Hey!
My company Cass Callahan Development Group has build 2 energy efficient luxury homes both with insulated concrete forms and structural insulated panels in Woodstock NY. The one on Morey Hill is now being used as The Woodstock Country Daycare Center. The other one on Grogg Kill Rd is a huge 4,500 sf 4brm/2.5bath craftsman’s home and will be completed at the end of summer.
Last year we bought a beautiful, wooded 70 acre sub-dividable lot located in Woodstock NY, 1.5 miles from the Village. Our 70 acres is a wonderful forest with views, streams and wild life. We're looking for green ideas to develop it into a one of a kind, luxury community.
Our vision for this environmentally friendly community is to design, develop and build a modern example of a sustainable, healthier and more energy efficient luxury home community. Centralized/community wind and solar alternative power (“micro energy farm”) are among just a few of the ideas we hope to implement.
We are looking for people to help organize and design contests to come up with world-class innovative ideas on environmental/residential design. We hope to find architectural schools across the Northeast that would compete in such a contest.
We are looking for talented people who want to make a difference in the way we live on this planet. So email me if you'd like to participate. We'd love your cool green ideas and links to websites you think can help contribute to this vision of a luxury green community.
If you feel as strongly about this as we do please post your ideas on this blog!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi Cass, it was a great pleasure to hear of your interest in green building techniques. I'm very interested in this subject, have studied it extensively, and I've been changing my house in the Hamptons to be a green sustainable house.
Allow me to suggest the following ideas for your consideration:
--the best summary ideas I've found are the Home Energy Efficiency Briefs at www.rmi.org from Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute. His large house near Aspen is a comfortable, net zero energy use house. Print out these free Briefs available online.
--the SIPs are a fantastic idea. The only trick is finding a knowledgeable builder locally who knows how to build with them.
--your next house should be well air sealed (esp. at the top ceiling/roof), no more than 0.35 air changes per hour (ACH). A green builder knows how; I can refer some books on this subject. Very easy to do when building the house, zero extra cost, however very hard to retrofit. Keep heat and AC inside, not outside. Add an air heat exchange ventilator to go below 0.35 ACH.
--The long side of the house must face south. Put lots of windows facing the winter sun on the south side of the house, south windows SF=minimum 7% of house SF (my Hamptons house=14%). Heat Mirror or equivalent south windows=R value of 7 and high solar heat gain.
--with good insulation esp. at the roof, plus some thermal mass, your house can be 95% heated in winter by the sun, even in the cold Woodstock winter climate!
--install a 96% AFUE gas condensing furnace for heat, plus a tankless instantaneous gas hot water heater. If you add a small woodstove or fireplace insert=zero fossil fuel use to heat the house all winter long!
--use Energy Star appliances and all CFL lighting (no incandescents which generate 90% heat and only 10% light per watt of electricity). Avoid unsealed recessed can lighting in the top ceiling/roof line=big holes in the roof which blow all the house heat out into the outdoors= an exceptionally bad result, extreme waste. Sealed light fixtures=nearly the same price. Amazing but true. N.B. unsealed recessed can light fixtures in the top ceiling can be retrofitted to sealed ones, I did this with all of them in my Water Mill house.
--wind turbines work great wherever there is good wind (there is a US gov't database of wind resource online it includes Woodstock), most of upstate has good wind however the tower has to be tall (100 ft min) so check local zoning. Short tower=trees block most of the wind. No need to site the turbine next to your house, put it on a hilltop nearby=same effect and better efficiency. The key to wind turbines=bigger blades and taller towers=max efficiency=cheaper per kilowatt.
--sadly, solar Photovoltaic panels are not cost effective anywhere in the US which is grid connected. I recommend against them. Your dollars are better spent first on the things noted above. However, at their long term 15-20% improvement curve per annum, PV panels will be cheaper than grid (LIPA, etc.) electricity within 10 years. Buy and install PV panels then not now.
--my Water Mill house is 12 feet from the acquifer, I installed a geothermal ground source heating and cooling system, it burns zero fossil fuels. How far down is the ground water table at your Woodstock location? If close then let me know. Geothermal may be appropriate if yes=it's sensationally environmentally benign also quite powerful.
--buy and read a copy of The Passive Solar House by James Kachadorian (also library has a copy). He is a builder who lives in Vermont near Woodstock. He builds passive solar homes which heat almost 100% with passive solar in the cold VT climate, the house uses the same materials as an energy wasting house, essentially at zero incremental cost to build. The house simply arranges things to work with vs. against the sun's solar energy. Amazing but true. Why don't all builders use these techniques?
--the possibilities using green building techniques are quite exciting. Why should America continue to make OPEC rich for no reason?
Best regards, --Jan
Hi Cass,
I recommend that you contact Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. It’s the top architectural program in the nation and in the Northeast (upstate in Ithaca, NY)!
Best regards,
Eve
Post a Comment