The New Southwest / Home tour features Tucson’s greenest

Home tour features Tucson’s greenest

By James Lawrence

Tucson Green Times – October 2009

Tucsonans best chance to see how green principles are being put to good use is coming Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 with the 14th Annual Tucson Innovative Home Tour and Tucson Solar Tour. These community events were organized to give everyone a chance to see exceptional examples of the latest advances in building better homes that cost less.

“There is a lot going on in green building now, with new advances coming thicker and faster than ever before,” says Paul Huddy, one of the event organizers.

The combined tours also will provide the public a first chance to see many of the top rated homes certified under the new national and local home rating systems this year.

The tour offers a view of more than 20 exceptional and award-winning homes, and opportunities to speak with the owners, designers, builders and others to discover many new ways to make your own home better, including a wide range of building systems such as rammed earth, straw bale, adobe, masonry, concrete, Insulated Concrete Forms (ICPs), Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs), and steel frame.

Many healthy-home and non-toxic materials have been used in the homes on tour, including low-VOC and indoor environmental measures plus many ways to save energy, water and other resources. Attendees will also see Xeriscape landscaping, native plants, low-water use designs, rainwater retention and harvesting, fruit and vegetable gardens, Permaculture and lots of other yard ideas – even chickens and ducks!

In addition, tour-goers will be able to see the first Earthship home to be built in the Tucson region, now under construction, as well as take a workshop in rammed earth construction  one of the top experts in the field, including observation of the process of forming rammed earth walls for a new home on that day.

A straw bale Bed and Breakfast will be open that shows how homes can be more beautiful, more comfortable, cost less to operate and fit in nicely with natural desert surroundings, and another residence that is one of the first home renovations to be LEED certified (Silver) in Pima County.

Homes and special highlights on the tour are carefully selected for exceptional features that offer ways to live better in the desert by fitting in with the processes of nature. The combined tour’s theme this year is “Ultra Green: Practical Sustainability for Better Living in the Desert.“ As in past years, most homes included in this event are new on the tour this year.

The Innovative Home Tour and Solar Tour have long been recognized as among the largest of their kind in the nation. Tucson is a recognized leader in green building and sustainability, and these events attract homeowners and professionals from all over Arizona and the U.S. and even from other countries.

Despite its national appeal, the tour is truly a “down home” event. “Green building is also about sustaining your personal finances, your health and well being, your lifestyle and much more,” says Huddy. “None of the owners of these homes and buildings set off to build a showboat: each of them made practical decisions about what green measures were the most useful to them for the price.”

One couple showing their home on the tour this year is a very experienced home design team. When they decided to build a new home for their growing family, they had the professional knowledge to be able to choose from among the best, most practical and cost-effective options available. The result is easily one of the most advanced sustainable and sustaining green homes in the Southwest, with lots of good ideas to see.

Another couple wanted to renovate their house for retirement and were most interested in making it healthy, non-allergenic, highly energy-efficient and low in maintenance. They ended up with a very green home, not from philosophy, but through very practical and economic choices.

The tour includes both new homes and renovated homes, so visitors can find lots of useful information whether they are interested in improving their present home, shopping for a new home, or planning and building a custom home.

Studies have shown that a new integrated and comprehensive approach to design and construction can result in savings to home owners as much as 50 percent of the total cost of home ownership for the first 30-year period of home ownership, and even higher after that. According to Huddy, “ that can be as high as one million dollars saved for some homeowners.”

Such an approach will be the subject of the Next Generation Home Seminar, another community educational event that occurs before the tours. Those taking the course can not only learn about new advances in home building, but also how they can be brought together to create a far better home that costs much less over the long term.

What makes these events even more special is that they are non-profit, non-commercial community events, organized by volunteers.  They are a public service of the Solar Institute in cooperation with many non-profit and professional organizations, educational institutions and governments, including the City of Tucson, Pima County, the State of Arizona and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Solar Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals, communities, corporations and others put sustainability and green advances to good use. The Tucson-based institute offers information, consulting and referral services in building science and a broad range of sustaining and sustainable means to make life in the built environment better by fitting in with the natural environment. For information, call 881-4772 or visit their website: www.solarinstitute.org.

Author: James Lawrence is a local freelance writer.

WHAT DO TO

For more information on either event, call 792-6578 or visit online: www.solarinstitute.org

Next Generation Home Seminar

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 31 – 8:30-10:30am

WHAT: “How to have a much better home at much lower cost.” Tucson’s officially recognized Next Generation Home Program presents the best unbiased, non-commercial information, advice and ideas from local experts for improving your home, remodeling, building and buying – plus an analysis of the real costs of home ownership and how you can reduce them by up to 50% and more.

HOW: Registration starting 8:00 a.m. The tour follows from 11am-5pm with tickets available at the seminar 10:30 a.m. – noon. The seminar is $10 per person, $5 with tour ticket. Bring a friend for $5. Cash only – please bring exact amount.

WHERE: Pima Community College’s Campus Center Auditorium (CC 180), 1255 N. Stone Ave., just north of Speedway. Lots of free parking. Enter at the main entrance.

Tucson Innovative Home Tour and Tucson Solar Tour

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 31 & Sunday, Nov. 1 – 11am-5 pm both days

WHAT: New advances for better homes and better living, with an emphasis on sustainability and fitting in with the natural environment. Choose from more than 20 exceptional, award-winning and nationally recognized homes, speak with the owners, designers and builders, and discover new ways to make your home much better and cost a lot less in this special non-profit, non-commercial community sharing of the latest advances in building, sponsored by dozens of nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and government jurisdictions.

HOW: Tickets for the tour are $10 per person. Bring a friend for $5. Cash only – please bring exact amount. Tickets are good for both days and available in advance at locations around Tucson, and at the Next Generation Home Seminar.

WHERE: City-wide and self-guided. There are different homes each day. Tickets include a printed tour guide with directions.

Pima County scores a first in nation for LEED

Tucson, Ariz. – Pima County’s pioneering Green Building Program broke new ground in a big way recently by becoming the first local government jurisdiction to become accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to certify residential buildings for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

LEED has become the major national rating system for green building. It started in 1998 as a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction of large buildings. A new rating system for homes was launched in 2008.

Prior to this, LEED certification was done by individuals and groups in private practice. Now, individuals can take a course in understanding the LEED rating system and then became accredited by the USGBC to use the system to rate buildings.

Advantages of accrediting a local code jurisdiction like Pima County for doing LEED certification are that all of these needs can be accomplished in one place at the same time, and it not only costs less, but a flat fee structure is used so the cost is known beforehand.

Pima County is currently one of only four LEED certification providers in the Southwest. The others are located in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Albuquerque. The City of Tucson is not currently accredited to do LEED certification.

USGBC leaders and others in the field advise that LEED, as with any rating system or set of standards, is a good start but not the be-all or end-all of creating a good sustainable building.

Information on the USGBC’s LEED for Homes program can be found online: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=147

Information on the Pima County Green Building Program can be found on its web site: www.PimaXpress.com/Green