Here’s a typical post-war house. Windows: Single pane, aluminum frame. Wall insulation: R-11 at best. Ceiling Insulation: R-19 at best. Ventilation: none. Foundation insulation: none. In short, this is not an energy efficient home, and neither are the hundreds of thousands like it across the country. Given the housing crash, it is unlikely to receive an equity loan for upgrades. Given the economy, its owner could be facing reduced salary or unemployment, further decreasing the odds of improvement.

Meanwhile, the government is spending billions to help out corporations.

Of the people, by the people, and for the people. Shouldn’t the focus be on the people, not the corporations?

That’s what I like about this article. It makes a compelling counter-proposal to stimulate our economy, helping corporations by directing stimulus to individual households.

Nutshell: Government provides banks with funding for energy efficiency upgrades to existing homes. This will boost home values, tax revenues, construction employment, renewable energy manufacturing and homeowner savings.

Estimated return on investment: fourteen fold, and the stimulus pays for itself in the long run.

Great idea. Great example of how investing sustainably is also investing wisely.

Thanks, George, for the link.

This article also appeared in the April 15, 2009 Home and Garden insert of the Northfield News.

This great room is divided by curved ceiling treatments

It isn’t news that the housing market is drastically different. Houses aren’t selling overnight and the flexibility of moving just isn’t there. This means it is time we think differently about our homes and how we wisely make them our own.

Sarah Susanka’s building approach, “The Not So Big House” is celebrating ten years of success. The theory resonates with many home owners: it values quality over quantity and creating a home for yourself, not a generic sales market. Most people who come to Vivus Architecture + Design subscribe to these principles and want design solutions that provide personalized spaces that are right-sized with features that make living easier and more beautiful.

Breaking down the above principles into strategies, these are some of the local interior trends we are seeing:

Phasing
People are doing all the planning up front, and then allowing the projects to take place in a logical and manageable sequence. Often this allows the homeowners to occupy the house during construction and doesn’t require the same upfront financing. Planning also prevents undoing good work that was previously accomplished or the budget-busting “while-we’re-at-its.”

Efficiency
Useful spaces that save time and money are always assets. Organized closets optimally placed save frustration and repurchasing of items that can’t be found. A good kitchen layout makes cooking, cleanup and entertaining easier and more enjoyable for everyone. By designing efficient living spaces, we are often able to reduce the square footage previously anticipated for an addition. This planning is rewarded by construction savings.

Quality cabinetry, flooring and counters save money in the long run

Durability
We are now seeing fewer projects that are short-term solutions: homeowners are installing high-quality cabinetry, flooring and finishes. This may mean an owner will take on a smaller project, but the enduring appeal and life span of the materials make the decision a good one. Navigating through the available selections takes effort and planning, but it pays in the long run when a remodeling lasts for decades.

Family spaces
Families are just as busy as ever, and demand much from their homes. More homes locally are planning for mudrooms. Mudrooms answer many needs: storage, organization, information/scheduling, pet spaces, and sometimes laundry.

Kitchens are designed with built-in places for homework, home offices, entertaining and specialty cooking. Homeowners are upgrading appliances, cabinetry, lighting and flooring to create hard-working and good-looking multi-use spaces. Open connections between rooms can offer new opportunities for entertaining and family connectedness if they are adequately designed to do so.

Coziness
We are seeing less square footage added as more owners opt to create rooms for the whole family: reading, watching TV, playing games and using the computer. Built-in nooks and work counters perform many functions without requiring much floor space. One well-planned hard-working room can replace several others. Instead of a dedicated home office, we often allocate space in or near a common room.

Green
More and more green elements are being incorporated. Energy savings, carbon reduction, kindness to the earth and health are driving factors. We address these desires by designing a tight envelope (good windows, doors, insulation), selecting efficient heating/cooling, and recommending eco-friendly products. Efficiency and durability are strategies that also help “green” a home. Renewable energy systems are an option, too.

Personality
Don’t be afraid to make your home your own. The homes we remember are those with interesting nooks and crannies, fun features or rooms beautifully appointed. It takes a careful hand to decipher what is universally charming and what is over-the-top. We often recommend the unusual strokes be items that can be removed: paint, furniture, accessories. Well-done focal points, quality built-ins and beautiful woodwork are features that appeal to everyone.

Bold tile makes a colorful statement in a concentrated area

Color
Color can enhance woodwork and furniture, set a mood, and optimize natural light. Today’s spaces have touches of bright colors mixed with neutrals. Rooms are planned to have color opportunities: backsplashes, stained glass, and walls that sport a focused hue. Local colors include darker, saturated earth tones (mustard yellows, clay reds, brown-based greens) and deeper neutrals.

As you think about making your current home work better for you, employ the trends listed above to make wise choices about your updates. Planning ahead and good design will reward you with usable and enjoyable spaces that will serve you for many years. Let us know how we can help.

Take the challenge!

The challenge is to reduce your energy footprint. The benefits are cost savings, a more comfortable home, a cleaner environment, and possibly improved physical fitness, to name a few.

