Greening

Homes… without leaving homeowners

feeling Blue

Green Building Report Card

Grade• Prerequisites A • Site A• Water A• Materials B• Indoor Air Quality F• Energy: Comfort Systems D• Energy: Building Envelope A• Energy: Appliances, Lighting, and Renewables A

Student Carolina West

Recent missteps in Greening:

Case #1“Sick from mold”

Issue:A young couple suffers from overpowering moldy odor

inside 1-year old Energy Star home.

Cause:Lack of control over humidity in rooms and in crawl

space.

Case #2“Mold Attack”

Issue:A family is creeped-out from Mold growing on

walls inside their 3-year old Green home.

Cause:Lack of control over humidity in rooms and continuous fresh air venting in a damp forest.

Case #3“Forecast Sunny…

with a chance of Suffocation”

Issue:A new, tight, Solar Energy Green home leaves

its occupants feeling uncomfortable inside their home as they are surrounded by a stale, stuffy mass of air.

Cause:Poor fresh air ventilation set-up.

Case #4“The Poison House”

Issue:A homeowner finds herself having to live in a tent outside due to

severe respiratory irritation when she steps inside her newly-constructed Green Home.

Cause:Chlorine off-gassing from unfortunate mix of: Foamed Cementitious Insulation Magnesium Oxide Board Outside humidity entering wall system Magnesium Chloride content No fresh air ventilation.

Case #5“Makeover madness”

Issue:A mother and her daughter suffer from respiratory irritation

while they remain inside their Green remodeled home.

Cause:Odors from a lack of control over humidity in the crawl

space and from the use of high VOC construction materials compelling the owner to run an ozone generator non-stop.

Case #6“To Air is Human”

Issue:A woman cannot escape the relentless heat as

she moves from room to room inside her 5-year old Green home.

Cause:Cooling air was not set up to circulate from room-

to-room .

Fact ! ...not fiction.

Lots of Green progress !

• Materials and construction• Local sourcing• Site protection and use• Energy use• Aesthetics• Water use

What’s still missing?• Health and comfort focus: Cooling comforts Air filtration Natural and Manufactured odors• Air management focus: Air circulation Humidity control• Maintenance focus: Maintenance program Occupant instruction

Allies not Aliens

Building, HVAC, Health and Environmental

pros

For conversation pullingHealth, Energy, Green Building issues

together

Contact :Indoor Environment Connections12339 Carroll Avenue,Rockville, MD 20852(301) 230-9606

www.ieconnections.com

Building Science & HVAC

For conversation pullingHVAC, Energy, Green Building issues

together

Contact :Energy Vanguard, LLC

(678) 662-4332 1924 Clairmont Rd, Suite 50, Decatur, GA 30033

www.energyvanguard.com

For local conversation pullingHealth, HVAC, Energy, Green Building

issues together

Contact : Rick Bayless

A Healthier Home330 Rambling Dr. Hendersonville, NC 28739(828) 243-5192

www.RickBaylessHealthyHome.com

Rick Bayless243-5192

A Healthier Home

A Dichotomy ?

X-BRAND

X-BRAND RULES !

GREEN HOME TOUR

One Visitor Comment:

“Sure are an awful lot of: • petroleum-based materials • materials obtained in ways that are anything but "green“• massively energy-inefficient layouts and design• materials sourced from hundreds and thousands of miles

away

But I guess if you tack on a couple rain barrels and solar panels you can call anything green.”