On Earth Day, Planned ‘Green Homes’ Also Expected To Earn Some Green

April 16, 2003

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — To most people, model homes mean oversized bathtubs, fireplaces and lush lawns, but a new take on the concept by University of Florida researchers features some highlights more likely to appeal to the greener side.

Floors made of renewable bamboo, energy-efficient fluorescent lights, a water-saving washing machine and dishwasher, a yard filled with native drought-tolerant plants and other energy-efficient and environmentally friendly upgrades are what visitors will find in the model home for a new “green” development in Gainesville.

Now under construction at the planned 88-home Madera subdivision, the home to be completed this fall is one of eight being built by UF through a unique cooperative research agreement with the subdivision’s builders. With Earth Day set for Tuesday, officials at UF’s Florida Energy Extension Service, which leads the project, say the goal is to show it’s possible to build comfortable homes that use green designs and technologies – and also earn the builder a profit.

“We’re essentially building homes that have significant green characteristics and are also fully integrated into a commercial, for-profit development venture,” said Pierce Jones, a UF professor of agricultural and biological engineering who directs the Florida Energy Extension Service. “We don’t see profit as a dirty word. We want consumers to buy these features because they understand their true value. And we want these upgrades to be profitable for the builders.”

In the past, universities and other public institutions interested in encouraging the use of solar or other high-efficiency or Earth-friendly options have built demonstration homes. The shortcoming of this approach, Jones said, is that it does not consider either the cost of the options or whether prospective home owners actually would buy the green homes. So while demonstration homes may have played well for education purposes, there was no guarantee homes like it would sell – or sell profitably. The result: Few features of green demonstration homes were adopted by developers, builders and, ultimately, home buyers, Jones said.

“The isolated, theoretical approach to this quite honestly hasn’t worked,” he said.

The UF project seeks to change this pattern.

Madera already is planned as a green subdivision, with all homes built to federal “Energy Star” standards requiring the homes’ heating, cooling and water heating systems to be 30 percent more efficient than systems in comparable homes, among other requirements.

Buyers interested in the UF-built homes can pick from a range of construction and appliance packages that upgrade their homes to use half the electricity and water a typical home would use – and also choose options that make the homes more environmentally friendly.

The hope is that buyers will snap up the upgrades, showing everyone from developers to real estate agents to mortgage bankers that energy efficiency and environmental considerations both add value to a home and make it an easy seller, Jones said. “We want to show people that they have the option to pay for these things – they do cost more, but they get value for it,” he said.

Homes in Madera, which will range in size from 1,600 to 2,600 square feet, are expected to sell for between $180,000 and $250,000. Under the cooperative research agreement with Gainesville builder Carter Construction, the UF upgrades can add no more than 7 percent to the cost. That would increase the $180,000 home to $192,600. The projected savings for reduced water and electricity over a 10-year period is about $10,000, Jones said.

Juddy Carter, owner of Carter Construction, said his hope is that the project will help get out the word on the availability of green features – and their value to homeowners. “The thing that interests me the most is being involved with the cutting-edge technologies being developed today,” he said. “We have to showcase some of that to make the public aware.”

Jones said he and others involved in the project strived to ensure the green upgrades not only didn’t compromise the comfort level and aesthetic appeal of the homes but actually improved it. “People tend to gravitate toward enhancements in technology that make their lives more comfortable,” he said.

For this reason, researchers carefully avoided many more-drastic energy-saving possibilities, such as using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. While living “off the grid” is a nice ideal, Jones said, the cost of photovoltaic cells – coupled with the lifestyle changes required to live with significantly less electricity – makes off-the-grid homes impractical for the marketplace in Florida today.

However, there will be many other available green upgrades in the UF-built homes – from the construction materials to appliances to plants chosen for landscaping.

For example, buyers will have the option of choosing, for structural purposes, “insulated concrete form” walls – built with an advanced technique that combines concrete and insulation – or walls framed with steel or borate pressure-treated wood. Borate pressure-treated wood is a green alternative to traditional chromated copper arsenate-treated wood, which can leach arsenic into the ground. Any of these upgrades would help ensure the homes remain termite- and rot-free.

For the interior, buyers will be encouraged to choose “compact fluorescent lighting,” fluorescent bulbs that resemble traditional incandescent bulbs but use far less energy. They can pick “dual flush” toilets, which use 1.6 gallons of water to flush solid waste but only 1.1 gallons to flush liquid waste. Other energy- or water-saving options include high-efficiency air conditioning, water-saving washing machines and dishwashers, and drought-tolerant landscaping using native plants.