 Builder's 'green' mansion
By Jonathan Bilyk
ST. CHARLES – At first glance, Robert Lord admits that it is odd to use the word “green” to describe the 11,000-square-foot house he is building.
But Lord, a St. Charles-based custom home builder, said closer examination of the house in the Red Oaks subdivision near Silver Glen Road in rural St. Charles would tell anyone that the colorful word is the only proper adjective.
“There’s been a lot of talk about green building recently,” Lord said. “But I truly believe that this house will be remembered as the place where green began.”
As the recipient of a 2007 Pacesetter Award, Lord now has a piece of hardware to back his contention. Given by Custom Home magazine in its July-August issue, the Pacesetter awards recognize the nation’s best custom home builders in several categories. Lord was recognized in the Innovation category.
Custom Home magazine Senior Editor Bruce Snider said that the products and techniques Lord is using are already in use in many houses around the country.
Snider said the St. Charles home was noteworthy for two primary reasons.
First, he said, Lord used several “green” building methods in almost every phase of construction.
The house is densely insulated, with closed-cell foam sprayed in virtually every nook and cranny.
“Closed-cell foam is the story that is going to take hold,” Lord said. “I know it’s going to change the way people do business when they build homes.”
But Lord then wrapped the home in reflective insulating house and roof wraps.
Lord claims the house he is building has an R-value of 24, which means the home resists heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer much better than most other homes, which can typically rate at R-13.
To further reduce energy costs, Lord installed geothermal heating and cooling systems, which use water pulled from under ground to control the home’s climate, rather than traditional furnaces or boilers.
“We have eliminated the need for Nicor in this house completely,” Lord said.
To reduce the impact of the home’s septic system, Lord installed a sand filter and aerobic digester, which is 50 percent smaller than a traditional septic system.
Lighting and climate systems are computer-controlled to limit energy use. The driveway is paved with limestone recovered from the excavation for the house’s basement. Even the molding and trimwork were milled from trees felled on the site.
“The only thing I couldn’t do was put up solar panels,” Lord said, because subdivision covenants prohibited them.
But Lord plans to remedy that in the future by installing new shingles designed to convert solar energy into electricity to power the home.
Snider said such abundance of green features convinced Custom Home’s editors.
“We had to give him credit for going so far above and beyond,” Snider said.
Even more impressive was Lord’s decision to build this house in Chicago’s suburbs, a place generally not known for its commitment to green and sustainable building practices, Snider said.
“He had to go to rather extraordinary lengths to get some green features into this house,” Snider said.
David Johnston, an author who long has advocated green building and president of What’s Working, a Colorado-based consultant to architects and builders, said he hoped Lord’s project stirred interest in Chicago area builders.
“The Chicago suburbs need some good examples,” Johnston said. “The size is a little bothersome, but all the other things he’s doing sound like they’re emblematic of the movement.”
“We wish him well.”
What ‘green’ means
What qualifies a house as being “green?” David Johnston, president of What’s Working, a green construction consulting firm in Boulder, Colo., said there is no set definition. But to be considered green, a builder must generally meet three criteria:
• Use techniques and products that achieve energy efficiency significantly better than can be achieved through traditional construction methods;
• Pay attention to the use of local resources, such as wood and water; and
• Use products that improve indoor air quality.
|
