Thank you to Team Elmers, the Earth Shelter Project is in the running for an International Sustainable Building Award. Check this link out: http://ascribehq.com/greensite/awards/residential/oct2010/P5258
I see on the commercial side 1 World Trade Center-Freedom Tower is an entrant. I did not know about these awards, Team Elmers entered this project and it looks like we are in a group of incredible mainstream projects. What an honor.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Earth Shelter makes the nightly news up north
As I have decided to readjust my goals in 2010, the path is clear to where it is that I feel I need to go. Although the last 5 years of my life have been incredible, I never envisioned myself as a production builder who needed several projects going at once to feel successful. As I have written about in the past, my goal was always to build, to learn, and then to educate others on what I learned. That is why I chose to handle projects the way I did. Also, the Earth Shelter Project is large enough to equal building 5 homes at once, so I guess, my work load is similar to what it was before, but it feels good for a change to not have to drive all over Michigan to manage projects.
I led a team that built the most energy efficient home ever built in Michigan. Although it was a nice design on paper, the performance of that house was the result of team members at the sight who paid incredible attention to detail with regards to mechanical performance and air infiltration. Since the design was very similar to the Onekama house, I knew from the journals I kept that we needed to pay attention to specific areas of the home to try to get it 'tighter'. This seems like a waste of time, as the Onekama home was one of the tightest homes ever built at the time, but my goal was always to improve on everything that we did. The design of the home is very important, but I make sure when I teach and speak, that I mention that the performance of the home has a lot to do with variables and features that the architect doesn't have anything to do with. Examples of this are: site stewardship, recycling, air infiltration, mechanical systems, and the list is endless. Believe it or not, but the gas fireplace in Onekama was one of the differences between the two homes, any fireplace is a good way to leak air in or out of the home.
My point in all of these ramblings, is that the Earth Shelter Project is seen as a culmination of all of my research, work, and passions. Recently, a northern Michigan tv station requested time on site to do a story on the project. Before access was granted to them, I drilled the reporter about what the angle of the story was going to be. She was hinting at putting a doomsday twist on the story, at which point I denied her access to the site. Being on tv is cool and all, but contractors have an ethical responsibility to protect their homeowners on high profile projects. Proper presentation of key sustainable projects and safety is why proper news coverage is essential. We spent a week developing a different angle, which, I felt, it should have been since the beginning. Although the segment is short, it states things pretty well. As I say during the interview, I never had to think about housing for animals before (besides dogs and cats of course..i.e. dog showers, cat playgrounds). I had to research Scottish Highlander cows and their horn width so the stalls in the barn were big enough to handle these "critters".
See what you think, here is the link to the story from 9 and 10 news story: http://www.9and10news.com/Category/Story/?id=254130&cID=1
Thank you to all who continue to pay attention and support what I do. I am very happy with life and soon you may see me on your tv, shhh....
I led a team that built the most energy efficient home ever built in Michigan. Although it was a nice design on paper, the performance of that house was the result of team members at the sight who paid incredible attention to detail with regards to mechanical performance and air infiltration. Since the design was very similar to the Onekama house, I knew from the journals I kept that we needed to pay attention to specific areas of the home to try to get it 'tighter'. This seems like a waste of time, as the Onekama home was one of the tightest homes ever built at the time, but my goal was always to improve on everything that we did. The design of the home is very important, but I make sure when I teach and speak, that I mention that the performance of the home has a lot to do with variables and features that the architect doesn't have anything to do with. Examples of this are: site stewardship, recycling, air infiltration, mechanical systems, and the list is endless. Believe it or not, but the gas fireplace in Onekama was one of the differences between the two homes, any fireplace is a good way to leak air in or out of the home.
My point in all of these ramblings, is that the Earth Shelter Project is seen as a culmination of all of my research, work, and passions. Recently, a northern Michigan tv station requested time on site to do a story on the project. Before access was granted to them, I drilled the reporter about what the angle of the story was going to be. She was hinting at putting a doomsday twist on the story, at which point I denied her access to the site. Being on tv is cool and all, but contractors have an ethical responsibility to protect their homeowners on high profile projects. Proper presentation of key sustainable projects and safety is why proper news coverage is essential. We spent a week developing a different angle, which, I felt, it should have been since the beginning. Although the segment is short, it states things pretty well. As I say during the interview, I never had to think about housing for animals before (besides dogs and cats of course..i.e. dog showers, cat playgrounds). I had to research Scottish Highlander cows and their horn width so the stalls in the barn were big enough to handle these "critters".
See what you think, here is the link to the story from 9 and 10 news story: http://www.9and10news.com/Category/Story/?id=254130&cID=1
Thank you to all who continue to pay attention and support what I do. I am very happy with life and soon you may see me on your tv, shhh....
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