Peter Niles did what many do when shopping for a house; he bought a fixer-upper. He said he planned to renovate rather than build because he wanted to avoid the resource expenditure of building a house.
"Building a house is one of the biggest consumptive activities people can do," said Niles, a designer for Adaptations, the design division of A-1 Builders Inc., a company that focuses on environmentally friendly construction practices.
Most of the materials in Niles’ fixer-upper were rotten, beyond restoration or not up to safety standards. Because renovation would have required a greater amount of resources and would yield a less energy-efficient house, Niles decided to demolish the neglected house and start over, using the opportunity to build a low-impact home.
The Environmental Protection Agency reported in 1998 that the United States produced 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste, which is approximately 2.8 pounds of waste per person per day.
Green building employs design and construction techniques that minimize the energy consumption and environmental impact of a building.
"I had six weeks to plan a house, which is not anywhere close to enough time," Niles said.
Despite the lack of time for sufficient planning, Niles said he managed to build a home that has less impact on the environment than the remodeled house would have.
Niles’ house stands behind a wall of bushes with windows covering the east-facing wall. Inside, daylight brightens the house from the west, with windows framing Fairhaven and Bellingham Bay.
"It’s not built out of car tires; it looks like a normal house," Niles said.
Niles said he tried to reduce how much his home contributed to his ecological footprint through decisions about construction materials, energy efficiency, size and location. An ecological footprint refers to the amount of space or environment necessary to produce the goods and services a person’s lifestyle requires.
"Look at every part of the design critically," he said. "Every single component is up for grabs to see if there’s a way to make a smaller impact."
Materials
Niles used bamboo to floor his house’s main level and stairs. The process of harvesting bamboo consists of cutting the stalks but leaving the rhizome — the part of the plant from which new shoots grow.
"It’s a grass and it’s got an eight- to 10-year renewable cycle," Niles said. "Bamboo is no more expensive than other hardwood flooring."
Cindi Landreth, the president of Cindi Landreth Home Design, used an alternative style of framing for her house. Instead of wood, she used Rastra block.
"The Rastra block is made of 85 percent post-consumer waste products," Landreth said.
Rastra block walls are hollow forms of expanded polystyrene filled with concrete. The forms stay in place as a permanent part of the wall. They provide a continuous insulation and sound barrier as well as backing for drywall on the inside and stucco, lap siding or brick on the outside, according to the California Energy Commission.
"There is such a broad palette of materials to pick from that are environmentally friendly," said Cheryl Lovato Niles, Peter Niles’ wife.
The Nileses used natural linoleum flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms. "It is made of rubbers and gums and resins — all natural products and all sustainable," Lovato Niles said.
Niles bought recycled slate blackboard from the RE Store and used it to fashion the kitchen counters himself, he said. During construction of the house, he had to remove a 60-foot cedar tree.
"I cut the tree down, brought in a portable mill and milled it all up," he said. "The wood is going to be used for cabinetry, a desk, bookcases and a window seat."
Energy efficiency
A 2001 review by the United States Department of Energy found that residential and commercial buildings accounted for 65.2 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption.
"Finally the market is recognizing the environmental cost — the real cost — of energy, and prices are going up, never to go down again," said Alistair Jackson, an environmental consultant and project associate for O’Brien & Co. "Free energy — wind, solar — are more viable, more realistic."
Niles designed open floor plans, which make use of natural light to increase energy efficiency.
"There are a lot of windows and a lot of daylight," he said.
"During the summer, we will never have to turn on a light."
Taking the use of natural light to the next level, Jack Hardy, the president of Solar Design and Construction, designs and builds passive solar homes.
Passive solar energy uses the sun to meet a building’s energy needs through architectural design and materials.
Windows cover the south-facing wall of a house Hardy, who teaches a class at Huxley College of the Environment, built in Blaine. From floor to ceiling, two horizontal rows of windows direct the sun’s energy into the concrete wall across the living room and kitchen.
"Thermal mass — concrete — inside the house stores the heat," Hardy said. "The passive solar design reduces the heating bill by 70 percent. It is standard construction with a little more glass and a little more insulation."
Passive solar energy requires no extra equipment to use the sun’s energy. Active solar, however, uses a circulation system to convert solar radiation into usable energy for space heating, water heating or electricity.
Every appliance in Niles’ and Hardy’s homes is Energy Star rated. Energy Star is the Environmental Protection Agency’s rating system that labels appliances energy efficient.
For instance, washing machines that use 50 percent less energy than regular washers qualify for Energy Star.
According to Energy Star, the typical homeowner spends $1,400 a year on energy bills, but with Energy Star standards, savings can be up to 30 percent, approximately $420 per year.
"Energy efficiency — how much it’s going to cost in the long run — is more of a strategy," Lovato Niles said. One of the Energy Star rated appliances in the Nileses’ house is the furnace.
"The furnace is 90 percent energy efficient," Niles said.
A 90 percent efficient furnace is approximately 15 percent more efficient than a standard furnace, according to Energy Star
Size
Landreth’s house is 970 square feet plus a 350-square-foot loft. She tries to use this space as efficiently as possible. Beneath one side of the staircase is a desk; the other side is coat storage. The laundry room doubles as a pantry.
"For spaces that aren’t used, we’re wasting so much energy heating them," Landreth said. "It’s a fossil-fuel thing."
The Nileses’ house is 1,600 square feet plus a 400-square-foot apartment. The apartment is built in such a way that the Nileses could convert it to extra space for the family if necessary, but for now a renter lives there, Niles said.
On a path to sustainable building, a 5,000-square-foot house is not the answer, Jackson said.
Location
Americans spend more than 100 hours each year commuting to work, and Seattle residents have the 10th longest commute time in the nation — 24.8 minutes one way, according to the 2005 American Community Survey data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
"People need to really think about where they’re building their house," Niles said. "You buy five acres 20 miles out of town and you have to drive 15 minutes to get a pound of butter."
Niles built his house on an urban infill lot near Fairhaven. An infill lot is an empty piece of land within an urban area. The alternative is building on undeveloped land outside the city.
Living in the city allows Niles to walk to the grocery store and other businesses and ride his bike or take the bus to work, he said.
"We have had one car between the two of us for 14 years," Cheryl Lovato Niles said. "Being in a location to walk, you don’t have to bring 2 tons of steel with you to run an errand."
Landreth also said she chose the location of her new home carefully. She and her husband, Rick Dubrow, the president of A-1 Builders, picked an infill lot close to services and work.
"Look what (location) does to the environment," Landreth said. "Look what it does to your life."
Niles said the amount of recent publicity environmentally friendly homebuilding has received is encouraging.
"Green building is growing — not just in my work, but in the popular press," Niles said. "From food to building, people are talking about environmental impacts."
Twenty years ago, people didn’t think about building with the environment in mind, but now people are more conscious of it, Niles said.
"What green building is all about is being comprehensive — the process of building and maintaining it in the long term," Jackson said.