Today’s green living is about more than just recycling cans and using CFC-free hairspray; local homeowners say it’s a way of life that can make a positive impact on the environment, as well as on their pocketbooks.
“It’s all about energy efficiency,” said Steve Graham, owner of Springfield-based Graham Construction. “It’s one of the first questions every potential homeowner asks.”
Currently under construction near Lebanon, Graham’s team is laying the groundwork for a 100 percent self-sustainable home built using the TransForm System by TF Forming Systems. Graham said it is the first home less than 2,000 square feet to be built using the hybrid system of insulated concrete and a stud wall designed by founder Jerry Spude and chairman Steve Huff for the 72,000-square-foot Chateau Pensmore near Highlandville. Graham noted the system allows contractors to build a disaster-resistant and hyper-energy efficient home.
For the small residential project, eight inches of concrete were poured between a 4-inch foam outer wall and a 3/4-inch foam inner wall, providing increased insulation and structural stability, Graham said. Studs are secured to the foam for attaching siding and drywall.
Homeowners Lee and Randy Wilson plan to make the 1,700-square-foot space self-sustainable using 5,000 watts of energy produced by rooftop solar panels and 10,000 watts of additional power produced from a bio fuel-powered antique generator, along with a garden, greenhouse, tilapia pond and rainwater collection system. Graham said the couple also have purchased a sawmill to harvest trees from the property for wood siding and flooring in the home. In addition, the company has only used power provided by the generator for construction.
Using the home as trial run for future TF Forming-built homes, Graham said his company won’t have a final cost for the project until completion.
Show me the greenAccording to the third-quarter economic report from the Greater Springfield Board of Realtors, 1,017 homes were sold in Greene County with an average selling price of $134,085, up from the same time last year when 871 homes were sold at an average of $128,330.
Tammie Tucker real estate agent with A.R. Wislon, Realtors, said sales are increasing across the board, including an increased demand for homes with green features.
“Green features on the multilist are making it easier for homebuyers and sellers to get information about those green features out there,” Wilson said. “The big ticket items clients are asking for are high-efficiency heating and air units and windows.”
According to
EnergyStar.gov, 46 percent of a home’s energy use goes toward heat and cooling, and upgrading an old furnace unit can save about $79 a year for a 2,500-square-foot home, or about $998 during the lifetime of the unit. Tucker said green features can save in the long run, but may cost more up front. She added that most clients who remodel their homes use Energy Star features and appliances.
Serving clients who want to use environmentally friendly techniques and sustainable designs in remodeling, Springfield-based Sutainabuilt Construction founder Sam Butler said building green is all about being a savvy shopper.
“Some green features don’t cost any more or minimally more than traditional designs, like low-VOC paint and spray-foam insulation,” he said. “I try to present my clients with options and not many opt for a less healthy, or less environmentally friendly house.”
Butler, who opened Sustainabuilt in 2009 at 319 N. Main Ave, is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-accredited and said he’s seen a rise in green building across the Ozarks.
“If you have the option of installing Energy Star windows and doors, why wouldn’t you?” he said. “It’s low in cost and better for you in the long run.”
Proven resultsMarti Montgomery has put sustainable home design into practice and knows green living works. She built a 1,280-square-foot home out of four 8-foot-wide by 40-foot-long used shipping containers. Montgomery said utility bills on her previous traditional-style home typically exceeded $300 a month, but her now two-year-old home built on 48 acres in rural Webster County costs on average $65 a month to heat and cool.
“I had a bill of $120 once, but that was extreme. Even during the heat this summer, the bill never topped $100,” she said of the house regulated by an air-source heat pump.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average utility bill for Missouri residents in 2011 was about $108 a month, slightly below the U.S. Average of $110 a month.
Montgomery said the two-bed, two-bath home, designed by now-defunct Theworkshop 308 LLC, was constructed with radiant heating tubes throughout the floor, but the home’s air-source heat pump unit – which transfers thermal energy from a heat source in a direction opposite to the direction of spontaneous heat flow – is so efficient, she hasn’t needed to purchase a $5,000 boiler to power the radiant heat system.
“I had radiant heating growing up, so I had it installed in this house, but I didn’t have room in the budget for the boiler,” she said.
“I have the option in the future, I just haven’t had the need yet.”
With construction beginning in 2008, Montgomery said the finished product incorporates numerous recycled and found objects, repurposed for her needs. Using shipping containers as the main frame, Montgomery estimates she saved about 40 percent compared to traditional building materials.
“I have a budget of $150,000 and I knew I couldn’t go over,” she said of her home,
recently profiled in a CNNMoney.com video post.
“There are billions of unused shipping containers out there. I knew this home would be more cost effective, but I also liked the idea of taking something wasted – trash – and giving it a new life.”
