RALEIGH, N.C. -- Lutron Electronics, manufacturer of lighting controls, has teamed up with Cherokee Investment Partners, which works for sustainable revitalization of environmentally impaired properties, to build the National Homebuilder Mainstream GreenHome in Raleigh, N.C.
GreenHome is a mainstream green home designed to demonstrate how sustainable living can be achieved in a traditional home. It is the first home of its kind known to be built in a typical suburban neighborhood. The demonstration home provides the average homebuilder with a model for making tomorrow's typical American home -- a green home.
"Lutron is the leading manufacturer of lighting controls for both electric light and daylight. Lighting control strategies, such as the use of dimmers and of controllable shades, are great ways to reduce energy and add elegance to a home," states Stacey Kim, Market Development Manager for Lutron.
"We're excited to partner with Cherokee Investment Partners in the GreenHome project and share with builders and homeowners alike the ease of adding sustainable solutions to a home."
The GreenHome will use RadioRA lighting controls and local dimmers to control electric light and Sivoia QED shades to control daylight. The RadioRA Chronos Package uses an astronomical timeclock to automate lighting changes based on time of day relative to sunrise and sunset. For example, driveway lights can be programmed to turn on at sunset, and turn off at 11pm to reduce electricity used.
Utilizing Lutron's Sivoia QED automated shades helps to reduce glare and protect interiors, as well as decrease solar heat gain. Decreasing solar heat lowers energy costs associated with HVAC systems that would otherwise run more frequently.
"We are seizing the opportunity toinfluence the greening of large-scale development and vertical construction," says Tom Darden, CEO of Cherokee.
"Starting with the tens of thousands of homes that will be built on the sites we are currently cleaning-up, and the hundreds of thousands in the future, we have launched our green initiative, and we are kicking it off with the Mainstream GreenHome. Not only are we cleaning and greening hundreds of brownfield sites nationally, but we are exploring innovative ways to integrate more sustainable features into the horizontal and vertical construction of our sites."
The Mainstream GreenHome showcases a number of innovative, environmentally friendly features, while looking and functioning as a traditional home. It is intended to help reverse the negative stigma sometimes associated with green building and show that environmentally-focused construction is compatible with conventional building and better living.
Environmental factors are taken into account in every aspect of the home, from landscaping using edible and/or drought tolerant plants to rainwater catchment and reuse systems. The home utilizes a range of technological innovations to minimize impact on the environment without sacrificing comfort. As a result, the GreenHome aims to:
- Use 50 percent less fossil fuel than the conventional home
- Recycle or reuse 90 percent of all organic waste on site
- Consume 50 percent less water than the conventional home
- Recycle 75 percent of all construction and demolition waste
- Retain 95 percent of all storm water on site for reuse
- Create wildlife habitats
- Provide exceptional indoor air quality with 95 percent of all products having low or zero volatile organic compound
Cherokee's GreenHome is the first home in the nation known to be built in a typical subdivision under the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Model Green Home Building Guidelines and is just one of three green homes in the nation known to meet such guidelines. The others are non-subdivision homes.
In addition, the home will be certified with the Environmental Protection Agency/ US Department of Energy (EPA/DOE) Energy Star Program and the North Carolina Solar Center's Healthy Built Homes state program, among others.
"Cherokee's commitment to the environment matched with their energy for green construction makes them a perfect fit for creating a mainstream green home," said NAHB national president David Pressly.
"They are coming into the project with their builder just as any other traditional homebuilder would, facing the same issues anyone else would, and they are going to prove that green building isn't so radical and that those hundreds of green decisions are important to our environment and the future of homebuilding."
"The GreenHome represents a new milestone in mainstream green construction," according to global sustainability guru, author and architect William McDonough, chairman of the architecture and community design firm, William McDonough + Partners. "This demonstration home provides the average homebuilder with a model for making a typical American home green."
Conventional in almost every aspect, the GreenHome is designed as an idea home that will showcase a mix of products, systems and techniques that could make sense for individual construction projects or large-scale developments.
As green building becomes more mainstream and is injected into the early design process, costs associated with green building will continue to fall. In addition, many technologies, such as solar hot water or ground source heat pumps, become more cost effective as centralized systems in larger developments.
The GreenHome is expected to be completed in early 2007 and will be available for tours.