The challenge begins with simply bench-marking your current energy usage. Your home mechanical systems, your plumbing, your composting practices, and your vehicle usage all come together in your benchmark carbon dioxide emissions.

The next step is to look at suggested ways to save energy and reduce your carbon footprint. From a list, pick those ideas that seem most readily achievable to you and commit to them. Come back in a year and check your progress. As you select a strategy to employ, the online Member Dashboard will reflect the money and emissions you have saved. Mine says I’ll save $683 per year and reduce my emissions by over 18,000 pounds of CO2.

You can also join an Energy Challenge Team, to see how quickly your individual actions compound into big results. For example, 315 Northfield residents are currently on the Northfield team, saving over $283,000 and 2.4 million pounds of CO2 per year. That is a big impact!

Team Northfield is currently eighth in the rankings, but within easy reach of Fridley, Plymouth, Bloomington, and Prior Lake. Join the MN Energy Challenge and help pull Northfield to the top!

This week, Mary and I visited a client’s home to review the solar power and hot water systems thet were recently installed. Here is the power converter, which received DC power from the solar panels and converts it to AC power, and Greg, the installer. This is one of two inverters installed inside the old barn, which proved to be a fine place to mount the photovoltaic panels.

Access is only occasionally needed, so the inverters were installed close to PV panels. The inverters are truly a minimal intrusion into the barn space.

The panels face south at about a 35-degree angle to match the existing roof slope. They are unobtrusive on top of the silver metal roof. We advised our client to locate the panels on the barn instead of the house due to the existing trees around the house and the fine solar access afforded on the barn, as shown below.

The solar domestic hot water panels, however, fit easily on the roof of the home, where they will receive plenty of sunlight. The hot water storage tank thermometer read 125 degrees despite the 38-degree outdoor temperature.

Innovative Power Systems designed and provided both hot water and photovoltaic panels systems. Our role has been primarily advocacy and consultation on the solar systems, which were added late in the design process. Where appropriate in all our projects, we incorporate “solar ready” strategies into our projects so that our clients can easily and affordably add these systems when the time is right. In this case, the SDHW systems dovetailed with construction and the PV system followed shortly thereafter.

Click here to see some portfolio images of this project, which at this point are largely planning images. We hope to add more photographs this spring.

In the past, residential developers have built model homes with which to showcase their product and craftsmanship and to attract buyers. This has been an expensive approach in recent times; construction costs are high and model homes have felt the slowing market, forcing the developer to both front the construction cost and to bear the ongoing cost of ownership.

We propose a more sustainable alternative.

Using our digital visualization tool, our interior designers and architects can create a virtual home, complete with furniture, accessories, tile patterns, and wood trim for display and walk-throughs with potential homeowners. This gives them the chance to understand the floor plan, the views, and the nature of the home, especially if given the chance to interact with the designer. Changes to better suit personal preferences can be shown and studied at low cost if the homeowner so desires.

The developer wins, too. Upfront costs for a virtual home are a small fraction of the costs of a model home. Online presentation limits staff time at the model home and makes it more available to potential buyers. Marketing images are easily extracted from the virtual home for brochures, a website or mailings. Animated fly-bys and walk-throughs add energy and life to the marketing efforts. Drawings for construction are derived directly from the virtual home, so this is not an extra step in the process.

Experience has shown that lenders appreciate virtual homes, too, which are easily appraised and understood from the virtual home and its plans. Contractors appreciate the reduced number of change orders on the job, since most are covered in cyberspace.

And the virtual model is easily reused, recycled, remodelable, repaintable, and reconfigurable for different sites.

We welcome inquiries from builders and developers interested in building a virtual model home.

On Sunday afternoon, I joined the Buffalo Commons Co-Housing group for a work session. The group is alive and well!

The meeting was facilitated by Cindy Robinson, who did a nice job of keeping the meeting on task and on time. Discussion was lively on important formative issues like timeframe, site selection, group governance, values, deal-breakers, and the role of consultants in the project. Originally targeted for a specific lot in Northfield, the group has decided to investigate other lots, too, to determine what will best suit the group.

Co-housing is an interesting and viable option to standard residential development. Residents get to know each other before the project is designed through a process of determining how the community should be formed by the interior and exterior spaces that will be created. Cohousing usually consists of smaller than average dwelling units clustered on a site sharing a common house and parking areas away from the residences. The common house usually features a commercial-grade kitchen, dining and lounging areas, a children’s room and other shared amenities as the group so desires. Shared meals are optional, but become a central feature in strengthening community and easing the pressures of domestic life. Privacy is as ample as each resident wants it to be, with easy access to community (a tougher asset to find these days.)

Financially, it has proven to be viable, too. Lenders see the value of having units sold before construction begins (condominium or cooperative models have both been used.) Cohousing units tend to increase in value more than single family homes. And residents can receive benefits from amenities that are only available by pooling resources.

