Entries from March 2008 ↓

The LEED for Homes Checklist is simply an excel spreadsheet that lists all items in each of the eight categories where you can obtain points. For each category there may be a few items that are prerequisites or mandatory measures. For all other items there is usually a range of points that can be obtained […]

For the past few weeks the team has been kicking around the idea of an affordable green wall or green facade in the back of the homes. Yesterday, ISA forwarded me a bit of research on various methods for accomplishing a green facade using ivy for what seems to be a very low cost.

Green facades […]

Lately the team has been struggling a bit with the HVAC budget and design. The original budget was around $10K which is doable until we starting putting things like an HRV and solar thermal into our wish list. One of the questions we have been asking ourselves from the beginning is whether or not we […]

This post started in response to a friend of mine, Matt Pappajohn, who happens to be a custom cabinet maker and wanted to have a go at building a modern and green kitchen for our project. He wanted me to give him a general idea of what we would be trying to design prior to […]

We all know there are not many federal government incentives for green building right now. Many states have picked up the ball and implemented some decent local incentives of their own. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is not one of those states at the moment. They are working on state legislation to improve this, but for now we […]

LEED for Homes Basic Process
The LEED for Homes system follows five basic steps:

Contact a LEED for Homes Provider and join the program (PDF).
Identify a project team.
Build the home to the stated goals.
Certify the project as a LEED home.
Market and sell the LEED home.

In our 100k project we chose Magrann Associates as our LEED provider. They […]

This is the first of many posts on the LEED for Homes Rating System as it pertains to our 100K House Case Study.
LEED for Homes Overview
LEED stands for Leadership in Environmental and Energy-Efficient Design. It is a rating system for sustainable buildings developed by the USGBC (United States Green Building Council). There are other LEED […]

I noticed today that it’s been a while since I’ve posted any pretty pics so here are the latest renderings from ISA. We have been discussing how to create an interesting, modern and affordable facade for weeks and this is what we’ve gravitated towards.

You can see that we have a bit of a vertical theme […]

Since we had our LEED design charrette and preliminary LEED rating filled out I have been thinking more about the entire LEED process and the certification system in general. As the whole green building topic has reemerged lately and grown in popularity, the government’s LEED rating system has become a hotly debated topic. Some avid […]

I received official zoning approval for both homes today, stamped and signed by the zoning department from the City of Philadelphia. This is a huge step in the development process as zoning in Philadelphia can be very difficult and sometimes delays projects months and even years.
The zoning examiner for our case had made a minor […]