There's an awful lot of "greenwash" going on - use of the word "green" in marketing, whether their product or service is any better for the planet or for your energy bills than the next product. To start this conversation off with integrity, we need to establish up front that a home plan that's very Green for South facing lot in Florida is different from a home plan that's very Green for a North facing lot in Vermont.

Our approach is to make our plans Green Responsible, help you determine which plan is best for you and your location, and then offer low cost adaptation where needed. We believe in Common Sense Green - where you do what's right for you, your climate, your community and your budget.

• We start off with homes that are Just Right sized, that have great flow and function no matter the size, with windows that balance natural day lighting and ventilation with energy conservation, with home and roof shapes that handle the elements and balance construction material efficiency with function and aesthetics. Our construction details round out this solid Green basis.
• All our plans are modelled in the same 3D software. All our designers know the designs, know the software, know each other - making for smooth hand-offs and efficient customization. Bryce and Joey are LEED AP and Wendy's studying for her LEED AP test. Oh, and we're all nice people too. That's not on the LEED checklist, but we think it's part of "quality of life" in general!
• We offer energy analysis, structural adaptation, assistance with specific material choices, even design of mechanical systems, all within our group, all surprisingly affordable.

What is Green, really?

Well, it should be that a "green" product or service has substantial benefit to your health and the health of the planet. Happily, anything that lowers your energy costs is also good for the planet. Green for the planet is green for your wallet.

For Construction?

The nice people at the US Green Building Council have tried to identify just that - what exactly makes one building "green" and another not so much. They originated the LEED system, that rates construction by all the factors that make it good or bad for your health and the health of the planet.

LEED in general addresses all construction, with a special LEED for Homes that makes it much easier to rate a home than a big office building. Basically, they assign points to a whole bunch of things. These things include features of the house itself, the land, the development, and methods used during construction. The points totals allow you to be green or even greener. In LEED terms, there's LEED Certified (45-59 points), Silver (60-74 points), Bronze (75-89 points) & Platinum (90-136 points).

FAQ

Do I have to do LEED?

No. Unless you're building in a community that mandates LEED through it's covenants, LEED is completely optional.

Is LEED worth it? Energy Star? HERS?

LEED adds time and cost to a project. Whether you would recoup that extra cost in resale value has not been determined - it just hasn't been around long enough. Most of our clients do not formally use the LEED process, but rather do the "green" things that make sense for them and their budgets. Solid construction and the right amount of insulation, for instance, have been shown to be worth it via lower utility costs. Energy Star deals directly with energy usage, and so we think is generally worth following. HERS is another way of rating energy usage. Some states and some utilities reward these with tax credits or even rebates.

Those vary state by state, and even utility by utility. Your builder, lender or code officer can point you towards your local resources.

Green Home Plans specifically?

Design matters. This is straight from the LEED for Homes Rating System:

"The Innovation and Design Process category was brought to the front of the LEED for Homes Rating System to highlight the importance of design in a LEED home."

Artform Home Plans can gain LEED points in this ID category (Innovation and Design) through 1.4 Design Charrette and 1.5 Solar Orientation.

Our interactive on-line design is the perfect venue for Design Charrette (fancy word for designing as a team). We meet on-line and review/change/develop your design using 3D software with everybody's participation and input. You can include your builder, your developer, your LEED AP, and anybody else you want. This can be done in a single day (with breaks of course) or several shorter meetings. You don't even have to all be in the same room! We can start with one our pre-designed plans and adapt for your family, your lot and your climate, or start fresh just for you.

LEED rewards this level of involvement because it means all factors are accounted for right from the beginning - instead of shoe horning something in last minute. Happily, it's also just plain a great process that uses your design dollars very efficiently, reduces changes later, and is a boat load of fun. Oh, and it's "green" in and of itself - no multiple paper prints, no shipping, no gas in the car... How cool is that?

Oh, and - Solar Orientation - guess what's Topic One with our on-line design?

