Category: affordable sustainable housing

16
Jan
2018

green home design closes the wealth gap in the US

Sustainable homes may seem like a luxury, but green design solutions can help close the wealth gap in the United States. For any potential homeowner, and particularly important for the low-income housing market, green affordable homes lower electricity and repair bills helping to achieve both environmental and economic sustainability.

Homeownership has been linked to a wide variety of social and economic benefits, including better mental health, neighborhood connectivity, and wealth accumulation. But the risks of homeownership are different for low-income households than other income brackets. Low-income homeowners are more likely to have to pay for repairs or maintenance costs that are beyond their budget. Lower-income households also pay a higher share of their income towards electricity bills than middle or high-income households.

Well-designed, environmentally-friendly and affordable homes can help make buying a good investment, no matter your income level.

When Charlottesville VA | Asheville NC architects hays+ewing design studio [heds] designed and planned a ten-home green affordable home development, we reserved two of the homes for Habitat for Humanity. Two families were selected by Habitat as the new home owners. Both were immigrants – one family had moved here from the Philippines and had co-habitated in a small apartment with a relative for seven years. The other family was from Afghanistan. This family had lost their husband/father and their home on the same day.

As the architects for the two homes, we focused on a few green affordable home solutions: keeping energy and maintenance costs low while using low-cost materials. We super-insulated the houses, making sure they would keep the warmth in during the winter and the heat out during the summer. We optimized for passive solar too, which meant shading out unwanted summer sun but allowing sunshine to penetrate the houses in colder months. Finally, we used Hardiepanel, which requires little upkeep, for the house siding, so the long-term maintenance costs would be low.

We also thought about what it would take for the residents to thrive in their new home. We created a common courtyard to foster community. We also convinced Habitat to frame an opening for a future stair to a basement so the families could rent their daylit, insulated basement and thereby subsidize their income. Through thoughtful design and incorporation of green affordable home best practices, hays+ewing design studio [heds] is helping these families find economic stability in their new adoptive city of Charlottesville.low income housing virginia architects

In addition to the two Habitat for Humanity homes, we also designed a single-family, spec home on land we owned in the same community. We wanted the house to be sustainable but also affordable – the home sold before framing was even completed, a nice testament to the appeal of the home.

Spec homes are rarely designed sustainably. For, instance the better developer might integrate a “flash and batt” approach to insulating the walls, which means using 2” of spray foam insulation with batt insulation on top. This helps to reduce air displacement but there are still losses where the cold air is transferred at the wall framing. For this project heds architects used 5” of spray foam insulation in combination with an insulated plywood on the exterior. The insulated plywood thus acts as a break between the cold air and the wall framing to prevent the thermal bridging. You can see this strategy, along with our use of SIPS panels, solar hot water heating, and passive solar strategies in the diagram below.
virginia architects green strategies

A 1432


This 2000 square-foot home was affordable despite its ambitions. It won a Virginia Society of the AIA Award of Excellence and a jurist praised the project as “boots on the ground” sustainability in the spec housing market.

As these two projects highlight, sustainable best practices make closing the wealth gap possible by lessening the risks low-income home-buyers face. Having both economic and environmental sustainability doesn’t have to be hard.

Co-written by Allison Ewing and Emily Hays

29
Aug
2016

affordable green buildings: lessons from the Make It Right Homes

To understand how to build affordable green buildings, it’s useful to look toward low-income communities where these strategies are being applied at scale, where costs and paybacks are being measured. The Make It Right (MIR) Foundation is just such a test-bed community – a Petri dish for our examination. Make It Right builds affordable green homes and buildings and began by with the reconstruction of the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Started by Brad Pitt in 2007, Make it Right buildings are LEED Platinum certified and inspired by Cradle to Cradle thinking. The MIR Foundation’s primary goal is to change the building industry by implementing green building strategies that is affordable to all.   MIR utilizes an array of methods:

  •  Advanced framing to reduce material and labor costs: studs at 24″ on center or the use of structural insulated panels are some of the techniques used (R-25 walls, R-33 roof, R-13 subfloor).  Less labor means more affordable.  Less materials means more green.
  • Interior finishes that are low or no off-gassing make for healthy living.
  • Green electrical through wireless electrical system (Verve).  The higher cost of the system is offset by lower cost for installation.
  • A high velocity air-conditioning system reduces size of duct/trunk lines which can then run in the structure, saving on structural and finishing costs.
  • Well insulated walls and air tight buildings reduce energy loads and therfore long-term operational costs.  Green Insulation such as spray foam and recycled denim insulation are used.
  • Low-flow faucets, shower heads and dual flush toilets reduce water consumption.
  • Cisterns for irrigation also reduce water usage.
  • Tankless water heaters means no tanks — water is heated only when needed which reduces energy costs.
  • 4.25 KW solar array (grid-tied/net-metered) uses the sun to generate energy for the buildings.
  • Building Information Management (BIM) allows the organization to analyze and reconfigure the building DNA as it evolves.  BIM provides feedback to increase the efficiencies to make their buildings ever more affordable and green.

The typical HERS (Home Energy Rating System) of a home is 100. The typical Make it Right home has a HERS rating of 15-20, or an 80% reduction in energy use over the typical. For $150/SF, including solar panels (of which a portion receives a government tax goodies), this is a remarkable feat.