact:
Hartmut Lang
BASF
Tel: (973) 426-2843
E-mail: langh@basf.com

So where do we go to buy all of these great green building products? Do we run out to the local hardware store? How about the big box stores? Would it be more likely we find what we are looking for in a specialty shop? What about online sales? Will they ship blue jean insulation with FEDEX??

All of these are valid questions. It is already possible to visit several websites and order what you are looking for. However, I would argue, the shipping costs are now all passed onto you, the buyer. Normal distribution theory passes the freight off to the distributor. It is typical with a distributor that he get a freight discount since they are ordering in larger quantities with higher frequency from the same manufacturer you just ordered from online. Of course, this as we know from experience, is not always true.

So, let's say we need something we can't buy online for our new green home....say solar cell panels complete with all electricals and wiring for our local building code. Would you dare to try to order this online, even if you could? I wouldn't.

So someone mentions you can buy those solar cells at a new "eco building supply" in the next major town over. You think, cool this will work! When you get there you discover you are now "shopping" at a small retail store which stocks alot of great green products....for the do-it-yourself crowd. So what happens when you go asking about what sized solar cell array you need for your sized house, which is still on the drawing board?

Ok, I’ve beaten this subject a bit too much. So, it would appear we have a challenge/opportunity/problem. Enter, Maine Green Building Supply (http://www.mainegreenbuilding.com/). Maine Green Building Supply quotes they provide “Sustainable buidling products and systems…Bringing responsible options to a Changing World.” Recently, I had a moment to catch up with the owner Steve Konstantino. We discussed the future of distribution for green building supplies. (more...)