The LEED system is fairly complex. See Artform for LEED for a full point by point discussion. There are also design features that it's impossible to quantify sufficiently for inclusion in a system like LEED. Here's a "bite size" list of our "green" approach:

Green Features of Artform Home Plans

• Just Right Size - LEED rewards homes where the size of the house is in balance with the number of bedrooms. It also makes sense that a home that provides you the same enjoyment in a smaller package is greener before you do anything else - uses less material to build, uses less energy to heat, cool and maintain. (By the way, it's a lot harder to design a really well flowing, well functioning small home than a larger one.) You'll find many excellent choices at Artform Home Plans that are LEED "neutral" all the way up to the maximum LEED benefit.
• Windows - Our homeowners always comment on how light and airy our homes feel. We design for natural day lighting and ventilation, balanced with privacy, furniture placement, energy use and budget.
• Roofs - Our priorities are roofs that are not unnecessarily expensive to build, that handle snow and rain well, that allow winter sun in while protecting from summer sun, and that are pleasing to the eye. An expensive roof is a wasteful roof - and that's not green. We believe in "conserve first, generate second". Before you put in geothermal heat, let's reduce your energy need first - and your roof is a big part of that.
• Floor Plans - Mud rooms, places for recycling, carefully designed kitchens and baths, plans designed in concert with framing for efficiency... Efficiency is green. Good "flow" is green. A house that truly meets your needs won't need to be renovated or expanded for a very long time. That's green for the planet, green for your budget. It's also going to make you happy, and that's a lot of the point of building a new home - yes?
• Aesthetics - Really? Yes. For a home to be truly "green" it has to be durable. An ugly house is not durable, because somebody will tear it down and put it in a landfill much sooner than a great looking house.
• Flexibility - A home plan that adapts to your family's changing needs is Green, because we're avoiding future demolition and construction. Will it accommodate holiday meals? Guests? Quiet time? Once we're past the basics of Living, Kitchen, Dining and the first Bedroom or two, we're thinking about adaptability in all our designs. Can it be an Aging in Place bedroom? A home office? A family room? An art studio? Could it have a separate entry?
• Construction Details - All our plans start with 2x6 walls framing and 2x10 roof framing - enabling a good amount of insulation. All our plans include construction details showing options for sealing things up nicely right at the framing, and for additional insulation in the walls, foundation and roof. The things in our details that are above and beyond what's required by code are clearly labeled "optional", so you and your builder can decide what's right for your project and budget. You probably didn't know that correctly placed glues and sealants in the framing, before you even get to insulation, can have a big effect on your energy performance. We do! Did you know that the same dollars invested in adding insulation one way versus. another can double your benefit? Or that this will be different for different climates? We do - and we can Green Tune your home plan to make best use of your Green dollars.
• Lighting - A hallmark of our designs is our attention to window placement, looking for both cross breezes and good natural daylighting. Did you know that lighting is more than 60% of most electric bills? We do.
• Materials - The vast majority of our plans can be built with low maintenance, high durability materials, like vinyl siding. (Yes, really, vinyl can be very "green". It's plastic, but it's also "final" - and durability is Green). If it can look good in vinyl, it can look good with any siding. Availability of materials varies regionally and is constantly changing. Rather than specify materials that may or may not be your choice or even available to you, we provide full area breakdowns to facilitate choices. We also offer personal assistance by any of our LEED AP designers to help you sort out the truly Green from the "greenwash".

Green Builders

You can't build green without a good builder. A shoddily constructed home that leaks air or worse isn't Green, no matter how good the plans or what materials are used. Green Building is quality building - from simply building the frame well and installing windows, roofing and flashing correctly, to having the skill and will to do quality assembly of those materials. A builder who orders materials correctly will provide the best cost, and oh by the way - less waste is "green". A well ordered construction site is both "green" and a good predictor of good workmanship in general (something to look at when you're looking a prospective builders' prior work-in-progress). One of the greenest things you can do is to hire your builder based on multiple factors, including in depth checking of references and review of their built work, as well as cost. Basically, whether you do or don't believe in global warming, "left" or "right" politics - if you choose a good plan and hire a good builder, you will get a good house and a good house is always "greener" than a bad house. It's that simple.