News

NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program Expands to Include Community Partnerships
March 17, 2006

This is the second of a three-part series on the growth of the NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program, covering the Greater Asheville community partnership. The Western North Carolina Green Building Council (WNCGBC) and Asheville Home Builders Association (AHBA) formed the NC HBH Greater Asheville Community Partnership in the summer of 2005 to offer the NC HealthyBuilt Homes (HBH) program to builders in the greater Asheville region. The Partnership now covers 16 counties: Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey. There are currently 21 certified HealthyBuilt homes in western North Carolina. Community Partnerships are groups that have demonstrated their dedication to high performance, sustainable residential construction by supporting the NC HBH program locally to builders and developers. The groups act as the staff for the local program, though the statewide staff assists the community partner groups with marketing, education and program content. The statewide staff also provides reviews of the Partnerships' work and the actual certificate for each new HealthyBuilt Home. NC HBH Director Dona Stankus said the Greater Asheville area was a great place to introduce the HBH Community Partnership idea because there is high demand for HealthyBuilt homes in the community and there were many people ready and willing to make such a partnership happen. Matt Siegel, Director of the Western NC GreenBuilding Council, is also the head of the Greater Asheville Partnership. Asheville's culture is what drove the startup of the Partnership, he said. "Asheville is one of those places – it's progressive. People want this change. And it has just all come together at the same time," Siegel said. "A big part of it is that the Council has been around since 2001. We have had an established footing here, which isn't the case in a lot of other communities." Green builders have been around in Asheville long before the creation of NC HBH, said Siegel. As the Council began to promote the program, it grew quickly. "People who had thought about building green actually tried it, because they now had a program with assistance and a checklist," he said. "People like verification. If they know it has been certified by a third party then they can trust it." Siegel said he is all for the idea of additional statewide Community Partnerships because they utilize the effectiveness of small town networking. "Everyone knows each other and what's happening and how to get things done. I love that it's going to a community level. I can meet with people one on one." He said it's also important to get town and county officials on board with such Partnerships. "It's ideal to get them wanting to green the town and to tell them how they can make that happen," Siegel said. "Then it's coming from a legitimate, neutral party, which makes a huge difference." Siegel said he is excited to see the rapid growth of the NC HBH program. "I think it's such a good program. And it's important to get it established as the program to certify under. It will have a great impact." One home to recently receive HBH certification is a part of the Greater Asheville partnership, and is the program's first modular-based home. Built by Innova Homes, the Westover Alley Project is a three-story, 2,400 square-foot home built with low-e double hung windows, recycled-content sheetrock and formaldehyde-free insulation. It features Energy Star appliances, low-flow showerheads and drought-resistant landscaping. A professional analysis has shown that the estimated heating and cooling costs for this home will be less than $30 a month. NC HealthyBuilt Homes is a voluntary, state-wide "green building" residential certification program supported by the North Carolina Solar Center, the State Energy Office, Home Builder Associations and other building professional organizations. Visit the first Community Partner webpage at www.wncgbc.org/healthybuilt/. Read Part I of this series, NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program Expands to Include More Counties. And stay tuned for Part III, which will highlight affordable housing partnerships across the state. © 2006 The NC Solar Center is operated by the College of Engineering at NC State University.

For further information, please see http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/news/news_story.cfm?ID=244.