SITE LOCATION, LINKAGES AND SUSTAINABILITY

Brownfield Remediation: This site was a contaminated parcel that sat vacant more then 25 years within the fabric of a city neighborhood. Extensive environmental testing and hazardous waste remediation were completed, in partnership with the City of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, to return the parcel to productive use.

Urban Infill:  This green home is imbedded within the Historic Walker’s Point Neighborhood, enabling connections to existing City of Milwaukee infrastructure and access to extensive community resources.  The project also enhances the density and compact development of the area by incorporating a second housing unit above the detached garage.

Outdoor water use:

The coach house has been designed to phase-in a green roof system.  A green roof includes high quality water proofing and root repellant, drainage, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium and plants.  Green roof technologies provide better rainwater management, and better insulation for more efficient heating and cooling of the structure.  

Recyclable, standing seem galvalume steel serves as the roofing material on the main home. Besides lasting as much as 4 times as long as an asphalt roof, steel releases its heat faster in the summer, reducing cooling costs, and allows for rainwater harvesting without the granules and petroleum that washes off asphalt. Harvested rainwater will be managed through an integrated natural garden irrigation system, including rain barrels, rain gardens and native plantings to retain all of the rainwater on the site.

Indoor water use:

Dual-flush toilets, long popular in Australia, Western Europe, and East Asia, offer two flush options: a standard flush for solid wastes and a lower-volume flush for liquid wastes and paper. The Toto Aquia toilets in this green home use 1.6 gallons at the full flush and 0.9 gallons at the low flush. A typical family of four will save approximately 7,000 gallons of water per year with this toilet, compared with a standard 1.6 gallon-per-flush toilet.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Size:   This green home includes approximately 1,700 square feet and utilizes an efficient floor plate design, minimizing hallways and other less productive spaces.  Smaller homes use fewer resources during construction and operation.

Panelized Construction:  By constructing most of the home’s basic framing in a factory, components could be cut exactly to size, eliminating construction waste through more efficient production.

Reclaimed / Recycled Materials:

Tons of construction waste is landfilled every day in cities across the country.   The owners, through simply talking with contractors on the job, were able to identify maple flooring being discarded from a warehouse redevelopment underway in an adjacent neighborhood. They  reclaimed the floor and it has been refinished and finds new life in the home.

Additional materials include:  reclaimed timber wood breakfast bar in kitchen; recycled plastic decking material; recycled tile made from industrial waste from the manufacture of luxury tiles and found in the bathrooms; and, recycled denim insulation found in the interior wall cavities to improve energy efficiency and provide sound dampening qualities.

Sustainable Materials:

Floor surfaces not covered by reclaimed materials are covered with cork flooring, a renewable resource with insulating and sound dampening qualities.

Bio-based soy insulation is also used in all exterior wall cavities providing superior insulation by eliminating air infiltration.  The product is made from rapidly renewable soy and reduces overall energy loads.

Non-Toxic Materials:  Non-toxic paints, adhesives and sealants (low or no VOC- Volatile Organic Compounds) are used throughout the house. Additionally, PEX plastic plumbing is used to capture its completely non-toxic formulation free of harmful lead, copper and other minerals. Economic benefits also accrue from its durability resulting from no joints behind the walls and guarantee not to corrode or erode. PEX is quiet, virtually maintenance free, and competitively priced.

Durability:  The home exterior is almost entirely brick and metal, creating a durable, long-lasting shell that requires little maintenance.

ENERGY AND ATMOSPHERE

Geoexchange System: Geoexchange systems provide heating and cooling at efficiencies that are far better than most systems by using the nearly constant temperature of the earth's mass as a heat source in winter and a heat sink in summer. The main home uses a closed, horizontal loop of tubing placed at 6 feet below ground surface level and infused with a refrigerant to transfer heat year-round without use of any fossil fuels. Compared to traditional heating and cooling, geothermal systems cut energy bills dramatically, cut greenhouse gas emissions, drastically reduce the cost of hot water and maintenance costs while increasing year-round comfort. Upfront costs are about twice that of traditional systems, but can be recouped through annual savings early in the life of a home. Soil removal from the site necessitated by environmental remediation made this approach economically feasible. Also, a slightly larger than typical urban lot-size allowed sufficient surface area for a horizontal loop system.

Integrated Energy and Atmosphere System:  The home uses ceiling fans combined with bathroom and kitchen vents to improve indoor air quality while the fans also facilitate more cost effective cooling.  Extensive windows are technologically designed to maximize heat gain in winter and sun reflection in summer.  Windows also provide for substantial daylighting, eliminating most need for electrical lighting.  LED lighting provides an added light source in the house.  LED lights are substantially more efficient than even compact fluorescent light bulbs, using approximately 5 watts per bulb as compared to a 75-watt incandescent bulb and lasting nearly 25 years.  Energy star appliances are also incorporated throughout the house to minimize energy use.