Help Holy Cross: The Holy Cross Project: It’s All in the Details

IMAGES: Global Green and workshop/apd

Last post for now on Global Green’s Holy Cross Project. I’ll provide updates as available. Be sure to keep an eye on Global Green’s The Holy Cross Project Web site, too. This past week, neighborhood residents, the media and viewers of the Today Show got a chance to see first hand some of the green products and materials that make up the first single-family house under construction.

Each home is projected to save its owner $1200 to $2400 a year in utility bills. Using advanced monitoring systems in the home, they can track their energy and resource consumption real time. Thanks to solar panels, high performance building envelopes, HVAC systems, geothermal and a variety of energy efficient appliances, Holy Cross Project buildings will use at least 75% less energy than conventionally designed/constructed structures. Global Green is also exploring the possibilities of additional power through the use of river turbines in the adjacent Mississippi River only a few yards away.

Among the energy products and materials on display:

Solar Panels: Evergreen Solar® ES-190 solar panels, to be installed on every roof of the project – and covering nearly 100% of the electricity needs of each house.

FSC Wood and Bluwood®: The framing wood is entirely Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. It’s 'blue' because of a proprietary Bluwood non-toxic borate treatment that protects against mold, fungus and reduces the need to use toxic pesticides to frequently spray homes for termites.

Soy-Based Foam Insulation: An agricultural-based product that requires fewer natural resources to manufacture.

Wheat Board: Agricultural Fiber Board (particle board) is comparable to plywood and is used in millwork, furniture and flooring. Wheat board is an agricultural by-product otherwise sent to a landfill or incinerator, and is glued with toxic-free resins.

IMAGES: D.I.R.T Studio

Site remediation and preparation was also critical for the Project. Although its location next to the river is the highest in Lower Nine, post-Katrina flooding still left a toxic soup of chemicals in the ground. D.I.R.T Studio of Charlottesville, Virginia was invited to join the project team, contributing expert master planning, site and landscape design.

Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. (which stands for Design Investigations Reclaiming Terrain) offers her landscape design statement:

“The immediate physical regeneration of the project site could telegraph positive and proactive intentions for the overall Global Green initiative. Visible care in treating the soils could demonstrate a sustainable means to prepare the neighborhood’s rebuilding, from the ground up.”

And finally, Global Green has teamed up with Yahoo on a “Virtual House” that highlights the green design, material, product choices in play for the Holy Cross homes – as well as a variety of interactive tips for greening your home. Pretty cool.