According to Tim Watson, manager of the Southern Living Idea House at Glenwood Park program, the magazine wanted to reflect buyers’ growing interest in urban living. “We chose Glenwood Park to feature innovative home design in an urban setting, especially green building, which is growing in popularity,” Watson said. A pilot EarthCraft House community, Glenwood Park demonstrates smart growth strategies and all homes are certified under the EarthCraft House program. EarthCraft House, a partnership between the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and Southface, is a voluntary green building program providing builders with guidelines for healthy, comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment.

The house will be a Department of Energy Building America research house constructed to use 40 percent less energy than a home of comparable size. In addition to efficient windows, framing and HVAC systems, the home features efficient appliances. Lighting and appliances can use 20-40 percent of total energy usage in a typical home.

As the Idea House Manager, Watson has seen 30,000 people tour show homes in past years and he expects a similar crowd at Glenwood Park. A ten-dollar admission fee entitles tour participants to a resource directory listing all products installed in the home, and a copy of the 2005 idea house issue of Southern Living Magazine. Ten percent of the door charge is donated to charity. This year’s beneficiary is Earth Share of Georgia, an environmental fund supporting 62 environmental organizations through workplace giving (see more on page 15).

EarthCraft House & Building America The EarthCraft House program is a tool for builders who want to use green building measures to conserve resources and provide homebuyers with more durable, healthier homes. Since its inception in 1998, EarthCraft House has certified more than 2,000 single family homes. Builders can improve the quality of their construction by implementing high performance building strategies prescribed by the program. A builder may participate in the EarthCraft House program at minimal cost and receive recognition for building green. The EarthCraft House program started in Georgia, but has grown regionally, with pilot projects in South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia. EarthCraft House was awarded the 2004 National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program of the Year. The program receives its enrollment voluntarily, though a developer may prompt builders to join by issuing a mandate. John L. Roby, President of Whitehall Homes Inc., who was contracted to build the Idea House, joined the EarthCraft House program because Glenwood Park is an EarthCraft Communities project. “We were already building green,” Roby said. “Now we are certifying our homes.” EarthCraft House hopes to transform the market for residential construction by giving builders recognition for smart choices in building products and strategies. Roby has been supportive of the program since joining in the fall of 2004. “EarthCraft House is making builders more aware of energy efficiency and conservation as it continues to grow in Atlanta,” Roby said. In recent years, Whitehall has built in traditional neighborhoods that take advantage of public transportation and commercial districts. The homes are built close to one another, resulting in greater density, and the community resources arguably improve the quality of life. “We have built in other traditional neighborhoods—such as Olmsted and the Enclave at East Lake—but the Southern Living Home is the first show home we’ve certified [in a green building program].” Show homes typically have charming interiors bathed in ample sunlight, but the Southern Living Idea House at Glenwood Park will do more—actually converting the sun’s energy to electricity. Photovoltaic panels will be installed on the roof of the garage to generate electricity and make the home less dependent on the power grid. The solar panels and the home’s energy usage will be monitored by IBACOS, a Building America Consultant. Building America is a Department at Energy program with the goal of reducing total home energy use 40 to 80 percent.

John Broneik, Senior Building Performance Specialist with IBACOS and Southface met with trade contractors in months prior to the start of construction to introduce the high performance strategies.

For example, they recommended an insulated and non-vented crawlspace, an approach that improves energy efficiency by eliminating duct leakage and improves air quality by reducing the likelihood of contaminants. An insulated, non-vented crawlspace is not common in the South, even though high humidity in the spring and summer can cause poor air quality in homes built on conventional crawlspaces.

Glenwood Park Environmental Features

The Southern Living Idea House at Glenwood Park is situated on a well-planned urban site with significant environmentally sensible design. When rain falls on the roof it drains into a retention pond located adjacent to the house. That water is then used to irrigate a central park that is owned and maintained by a neighborhood association.
In times of drought, when the pond falls below a determined level, a well pump draws water to irrigate common areas. Water bags are installed around the trunks of street trees adjacent to the Southern Living Idea House at Glenwood Park as an alternative to piped irrigation systems.

A reduction in sedimentation is achieved by using natural drainage swales that retain runoff from imper-vious swathes of pavement. The swales filter sediment and protect streams.

Glenwood Park has been nationally recognized as a model for urban redevelopment. The Congress of New Urbanism (CNU) awarded the project the 2003 Neighborhood Charter Award, bringing national attention to Green Street Properties’ first development project.

Peter Katz, a member of the selection committee for the CNU remarked, “It’s the right project in the right place: a dense development with plenty of dignified public spaces, built on a brownfield.” Brownfield sites are formerly developed (often industrial) parcels that pose site-specific, environ-mental challenges and usually cost more time and money than preparing undisturbed land for construction.

Product Displays & Sponsorship Thank Yous

Generous donors contributed to the project and several are sponsors of the EarthCraft House program as well. Icynene Inc. insulated the house with urethane spray foam, an open cell foam that minimizes air infiltration. DOW Styrofoam provided blue-board foam sheathing that minimizes heat loss through thermal breaks in the wall framing. The blue-board provides a drainage plane in lieu of housewrap.

The foundation was insulated with a 1-inch continuous Owens Corning drainage board, provided by Tremco Barrier Solutions. The board can be installed on above- and below- grade foundation walls. This product permits water to drain to a foundation drainpipe instead of saturating foundation walls and leaking into the basement or crawlspace.
Georgia-Pacific provided a paperless, fiberglass-faced gypsum product, called Dens-Guard, for use as a residential sheathing. The product improves structural integrity, eliminates a food source for mold and is made in Georgia from calcium deposits scrubbed from power plant stacks, a process that creates synthetic gypsum by closing a waste loop.

With the help of the EarthCraft House technical staff, the builder and developer have demonstrated energy efficiency and resource conservation in residential construction, and they hope to teach the public how they can do the same. On the house tour, many of the building’s systems will be described on posters. A cutaway wall section will be on display at the exit of the tour.

EarthCraft House has provided a template for environmentally sensible construction. “This project is made possible by the enthusiastic support of Southface and their partner IBACOS,” said Walter Brown, Vice President of Green Street Properties. “When people tour the Southern Living Idea House, these organizations let them know what’s going on behind the drywall.”

Southern Living magazine’s popularity stems partly from selling the idea that any house can be made with “country home” appeal but this year’s Atlanta idea house will demonstrate that refined taste can be just as at home in the city as in the suburbs. And Southface and EarthCraft are proud to share in the unveiling of this one-of-a-kind, “green” idea house to the Atlanta community and beyond.

Learn more about becoming involved with EarthCraft House by visiting www.EarthCraftHouse.org.