The Advanced Placement Environmental Science class from the Alabama School of Math and Science had a wonderful opportunity to tour a home that was designed from the beginning with the environment in mind. Rebecca Bryant, a local architect, designed her family's home to have a low impact on the land. From the beginning the planning focused on energy efficiency, the way the home was placed on the land, and what the materials' life cycle costs would be. This home tour was an excellent way to see some of the design elements that we will be developing in our green building demonstration kitchen. The tour started outside and we talked about how the screened wrap around porch allowed extra living space without having the extra environmental costs of heating and cooling it. The house is oriented to allow windows in every room, usually on both sides of the house. This allows light into the rooms, but due to eaves designed to block direct summer sun, this does not heat the room in the summer. Due to the ample natural light, the family normally does not even use their energy efficient lighting during the day. Another major feature of the house was the spray foam icynene insulation. Although this insulation costs more, it allowed the design to incorporate a smaller air conditioner, which payed for the difference. The insulation will continue to pay back even more in energy savings throughout the year.
Although there were many more environmentally friendly choices made, I could never cover them all. The combination of so many smart ways of building a house was wonderful to see. Despite the contractor's reluctance, this home proves that a green building is not very much more expensive than a normal building, that it will pay for itself over time, and that the impact of a house can be greatly reduced by simply trying to work with the land, not against it.
--Daniel Toxey
daniel.toxey@gmail.com
