You might not necessarily think of a builder or an architect as being a friend of the environment, but Lake Orion’s John Wiegand and Bob Prud’homme of Ferndale are the exceptions.
The two recently joined their talents to create an energy efficient 3,150 square foot home in Birmingham, which should be finished in the fall. For their efforts, they were recently rewarded with an $8,000 Energy Star Home Grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. Wiegand is the owner of J.W. Building, Inc. of Lake Orion.
‘Bob has been involved with green building for some time, and I was invited by him to take part in this,? said Wiegand, who is currently working on the renovation of Karl’s Place Cafe on Baldwin Road. ‘It’s something I’ve never done before.?
Wiegand said he has been focused mostly on custom residential building, and is currently working on a condominium development on Maybee Road called Blackberry Estates, where he is trying to employ some of the ideals of ‘green building.?
‘We went to great expense not to take down all the trees,? he said. ‘Rather than cut the trees to build houses, we are transporting the trees to other areas. I’ve had an interest in this for a number of years, but there’s a lot I don’t know about green building. It sounded like a good idea.?
Prud’homme, who was a builder before he became an architect, said the idea behind green or sustainable building is meeting current needs without taking from the needs of future generations.
‘We try to employ that in everything we do,? he said of his company. ‘I call it the five ‘R? principles: Reduce, reuse, recycle, respect and restore.
‘There’s too much that’s been wasted,? Prud’homme said. ‘I believe everything we use is a loan, it’s a gift. You have to look beyond the current purchase, and ask what will the lifecycle be, will this become hazardous material??
To make the home in Birmingham, which has been there since 1973, more environmentally friendly, Prud’homme and Wiegand put in a two-kilowatt building integrated Photovoltaic Solar Roof System, spray foam insulation product using oil from soybeans, and ecological landscaping featuring an on-site water conservation system and plant materials that require less energy inputs to maintain.
Work on the home is being monitored in time lapse images by a video camera mounted to a neighboring home’s roof. The images can be viewed at thisgreenhome.com or thisgreenhome.org.
The project is also going to be the pilot episode of a 13-week series on Reusing Michigan, airing on Detroit Public Television, by documentary filmmaker Chris Cook. Prud’homme said the series should begin airing next January or February.
‘When you are green building, the forest is treated with respect, it’s not clear cut,? he said, adding that more environmentally friendly concrete is also used, and less of it.
‘We don’t use anymore than we have to,? he said. ‘We use trees as filtration systems and temperature mitigator. There are really only three weeks out of the year, if a house is done well, where you need air conditioning.?
For the Birmingham home, Prud’homme said they were able to get the AC unit down to a four-ton system.
‘That’s almost half of what a house this size would normally need,? he said. ‘We can’t continue to develop the way we are. Someone has to maintain that down the road…I won’t be here forever.?
Prud’homme said homes consume 70 percent of the energy in the United States, with detached houses being the main culprits.
‘We took three bedrooms off the back of the home (in Birmingham), and we reused that…everything we could reuse, we did,? he said. ‘There’s five and a half tons of wood waste sent to the landfill from a typical house.?
Prud’homme said he knew he would need to work with an ‘unusual? builder for the project, and a friend introduced him to Wiegand. Prud’homme then visited several banks to try to secure a loan for the project, which will cost between $825,000 and $875,000.
‘The Energy Star Grant was mentioned by one of the banks,? Prud’homme said. ‘We didn’t intend to get it…they give five away every year. It’s typically for smaller, more affordable houses. Ours is about 1,000 more square feet than they are used to, but although it’s bigger, we’re using less energy than a smaller home.?
Prud’homme said city officials in Birmingham have been open to the project.
‘City officials are used to seeing buildings built in a certain way,? he said. ‘I’ve been pleased with their reactions.?
Any aspect of the old home that was not used in the renovation, such as the old air conditioning system, has been donated to organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Prud’homme said.
‘We gave that stuff away instead of hauling it to the landfill,? he said. ‘This is about rethinking how we reutilize the resources available to us. It’s not about one stand alone project. It’s about shifting the way we think and build.?