MoreCherokee, a leading investor in the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields, conceived the project as a way to encourage mainstreaming of sustainable homebuilding practices nationwide. The Mainstream GreenHome is intended to show that sustainable construction is compatible with conventional building and design practices.
"Thanks to the contributions of nearly 100 project partners, such as TRC, the construction of the GreenHome is complete," said Tom Darden, CEO of Cherokee. "The result of these efforts is one of the greenest new homes in America that serves as an educational platform for Cherokee and developers and builders across the nation."
The Mainstream GreenHome has received a tremendous amount of recognition recently as one of the greenest homes in the nation. It received one of the best scores ever in ENERGY STAR's Home Efficiency Rating System. In addition, it was announced at the ribbon-cutting event that the home is certified as the highest rated green residence in the history of the State of North Carolina's green building program, NC Healthy Built Homes. The home has received the first ever Gold certificate through the Green Building Initiative, which is led by the Home Builders Associations representing North Carolina's Triangle region. It is also the first in the nation known to be built in a typical subdivision under National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Model Green Home Building Guidelines.
From beautiful hardwood floors built of logs reclaimed from a riverbed to the ground source heat pump that moves heat between the fluid in the earth connection and the building, the home utilizes a range of innovations to minimize impact on the environment without sacrificing comfort. As a result, the home has exceeded its target sustainability goals.
The Mainstream GreenHome:
- Uses 50 percent less fossil fuel than the conventional home
- Consumes 50 percent less water than the conventional home
- Retains 95 percent of all storm water on site for reuse
- Utilizes 95 percent of all interior products (paint, carpet, adhesives) with little or no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
- Creates an abundant wildlife habitat with significant edible landscaping
"The Mainstream GreenHome is exceptional because of the dozens of innovative products and systems it features, all of which exemplify the tremendous technological progress being made in the field," said Dana Bres, of the Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) program. "Green is ready for the mainstream, and Cherokee is a great leader and advocate to help take it there."
Now that it is completed, the Mainstream GreenHome will serve as a living laboratory. The performance of the home will be monitored, analyzed and published on an ongoing basis. Lessons learned from the project will be shared with builders, developers, architects, investors, specifiers, designers and students nationwide.
For more information about the Mainstream GreenHome please visit: www.MainstreamGreenHome.com.
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