Anthony Aebi, president of Greenhill Contracting, is directing his crew where to put the low-flow toilets in two houses nearing completion in a wooded site in the town of Esopus. The buildings are attractive, with capacious front porches, classic gables and plentiful windows, and they are among the handful of residential buildings in New York state that will be certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the highly regarded point system established by the U.S. Green Building Council for energy conserving, environmentally responsible buildings.
Each house faces the sun, with a 15-kilowatt or 10kW photovoltaic system installed on the roof, and each has a geothermal well system with a heat pump for cooling and heating, precluding the need for fossil fuels. Underneath the cement Hardie Board (which resembles wood siding) is an airtight shell constructed of insulated concrete forms, which have a concrete barrier and two layers of insulation. The triple-glazed windows are the most energy efficient you can buy.
The wooded setting ”“ the houses are being sold with ample acreage ”“ and terraced stonework add to the green appeal. The price tag: $1.05 million.
One wonders: Does building green have to cost so much? Is it only the rich who can afford to live green ”“ and is having a miniscule heating bill ironically a luxury to be enjoyed only by the few that can afford the huge upfront investment?
Granted, the size and location of the houses alone put them in the upper bracket. Aebi, who is building the houses on spec, said if he were doing it again, he”™d have done them smaller. His new project, in fact, is a green subdivision in New Paltz with houses sized at a more modest 2,400 square feet. Brad Will, principal at Kingston-based Ashokan Architecture, which is designing the Esopus and New Paltz houses, said the smaller houses will have the same features, along with countertops made of recycled newspaper, bamboo and cork floors, and kitchen cabinets made of wheat board. They”™ll be in the $500,000 range.
By any measure, most new real estate still isn”™t cheap in the Hudson Valley. Still, after figuring in state and federal tax incentives and rebates, the photovoltaic (PV) and geothermal systems of each of the Esopus houses boosts the cost by $100,000.
As the green building movement shifts into the main stream, however, many green architects and builders are challenging themselves to build green affordably. They”™re saying it can be done, once you eliminate the expensive PV and geothermal systems. Will, who is an accredited LEED architect ”“ his firm also recently completed dormitories at Bard College in Annandale on Hudson  that will be certified LEED ”“ said constructing to a LEED silver or gold rating costs an extra 2 percent to 5 percent above conventional construction. The higher-rated platinum standard is 5 percent to 10 percent more.
Â
“Green building at its best is about smart design,” said Melissa Everett, executive director at Sustainable Hudson Valley, a nonprofit organization working with various stakeholders for a greener environment and stronger communities. “It”™s about being very deliberate and careful of a building”™s footprint on the land, using efficient appliances, and using high-efficiency, low-toxicity, locally sourced materials.”
Will said that green design elements of the New Paltz project include maximizing the space efficiency of the envelope by building high-pitched roofs and adding dormer windows to bring in natural light. Porches will help ventilate the house in summer. The buildings will be carefully sited, taking into account the amount of sunlight and also the prevailing winds and terrain.
Malcarne Contracting, based in Staatsburgh, is an Energy Star builder, meaning any new building the firm constructs is 30 percent more efficient than a house built to code and all of the appliances, windows and doors meet a minimum standard of efficiency. President Joseph Malcarne said building green is complex: It”™s a matter of “assessing different products, their life cycle and impact on the environment.” By this measure, a new roofing material that”™s twice as environmentally friendly as asphalt shingles and lasts 15 years would actually rate less green than asphalt shingles, which hold up for 70 years.
Malcarne added that improving a home”™s energy efficiency is within reach of anyone. For existing houses, air sealing the building by insulating the attic to be airtight is the most cost-efficient way to save on heating bills. This costs from $3,000 to $4,000 and results in a 20 percent to 30 percent reduction in energy bills, which is a better return on investment than replacing 30 windows with energy-efficient ones for $15,000, which only results in a 3 percent reduction in bills, he said. Another low-cost way to reduce energy usage is replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones, he noted.