Sustainability can also be achieved more readily through the cohousing model. Smaller units mean less materials and less impact on the landscape. Clustered homes allow for larger open spaces, shared gardens, and social activities on site in the common house. Shared walls reduce heating and cooling costs, often to the point of having a shared heating plant for multiple homes. Cohousing communities also tend to foster efficiency in other ways such as carpooling.

If you are interested in learning more about cohousing, let me know and I’ll connect you to the best of my ability!

Minnesota Power has developed a helpful diagram to help homeowners understand home energy efficiency.

It’s called the Pyramid of Conservation, and it offers both the place to start and a suggested progression toward more complex, more costly solutions.

The base of the pyramid is understanding, suggesting you get a home energy audit done for your house. The peak is renewable power. In between are the more approachable options which address lighting, controllable thermostats, appliances and the like.

So take a look and see how your home matches up to the pyramid. It’s the right thing to do.

Here’s an interesting research summary that bridges my interest in the aesthetics of place and food production.

It seems that in Canterbury, there is disagreement about how farms should appear.

Conventional farmers prefer a neat and tidy geometric look, which, in their eyes, reflects the strong work ethic of the farmer. Organic farmers prefer a more natural, overgrown landscape; this reflects their respect for nature and their use of native plants to manage pests and weeds.

Interesting: conventional farmers generally view organic farming as too labor-intensive.

This is a good chance to think about your position on the aesthetics and sense of place of your hometown. How much does the way we want things to look reflect our values and guide our decision making? Do our ordinances (Northfield Land Use Advisory Group) reflect the overall goals (Comprehensive Plan) of our community?

Last night I carpooled to the AIA Minnesota Committee on the Environment meeting in Minneapolis. The focus of the meeting was on sustainable integrative design.

It is exciting to be part of the effort to forge a more sustainable future, but it is sobering to hear the scientific facts about our global situation.

Exciting: The AIA is working hard toward reducing carbon emissions from our buildings. Our goal must be about 35% from today’s levels immediately, which will bring us back to the emissions levels of 1990 (or thereabouts.) This is doable! The ongoing challenge is for all new buildings to be carbon neutral.
Sobering: Even carbon neutral buildings aren’t enough in the long term. We need to be renewing our environment to absorb and sequester carbon if we hope to reverse the damage already done.

Exciting: Reducing electricity use can make a big difference in both carbon emissions and in water usage. This can be done by design.
Sobering: One kilowatt of electricity reportedly consumes about 0.4 gallons of ground water. Most of the Twin Cities Metro counties are already using more water than the ground provides. We’re not as water-rich as we thought we were.

Alright, enough sobering. Let’s think about the good stuff!

Exciting: We received a call to arms to reduce carbon emissions by upgrading our existing building stock. Our work is primarily in additions and remodelings, so we are well-stationed to accept the challenge.

Exciting: Sustainable Integrative Design is a process through which environment, social issues, and economic issues can be addressed. VIVUS already incorporates these strategies in our design work.

Exciting: The Obama administration has reportedly done more to address climate change than administrations in the last 16 years!

So, what does all this mean?

We have been working with our clients to take steps in the green direction as budget and interest allow. We will continue to do so, but we will urge you to consider going further. Babysteps are not enough to meet the baseline goals set for carbon emissions reductions. What is needed is a greater commitment to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels for power and heat to near zero. We can help you with design of such a building. Federal and state efforts support these measures, making it easier. And, in the long run, a net zero home will be better for your health, the community, and your pocketbook.

This new home is big step in the right direction. We added onto and upgraded the existing home. It now utilizes a 9.8 KW photovoltaic array on the barn to provide more electricity than the house can use. The electricity also powers a ground-source heat pump to provide both heating and cooling for the house. On the roof to the left are two solar domestic hot water panels. Our expectation is that the house will use little or no fossil fuels, with the possible exception of the gas range and the backup boiler (required by code) for those really cold days. The Great Room will require little or no electric light during the day, due to a ceiling and high-performance windows that allow light to wash the space.

While the upfront costs of the technologies employed here are out of reach of most homeowners, the basic design approach remains the same for all buildings.

We welcome your call.

We’ve got a good start on the design of a new home outside of Northfield. This is an exciting project for us for several reasons.

On the macro scale, it is the first house in a new conservation development. The development features enhanced wetlands, native landscaping, community trails, natural common spaces, pervious pavements, onsite renewable energy, community septic system, smaller lots, and a community geothermal heating and cooling system. No fossil fuels will be required for the operation of the development nor the homes in them (unless a homeowner decides on a gas appliance or vehicle.)

On a micro scale, the house will be LEED certified; the actual target is Platinum, and we meet with a LEED-H provider on Monday. This home will be the poster child for the architectural vision of the development:
– Historically sympathetic modern home design
– Architectural design on all sides
– Energy efficient design
– Emphasis on sustainable and renewable materials
– Front porches to foster stronger community
– Smaller homes on smaller lots, allowing larger green community spaces (over 65 acres)
– Native and low-water-use landscaping
– Rainwater harvesting and reuse

Stay tuned as the project develops further!