The first two weekends in October just featured our local Homebuilders Association’s 41st annual Parade of Homes. In the parade, builders (and their clients) open up recent projects for public (or sometimes, in the COVID-19 era, virtual) touring, to show off their craftsmanship and design offerings.
Green building practices are often a prominent feature of the parade, as Western North Carolina has a set of builders truly skilled in and dedicated to green building (many are builder members of our organization.) We at GBA toured many of the homes, as our task–always a daunting one–is to give out a green building award to the home on the parade whose green building features really stood out.
It was tricky this year, as there were many innovative features on display (some non-professional photos snapped on a whirlwind tour are below, click on the link for each project to see the official parade renderings and photos):
- A living roof on a modern project built infill lot in Kenilworth, a project built by Steel Root Builders, is a beautiful and innovative way to reduce stormwater runoff from the site, affecting local pollution and nuisance flooding for the better (important considerations for urban lots!)
- An innovative humidity and air quality sensor system, provided by Panasonic and installed by builder member Red Tree Homes in a stunning clifftop project, automatically turns bath fans on and off based on humidity, and could be hooked up to the home’s fresh air system as well.
- Creative and beautiful material re-use was on display in member company LMT Homes’ custom designed bungalow, with re-used pallets featuring as an indoor wood accent feature, and re-used chunks of driveway concrete from the original site re-worked as patio flagstones.
- A beautiful home by WSM Craft featured hand-burnished metal siding and integrated LED lighting, providing energy efficient lights to the space without the use of recessed lighting, which often makes holes in the building envelope.
This year’s Green Home Award winner, however, was a custom project by Living Stone Design & Build–a company which certifies each home they build through Green Built Homes, EPA’s Energy Star for Homes, and EPA’s Indoor Air Plus certifications. Their winning project achieved Platinum Level certification through the Green Built Homes program, and using a combination of energy efficient building envelop details, geothermal heating and cooling, and a net positive solar array to achieve an impressive HERS score of -21.
