From the category archives:

LEED

LEED Landscaping Requirements

February 14, 2009

As we near the completion of the 100K House project, we need to start thinking about our landscape design. As always we have to consider LEED reqs and points, modern design and budget. We are talking to a few local landscape designers in the area interested in the project. Due to budget and time constraints, [...]

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The Cost of Polishing a Turd

December 16, 2008

In an interview a few weeks ago I was asked what our premium was for building LEED Platinum. The reporter had done some research and found that the highest level of LEED for Homes usually carried a 15-20% markup and wanted to know what the added cost was for our project. It was a difficult [...]

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Bulleted List of the 100K LEED Checklist Targets

December 11, 2008

In preparation for our open house this weekend, I created a quick document with a bulleted list of all of the LEED for Homes points we are going after to achieve LEED Platinum in the 100K House. It is basic, but I thought I’d post it here since we haven’t spoken of the checklist in [...]

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LEED and the Education of Legislation

December 10, 2008

Working through the LEED process on the 100k House project has made me think about the ways in which the government is and should be involved in sustainable progress. LEED is, of course, a voluntary certification program. There are no laws requiring its use (in residential building at least), and no government incentives for adhering [...]

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Quick Review of LEED Checklist for Platinum Target

August 21, 2008

Now that we are getting close to groundbreaking I guess it’s time to take a quick look at the LEED for Homes Checklist to make sure we are still on target. Originally the goal for the project was only Silver, but since meeting with MaGrann for our design charrette and preliminary rating, we realized that [...]

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HERS Evaluation from Magrann is on Target

July 12, 2008

On Wednesday we received our HERS rating evaluation based on our final design from MaGrann Associates who is handling our Energy Star and LEED certifications. We have been working with MaGrann and Zero Energy Design to make improvements to our envelope design and mechanical systems since our initial HERS rating came back much higher than [...]

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Green & Energy Certifications for Homes – LEED is not the Only Way

April 10, 2008

Over the course of the past few months I have been researching a number of green building and energy efficient processes and certifications. I am coming to realize that the best home in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency is most likely a result of a combination of a few different guidelines or certification methods. [...]

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Innovation & Design Process (ID) – LEED for Homes Review

April 7, 2008

The first category in the LEED for Homes Checklist is the Innovation & Design Process. There are three sections in this category as follows:

Integrated Project Planning (1 prerequisite / 4 points max)
Durability Management Process (2 prerequisites / 3 points max)
Innovation or Regional Design (4 points max)

We’ll go through each section in detail with examples from [...]

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HERS Index Rating Initial Evaluation Results

April 7, 2008

We received the initial HERS Index scores from the Energy Star evaluations that MaGrann performed on our initial specs about two weeks ago. I have been crazy busy lately and forgot to post on this at the time. If you recall from our LEED Design Charrette, we need to hit a HERS Index of 50 [...]

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LEED for Homes – Home Size Adjustment Calculations

April 2, 2008

The Home Size Adjustment in the LEED for Homes rating system is intended to compensate for the overall effect that excessively large homes have on the environment. The size of a home effects two main aspects associated with the environment:

The amount of resources and raw material used to build a home and all of the [...]

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