Erin Nunes Cooper, LEED-accredited architect and product manager at Amenta/Emma Architects, based in Hartford, said her firm completed a green renovation and expansion of the Annie Fisher Magnet School in Hartford for no extra cost. “We used a light-colored reflective roof, added insulation to the exterior envelope and replaced the glazing with insulated low-E glass,” she said, noting that flooding the interior with natural light was a key energy-saving design element.
When there are cost increases, they”™re usually limited to 1 percent to 2 percent, with the payback on utility savings occurring in a few years, Cooper said. Natural carpets and paints that emit very low toxic chemical gasses have come down in price. The labor or installation costs are lower, since workers don”™t have to break as much for fresh air, said Cooper.
Cooper said that partly because LEED certification involved so many aspects of a building, her firm has made a commitment for all of its 23 architects to receive LEED training and become accredited, with six having achieved it so far. Concern about the impact of the built environment on climate change is the prime motivation, she said. “We have made a professional resolve to design buildings in a more energy-efficient manner. It is an economic and marketing decision as well. It just aligned.”
Â
Rick Alfandre, president of Alfandre Architecture, based in New Paltz, who is also LEED accredited, takes a holistic view. “The statistics are pretty staggering about how much energy buildings consume,” he said. “Climate change issues, water shortage issues, and all kinds of health issues need to be considered. When you look at the whole spectrum, from the design through the construction through the operations, the more you optimize buildings to be environmentally responsible, the healthier our world will be. Green is not just about saving energy or recycling components, it”™s about making buildings that are enhancing people”™s health and well-being.”
Speculative developers have been slow to get on the bandwagon because “they”™re in a very competitive market and it”™s hard for them to justify increased expenses,” said Alfandre. However, he noted banks are beginning to understand the concept of green mortgages and the logic of lending more money upfront in return for a higher assessment down the road.
Like his colleagues, Alfandre noted that building green doesn”™t have to cost more if one takes the common-sense step of locating living spaces along southern exposures and service spaces to the north, building overhangs for shade, and intelligent landscaping: evergreens for windbreaks and deciduous trees for summer shade and winter sun.
Alfandre”™s firm is doing several green buildings across a variety of sectors, each posing a different energy challenge: the Emerson Resort & Spa, which it completed earlier this year; a combination medical office-manufacturing facility in Middletown; a church in New Windsor (which entails designing for peak demand periods); and, perhaps most challenging of all, rehab of a low-income housing project in Beacon.
Due to the very limited budget, Alfandre conceded he will be putting the vinyl siding back up on the 190 Beacon units. However, the steps his firm is taking to make the buildings more sound and energy efficient are probably the most significant of any project, given the number of people who are affected: making sure the plumbing and gutters drain to keep water out and away from the walls, putting in energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and appliances, installing compact fluorescent lighting and low-flow toilets and shower heads, and adding a new playground and more attractive landscaping.
New York City-based Jonathan Rose Cos. has built green projects not just in the wealthy enclaves of Nantucket and the Hamptons, but also in poor areas of the Bronx and Elizabeth, N. J., recasting green building as a practice that relates to building a better society while helping the environment.
Hence the most significant aspect of Rose Cos.”™ new mixed-use development proposed for Stamford, consisting of an office tower and three apartment buildings, built in partnership with developer W&M Properties, is its location across the street from the train station. Bike lanes and pedestrian paths will be constructed to further discourage use of cars, and a large affordable-housing component, along with units selling at market rates, will ensure a mixed population.
The siting of the 240 units in Stamford ”“ 50 of them affordably priced ”“ is also a bit unusual. “This is very dense housing surrounding an open courtyard over an acre in size,” said Kovel. “The message we”™re delivering is that density can go hand in hand with better access to green. From a social, cultural and economic sense of mission, it”™s good to deliver this quality” across the income spectrum.
She noted the firm”™s decision to build green is not targeted to taking advantage of government incentives or utility rebates. Doing it affordably is a matter of “being smart where you locate and how you orient the buildings. A third of the things you can do to show LEED points in the new construction category are low or no extra cost.”
Â
