The Green Revolution

June 2007 Special Sections

A revolution is occurring in the remodeling industry—a green revolution. With environmentally savvy changes happening at both the remodeler and homeowner levels, it seems everyone wants to get in on the action. Fortunately for homeowners, regardless of whether it’s a partial remodel or a whole-house makeover they want, this doesn’t necessarily mean shelling out more green. But it does mean more than just adding ecofriendly products to the house.

Systems, Not Products
Michael Anschel, owner of Otogawa-Anschel Design and Build in Minneapolis, stresses that green remodeling has little to do with individual products. “It’s not about the product—it’s about the system,” he says. “Installing bamboo products in your home does not make your home green. Replacing your toilet does not make your home green. Replacing your windows does not make your home green, [although] some products have green attributes.”

There are many factors involved in labeling a home—or product—green. Take bamboo products, he says. Although they are sustainable—a key attribute of being green—most are manufactured in production plants that are not necessarily energy efficient. It is also shipped across an ocean, using a tremendous amount of fuel. So unless a builder or homeowner can find a local manufacturer who uses environmentally friendly production processes, bamboo products would probably not make it into the green category.

Adam C. Tills, a former designer and project manager for House of Dreams, a design-build company in Shoreview, says when doing a green remodel, he doesn’t use any products that have to be shipped more than 500 miles. “That the product comes from a distance of 500 miles or less is more important than whether it is manufactured in a green manner,” Tills says. The amount of fuel that can be conserved by buying locally outweighs the benefits of green manufacturing. “Everyone wants to be green, and there are a lot of misconceptions. I challenge suppliers who come in and say a product is green.” For instance, he says, he’ll ask a supplier who claims to have a green product where the product was manufactured. If the supplier tells him it was made in California and then shipped to the Twin Cities, he’ll tell them they are mistaken about it being green. Products might add to making a home green, but they don’t make a home green in and of themselves, and the building process is as important if not more so.

“If you take any part of the building process in isolation, you not only cease to be green, but you have the potential to cause a lot of damage,” Anschel says. For example, a remodeler could make a house air tight by sealing air leaks and attic bypasses, which would help reduce the home’s energy use, but if the remodeler then installs a product, such as new carpet, that emits VOCs (volatile organic compounds) throughout the house, the home ceases to be green. “The indoor air quality is now awful, and the home’s occupants may be getting sick” from the product out gassing (release of gas from products that contain VOCs), Anschel states.Keep It Small
Ali Awad, an architect with Awad and Koontz Architects Builders in Minneapolis, has been designing green remodels for smaller city homes since 1997. “New homes are so big,” Awad says. “There is so much material that goes into new houses.” He and his partner, Jim Koontz, are particularly concerned about not squandering resources when they tackle a green remodel, and that often means remodeling without adding more space.

Awad recently completed a green remodel of a St. Paul rambler. His goals were to bring more sunlight into the home and open up the slightly more than 1,000-square-foot rambler to make it feel larger. “Day lighting a home is a huge green strategy,” Awad says. Day lighting “lets the sun into the home so that in the daytime you don’t have to turn on the lights.” He added three south-facing windows to the home and replaced all the old windows with energy-efficient windows with low-emission coatings.

The low-emission coating helps reflect solar heat back into the home, which helps cut energy usage in winter without increasing the need for cooling in summer. In the winter, Awad explains the sun is so much lower in the sky that it shines more directly into the house, but in the summer the sun is higher. “In winter, you want the solar gain,” he says. Placement of permanent eaves can help deflect summer sunlight by acting like an awning, thus reducing the need for additional cooling.

Other strategies Awad and Koontz used in this home include reusing the hardwood floors; using pre-finished cabinets and trim to reduce out gassing of VOCs; using a composite wood trim, which is made up of wood by-product and is more durable, on the exterior to seal the new windows; and installing cedar shake panels, which contain less actual wood than cedar shakes.

Recycle, Reuse
Tills helped design the first certified green remodel in the Twin Cities. As a member of the Madison Builders Association, he was able to certify the Arden Hills remodel as green through Wisconsin’s Green Built Home program. The project, completed in early 2006, included a full kitchen remodel and a renovation of the hallway and entryway. Tills’ focus was fivefold: reduce waste and recycle what waste resulted, use durable products, reduce the home’s energy draw, ensure indoor air quality, and source local products produced in an environmentally friendly manner.

Product durability is a big part of waste reduction. The more durable a product is, the longer its life span, and the more likely it is to be recycled and reused by the current homeowner, another homeowner, or a recycling company, says Tills. Waste, however, is a fact of life and of building, so Tills looks for a dumpster company that recycles 70 percent or more of the waste a project generates. He also uses craigslist.com and freemarket.com to give away salvaged, reusable materials.

A House of Dreams’ remodel in Shoreview included replacing all of the kitchen appliances with Energy Star appliances and a new energy-efficient heating system. Tills estimates that the homeowners are saving thirty to fifty dollars per month on their heating and air-conditioning costs compared to what they were paying prior to the remodel; but every remodel is different.

With new construction, installing energy-efficient appliances and heating and cooling systems is almost standard, so it’s easy to calculate the savings and payback period. But with remodels, the combination of energy-saving strategies differs with each home, based on its needs. “The payback comes quicker on bigger projects,” Tills says. “But in general, a homeowner can expect a payback period of three to six years. A new furnace alone might be eight to ten years, but add in other energy-reduction strategies, and payback is quicker.”

Anschel put a second story on a green remodel in which he removed the home’s old furnace and installed a high-efficiency furnace and heat pump. He also insulated with foam spray and put on a metal roof, which is very durable and can be recycled. He calculates the payback period on this home to be seven years. “We doubled the square footage, and the home is consuming less energy now than it did as a one-and-a-half-story home,” he says.

Whether a green remodel costs more than a conventional remodel is up for debate. Some remodelers say the cost of a green remodel is up to 6 percent higher, but Anschel doesn’t buy it. “You can’t just look at a green remodel and say it will cost 2 to 5 percent more than a conventional remodel,” he says. “[But] if remodeling is done well with decent materials, then the cost of remodeling green is the same, or possibly less, than a conventional remodel.”

Tills says the interest in green remodeling has soared from basically nothing a decade ago to up to 60 percent of the people he talks to today.

At this rate, “green remodeling will grow at an unbelievable rate over the next five to ten years.”