A better way to build
The sustainable design and green building movement is swelling in Birmingham. Up and down the building chain, architects, builders, landscape designers and homeowners are all focused on smarter ways to build high-performance houses and commercial spaces.
Sustainable Landscaping Strategies
Sustainable design doesn’t end at your four walls. Efficient approaches to your landscaping pay off as well. Dave Eyrich of Environmental Design Studio was the landscape architect for the Sistrunk Habitat for Humanity project. Here are some of his outdoor strategies:
- Reduce your overall amount of turf and replace it with native ground cover.
- Mulch your plants thoroughly with pine straw or pine bark.
- Monitor your irrigation system. After a year on the schedule, your established plants may not need as much water.
- Use native plants because they are used to our climate.
- Plant native shade trees, such as willow oaks. They help reduce water runoff and keep houses cooler in the summer.
- Harvest rain water in rain barrels. Double benefi t: Natural nutrients from the rain and savings on water utilities.
- Keep your leaves and clippings for composting, and use them as mulch.
- Use organic fertilizers, and reduce your use of chemicals.
Tanyeka Sistrunk did not research renewable energy resources before moving into her new home. Her adolescent sons, Kuron and Malik, didn’t attempt to install solar panels or tap into a geothermal well. What they did do was invest money and sweat equity into their Fairfield three bedroom, the first LEED-certifi ed Habitat for Humanity project in Birmingham. The architect, builder, subcontractors and landscape architect all bought in on the mission to reduce the home’s carbon footprint and make it as efficient as possible. Except for an insulated water heater that looks like something out of a submarine engine room, the house showcases no high-tech whistles or bells. Just tightly sealed joints and windows, regionally sourced materials, low-flow water faucets and hearty, native plants edging the exterior. The Sistrunk family’s immediate return? Lower utility bills and better indoor air quality.
If you believe sustainable design and green building translates to spaceship-shaped huts occupied by off-the- grid hippies, then you’ve missed the train. “You don’t have to live on a farm. You don’t have to compost all your trash,” says John Hudson, consulting architect on the Sistrunk House. “Just change your insulation. You only have to do one thing to have a long-term impact. ” The Sistrunks are real world—real Birmingham— beneficiaries of a full-force sustainable building movement that transcends politics and socioeconomics here in town. “ Green is not just for a certain income bracket,” Hudson says. “It involves everyone.”
Green on a National Scale
On a national level, the U.S. Green Building Council drives the movement. The Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that guides sustainable design and green building standards, developed the LEED certification system (“What is LEED?”) and serves as the go-to, umbrella resource for communities and businesses interested in sustainable building. “It’s the common ground for talking green,” says Hudson, who is also the chair of the Birmingham branch of the USGBC. “It is comprised of developers, attorneys, landscape architects, architects, contractors and activists all speaking the same language.” Skeptical about the movement? According to the USGBC, there will be 100,000 green buildings in the country by the end of 2010. In 2007, there were 10,000.
Where Birmingham Fits In
That growth produces real results, and not just in terms of environmental stewardship and energy conservation. A study by strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton concludes that green building will support nearly 8 million jobs and infuse the U.S. economy with $554 billion over the next four years. This is where James Smith, president and CEO of Green Building Focus, inserts Birmingham into the national conversation. “If we extrapolate from that statistic, how many of those jobs could potentially be in the Southeast?” he asks. His locally based, international media company publishes journals on sustainable building and construction. He continues his rhetorical challenge: “How many of those jobs could potentially be in Birmingham? I believe our city is poised to become the focal point of sustainable manufacturing in the region.” He contends that because the Southeast is the furthest behind in the U.S. with regards to sustainable building construction, it is also primed to benefit from the projected green building boon. To crystallize his case, he says Birmingham makes perfect sense as a hub because of its location (a 500-mile radius of the city reaches multiple markets); its rail, road and water infrastructure; plentiful urban land for development; and its progressive architectural environment. “Birmingham has the ability to leap-frog every other city in the Southeast.”
He rifles through his argument with an unwavering, laser-sharp concentration. Though he grew up in South Africa, James sells Birmingham like he’s a proud native. That’s why he headquartered his company here. And that’s why, for the second year in a row, he’ll host the Green Building Focus Conference at the BJCC in August. The field’s leading experts will be speaking, and 300 exhibitors from all over the world will be manning booths.
Bringing it Back Home
Even after factoring in theoretical musings and projected statistics, there still must be a practical application for sustainability. One has to see an investment return that makes sense. “We try to expose clients to holistic decision-making,” says Marshall Anderson of Design Initiative. “It’s not just about environmental stewardship. You’ve got to consider the inner relationship of the environment, people and economics. It’s called the triple bottom line.”
Adam and Katherine Thrower moved into their house behind Mountain Brook Village (Read the feature from November’s Birmingham magazine) a little more than a year ago. It was a new construction project, and they hired Anderson and his business partner Kris Nikolich as the architects. Adam is a builder, and he had worked on a LEED project here in town, so he had formulated ideas about incorporating sustainable strategies into the design of his house.
But he was not seeking LEED certification. “This house was where real life merged with sustainable ideas,” Thrower says. He developed a hierarchy for making building decisions: air quality, energy effi ciency and sustainability. For example, he wanted to seal his house as tightly as possible to capitalize on energy efficiency. But a sealed house would also trap more carbon dioxide inside. So he incorporated mechanical fans to pull in fresh air. “We sacrificed energy efficiency for better air quality,” he says. “That just meant more to us. We had to make decisions that capitalized on what was best for everyone involved.”
No matter the motivation, sustainable is sustainable. “If you can live in a house that has good air quality, better views and an AC that’s not humming all the time, it’s actually a good quality-of-life decision,” Anderson says. “People are becoming more and more aware of that.”
What is LEED?
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an internationally recognized system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council for measuring energy savings, improved indoor air quality, water effi ciency, responsible resource use and the reduction of CO2 emissions. LEEDcertifi ed structures have met requirements and passed inspection by a third-party LEEDaccredited professional. For more information, go to usgbc.org.
