Rohnert Park, CA - April 2 2007
As CEO of the exciting new Sonoma Mountain Village. California I’ve given a lot of thought to green building and what makes a truly sustainable home. We’ve embarked upon a 10-15 year plan to build a state-of-the-art, LEED-certified, New Urbanism community here in Sonoma County, California. From my experience, sustainability accomplishes at least four fundamental objectives.
A sustainable home should:
1 – conserve natural resources,
2 – increase energy efficiency
3 – improve home air quality
4 – and, improve the overall quality of life for the homeowner.
Before a single nail is hammered, we need to look at how homes are currently built. If we want to talk conservation of natural resources, it’s time to look at HOW a typical home is built in this country.
It starts and ends with a stunning amount of waste. The sheer waste produced from the building of 1 typical 2,000-sq. ft. home totals nearly 13 tons – much of it headed to the nearest landfill. That’s roughly 26,000 pounds, a mountain of waste, in adding up the 6.9 tons of wood, 2 tons of trash, 1.7 tons of Gypsum, 1/3 of a ton of metal, 2/3 of a ton of cardboard and 1.2 tons of concrete to build one home.
Now, repeat this number hundreds of thousands of times for the new homes built each and every year and you’ll probably come to the same conclusion: we need to stop depleting our precious resources and dramatically rethink HOW we build homes. We need to establish new standards for the building industry to “walk the talk” of environmental conservation.
What about this mindset that waste is just part of the process of building a new home? Aside from the critical need to develop awareness of current waste in the building industry, there are some small steps that need to be implemented to make homebuilding less wasteful.
New, advanced framing techniques have been developed that can substantially reduce lumber requirements. For example, we have recently licensed a technology and are building a plant to produce framing out of recycled steel. A typical wood framed house consumes 40 trees, while the recycled steel process is produced by recycling 8 cars. When you multiply that by our proposed 1900 homes, we’re talking about really making a difference. The product is lighter, stronger, does not off-gas, has almost no waste and won’t be eaten by termites. We believe it also has better economics. Other strategies include using durable products to reduce waste and recycled-content products to reuse natural resources.
Energy is key to green building. Using renewable energy sources and squeezing every drop of efficiency out of our usage of electricity is one of our primary goals. In addition to saving money for homeowners – year in year out by reducing rising utility bills – there’s an improvement in air quality and a reduction in the impact on global warming.
Here at Sonoma Mountain Village we have a new, 1.14 MW solar installation that, on a bright, sunny day will provide enough power for 1,000 homes during the summer when power is needed most. Investing and using solar-generated electricity is a good start; so is using Energy Star certified appliances for super efficient heating, cooling, lighting and appliances.
What about indoor air quality and health?
Particleboard and plywood paneling are typically held together by adhesives that release formaldehyde – a suspected human carcinogen – into the home for years after installation.
Many common paints, floor finishes, adhesives and sealants also emit unhealthy volatile organic compounds, called VOC’s, that aren’t good to breathe.
Then there’s the problem of mold and mildew – serious issues that can be found in homes with poor moisture protection and in poorly designed or maintained heating and cooling systems.
From a health perspective, we’re committed to the importance of plenty of fresh air and light, healthy materials like natural wood finishes that don’t use harmful chemicals, paints that don’t pose a risk to our health and carpets that do not offgas.
Building “green” isn’t rocket science, but more often it just takes research and a willingness to see out better, safer, proven products. Our way of thinking is that every product in building and maintaining a sustainable home should fit together, like a puzzle, from floor to ceiling to roof.
Water falls from the sky and is plentiful, yet clean water is actually a precious renewable resource that can be in short supply. We have adopted a Water Smart plan that makes the most efficient use of this precious resource, including waterless urinals in our main buildings at Sonoma Mountain Village.
The landscaping and the all-weather soccer field will be irrigated with recycled water from municipal treatment plants, saving precious drinking water for where it is needed: inside our homes.
Living and working green is, ultimately, a lifestyle experience meant to be enjoyed.
It’s the experience of having more time for fun because errands and work are closer to home. It’s the experience of knowing you’ve provided the best environment for your children and families.
Here at Sonoma Mountain Village, it becomes easy to leave the car behind, walking to the store while the children walk to school. It becomes easy to be part of the solution and enjoy a high quality of life.
It’s just a better way to live.
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About the contributor
Brad Baker is CEO of Codding Enterprises, which is building the New Urbanism community of Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park, California. Much more about this remarkable new community at www.sonomamountainvillage.com.