News

NC Solar Center at NC State is seeing more green than red in the residential building industry
June 26, 2009

Recently, the NC Solar Center, located in the College of Engineering at NC State University has been seeing more green than usual. Given that this green has grown through their partnerships and technical support of the beleaguered residential building industry, this is definitely a cause for Wolfpack pride. Two recent green building achievements by the High Performance Buildings (HPB) team of the Center highlight the part NC State is playing in transforming the residential market and reducing its environmental footprint.

In an email from the US Green Building Council on June 24, 2009, Dona Stankus and Marshall Dunlap of the Center learned that the first multi-family LEED for Homes project in NC had been certified Silver. This project included 54 condominium units in Durham in a development by Boylan Properties called the Landing at Southpoint. Stankus, an architect and the Building Program Manager at the Center stated “The team for this project was very dedicated and such a pleasure to work with. Everyone from Reid Bryant and Ben Yorker at Boylan, Daryl Carrington and Ryan Edwards at JDavis Architects to Southern Energy Management, the energy rater, went the extra mile to complete this very desirable project. Marshall, our LEED for Homes program coordinator, kept us on the USGBC track with his usual fun but extremely informed flair.”

Some of the “green” features in these homes include Energy Star qualification of all the homes; Energy Star requirements are intended to create a home that is 15% more efficient than a home built to meet the NC Building Code. They also qualify the owner for a 5% rate discount on all of their electricity use. One of the water efficiency features of the homes includes collection of HVAC system condensate water in a large underground cistern, which then distributes the reclaimed water to the landscaping through a zoned irrigation system. The site itself was chosen for its adjacency to public open space and outstanding community amenities within walking or public transportation distance.

On this same date, the HPB team completed and posted a new HBH Version 4 Checklist for the NC HealthyBuilt Homes (HBH) program which the Solar Center developed and continues to administer for the state. This work was the culmination of over a year of research, updating, rewriting and review by internal and external partners including the Western North Carolina Green Building Council, Appalachian State University Energy Center, and residential Energy raters from Charlotte, Asheville and Wilmington. The whole HPB team worked hard to coordinate this North Carolina based program with national programs like LEED for Homes and NAHB Green. HBH Director Stankus noted that Bob McCulley, the checklist project coordinator, worked especially hard juggling many individual inputs.

Some of the highlights of this new checklist include increased requirements for all homes with the addition of mandatory spot ventilation to the exterior in kitchens and bathrooms as well as several new opportunities for water efficiency and LED lighting. Older checklist items, dating back to the original checklist issued in 2003, have been upgraded to exceed recent changes in the building code and to provide more incentives to homeowners considering the installation of renewable energy such as solar and wind electricity generation systems (always a goal of all Solar Center staff members).

Version 4 will go into full effect October 1, 2009 – in other words, all homes registered with the HBH Program after October 1 will be required to use Version 4 of the Checklist. Although Version 3 will remain usable for homes registered September 30th, builders are encouraged to register homes under Version 4 as soon as possible, since it is more consistent with the current North Carolina Residential Building Code.

The entire set of Statewide Version 4 documentation, including the Checklist (PDF and Excel) and Reference Manual (PDF), is now available online at www.healthybuilthomes.org

About the Solar Center

The mission of the North Carolina Solar Center is to advance the use of renewable energy resources to ensure a sustainable economy that protects our natural environment, encourages energy independence, and lowers energy costs for consumers.

The Center will safeguard this sustainable energy future through programs to educate the public, share research and technical expertise, guide industry’s energy decisions, and shape government policy.

About the LEED for Homes Program at the Solar Center

The North Carolina Solar Center was chosen through a competitive process to be a LEED for Homes Provider in February of 2008. There are currently 140 homes certified or under construction in North Carolina using the NC Solar Center as their Provider. The current focus of the HPB team at the Solar Center is to create a sound quality assurance process for the green workforce needed to transform North Carolina’s green residential marketplace, using both the LEED for Homes program and the HealthyBuilt Homes Program.

The USGBC website www.usgbc.org states that LEED for Homes is a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes. A green home uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste, and is healthier and more comfortable for occupants. Benefits of a LEED home include lower energy and water bills; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and less exposure to mold, mildew and other indoor toxins. The net cost of owning a LEED home is comparable to that of owning a conventional home.

About the NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program

As of June 22, 2009, the NC HealthyBuilt Homes (HBH) Program has 139 builder participating in the program with 695 houses verified or under construction.

NC HBH provides a certificate for “green” homes that have completed a verification process after implementing sustainable, high performance building strategies. Program membership targets home builders and energy raters, providing resources and education to help them compete in the rapidly emerging field of green building.

NC HBH is a collaborative program between the North Carolina Solar Center, the State Energy Office-NC Department of Administration, and local building professional organizations. The program recognizes and gives credit for homes participating in, the following programs, among others: Energy Star and System Vision.

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Dona Stankus, AIA, LEED AP Homes
NC HBH Program Director
NC Solar Center
(919) 513-0307
dona_stankus@ncsu.edu

For further information, please see http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/news/news_story.cfm?ID=361.