The Low Down On Green Living
August 9th, 2009
Home Depot and Habitat for Humanity Back Green Building
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Courtesy of Environmental News Network and written by Zaher Karp of the Matter Network
The partnership between a home improvement company and a shelter provider might seem simple, but the plans that two established organizations have now are far from cut and dry. A $30 million green building program is going national, funded by the Home Depot Foundation, and plans to build 5,000 efficient homes over the next five years.
Habitat for Humanity and the Home Depot Foundation started a pilot last year through 30 affiliates that resulted in 260 sustainable homes. The Partners in Sustainable Building program began there, and is now poised to break into the national sphere.
Some of the homes were even certified to LEED Platinum, which resulted in nearly 50 percent energy savings in some cases. During the pilot, which according to Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford was “extremely successful,” early results yielded 15 to 30 percent energy savings.
At the end of August, over 120 Habitat for Humanity affiliates will participate in the national rollout across 45 states. Affiliates will receive grants depending on certifications that structures attain– $3,000 for Energy Star guidelines and up to $5,000 for other nationally recognized standards.
Habitat expects nearly 1,500 homes to be built between the August start and the end of 2010. Some of the certifications mentioned by Reckford were the National Association of Home Builders standard, LEED, EarthCraft and Enterprise Green Communities.
Retrofitting has been an emphasis by administration recently, citing green jobs and efficiency, though Habitat is meeting an ever-expanding need for new and innovative construction. These new buildings will be supported by Habitat’s network through eight Habitat State Support Organizations (which service 4,400 affiliates) and will be growing in size and host new training sessions to teach green standards.
Out of the 263 homes built in the pilot program, most buildings leaned towards a higher green building level (135) and 128 were certified to the Energy Star guidelines.
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Comments
Charlotte Homes
August 10th, 2009 at 8:37 am
This project should be a huge boom for the local economy. Most people don’t realize that every new home built equates to 2.5 jobs for a year. The government stimulus package may never trickle down to your local area, but one thing for certain, new home construction has an immediate and localized impact on the economy.
Von Lawrence
August 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Good job Home Depot! Thank you. Becoming energy efficient is costly initially which prevents low income people (who would most benefit from reduced utility bills) from doing it. This is a great program. Glad it provides jobs, too.
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