Columbus Green Building Forum Home Page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT GOING GREEN AT HOME:

Rain Gardens (Cuyahoga Soil and Water)

Rain Gardens (presentation from Showcase)

Choosing Green building materials

Resources now available for download:

Green Home Fair
Held Saturday, December 5th, 2009
1:00 - 4:30 pm
Schoenbaum Center, 175 E. 7th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio

A Green Residential Tradeshow & Conference Free & Open to the Public!

Residential Energy
Retrofits - pdf

Energy Efficiency
resources - pdf

Local Funding and Residential Tax Credits for Greening Homes (talk given by Brian Higgins) - pdf

Multiple sessions on Greening homes included:

Residential Energy Retrofits - Cost Effective Strategies
Energy Retrofits and their impact on Indoor Air Quality
Implementing a Green Neighborhood Plan
Learn about Local Funding and Residential Tax Credits for Greening homes

Additionally, the Green Home Fair had exhibits of Green products for Residential home construction/retrofit and everyday use. The Fair is a gathering of homeowners and residential building industry professionals.

Greenview Estates
1970 Hiddensprings Dr.
Columbus, OH 43219

About Greenview Estates:
Located off Woodland Avenue in northeast Columbus, the green development is part of Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman's "Get Green, Columbus" initiative, in partnership with the BIA, the Affordable Housing Trust and MiraCit Development Corporation. The 10.92 acre site has been sub-divided into 30 buildable lots and are being sold to low to moderate-income families.

All the homes in the neighborhood will be built to far more rigorous environmental standards than typical homes. Homes feature durable, energy-efficient construction, Energy Star-rated appliances & other amenities.

The homes built to-date have been third-party-tested and have HERS scores of 62-60, indicating a 38-40% improvement over traditional and translating into around 3800-4000 kWh/year reduction in consumption.

Vinnie Tremante, Williams Creek Consulting, describes the use of rain gardens in mitigating stormwater runoff in a residential setting.

Want to build a rain garden? Visit Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District for plans and suggested plant lists. Or click here for a pdf of the presentation.

Describing the use of Styrofoam sheathing, combined with metal bracing, and Tyvek house wrap instead of traditional OSB, to minimize moisture infiltration and heat loss.

Lisa Frasure, Innerspace Interiors and Nathan Lahr, Fanning Howey Associates gave a presentation on choosing Green building materials. Highlights of their talk:

The house passed its blower test with flying colors. All homes in this development must meet the requirements for Energy Star high performance and the more stringent ratings required for the federal energy tax credit.

Every garage has this ventilation fan that turns on when the garage door is opened and runs long enough to remove exhaust fumes so they aren't drawn into the house.

Walking tour of the LEED Home pilot project at 258 N. 21st Street, Columbus, Ohio. 43203.
The house is being built to the standards required of a platinum level LEED rating.

The house is a new build, but is designed to use the same floor plan and styling as other older homes in the neighborhood.	Studs are centered on 24" rather than the traditional 16", to lesson thermal leakage. Studs are 2 x 6 rather than 2 x 4, allowing and additional 2" of insulation to be used. Windows are triple pane argon filled; the extra cost of windows is more than offset by the money saved on ductwork - most homes need extra heat ducts by windows to make up for cold air entering through the windows.
An open floor plan. The future kitchen looks out over the back yard.	A future rain garden - both the back of the house and the garage will drain into this garden, minimizing the home's stormwater load.
Even the basement will have insulated walls, eliminating a major source of heat loss.