Rick Martinez
Habitat for Humanity of Kent County is making a bid
to be the first of the affiliates in Michigan to build a Habitat
net-zero energy home that is designed to generate as much energy as its
household consumes.
The home proposed for the 300 block of
Freyling Place SE is to feature passive solar heating and hot water,
thermal mass, a wind turbine and "a tight envelope" with natural
ventilation, says Chris Hall, Habitat's construction operations
director. "Hopefully, we can influence the next generation of building,
period, and not just Habitat homes."
It is the centerpiece of the
Wealthy Heights Partnership Project. The 14-home effort, expected to be
completed by November 2011, is the latest by the non-profit, which is
collaborating with a dozen non-profits and governmental agencies on the
effort.
Habitat, a Christian-based organization focused on
building affordable housing in partnership with people in need, plans to
gut, rehab and historically preserve four homes ranging from 900 to
1,700 square feet and build seven new 1,200-square-foot, single-story
homes in Wealthy Heights' Eastown.
The Dwelling Place Inc., a non-profit focused on
affordable housing, supportive services and urban revitalization, plans
to build three new homes in the working-class neighborhood dating to the
1840s.
The project on Freyling, Donald, Robey and Visser places
SE north of Wealthy also includes a weatherization program targeting up
to 30 other nearby homes, a mix of working-class single-family and
duplexes. In addition, the City of Grand Rapids is planning two
one-block connector streets, linking Robey with Freyling and Donald.
Expectations
are the homes will only cost slightly more than typical to build, says
Mary Buikema, Habitat's executive director.
Habitat is partnering
with the
Ferris State University Energy Center,
Grand Rapids Community College's Tassell M-TEC and
Grand Rapids Public Schools' Academy of Design &
Construction to make the project a learning laboratory. The
non-profit rehabs homes in addition to building anew.
Several
departments from Ferris State, which this fall offers a bachelor's
degree in energy systems engineering, will be involved in the homes'
design and study their energy usage. The project will provide 127 GRCC
students green-building and deconstruction opportunities.
"We
have a huge opportunity to learn and validate the energy-efficiency in
these homes," says Arn McIntyre, Energy Center coordinator. "We need to
learn how to do these things practically on house, after house, after
house."
Carol Moore, a neighborhood resident for 32 years, is
excited about preserving existing homes. Kathryn "K.C." Caliendo,
East Hills Council of Neighbors neighborhood
organizer, says the effort continues 30 years of revival in the area.
For
the past three years, all new Habitat homes in Kent and eastern Ottawa
counties have been certified Leadership in Energy & Environmental
Design (LEED), Buikema says. Habitat has built and rehabbed nearly 30
homes over the past year and about 300 since its 1983 founding, Hall
says.