I live in Cleveland. Although I am not a big sports fan, you have to be living under a rock not to know that the Cavaliers are a big deal. A REALLY big deal. I get it. I even watched last night’s game. I am rooting for them to win. Cleveland can use this boost to the local economy. Last night a few of us kicked back at the Tremont Tap House for beers and to watch the game. Thursday night, and the place was packed. The more it looked like we would win, the more beers people were ordering. It was great seeing people enjoy themselves and spend a little of the cash that they have been hording away in case of complete economic meltdown. I am holding out that they will make it to the championships. The civic pride we will see will be eclipsed by the economic benefit to our city. So last night, we led, we fell behind, we made mistakes, we triumphed. It was thrilling. What was even better was the event we attended before the game.
We had a local affiliate here called the Cleveland Green Building Coalition. It was an affiliate of the United States Green Building Council. A few short months ago, Michelle Kilroy took over the reins of the operation. The changes have been astounding. It became a full chapter member of the USGBC. The name changed. The newly relaunched NEO Chapter of the USGBC has updated their website. It is clean and easy to read. The programming has gotten much better, too. Last night was a networking and panel discussion at CSU’s historic Parker Hannifin Hall. The updating and restoration of this historic mansion is a sustainable project and nothing short of amazing. Considering our love of historic preservation blending with green design, it was a thrill for me to see it.
The topic of the evening was Residential Initiatives in Green Building. If you have read my posts about the Green Cottages, then you know how exciting I find the future of green residential building to be. There were three speakers for the evening. Jim Ptacek of Larsen Architects and Marge Misak of Cuyahoga Community Land Trust got down to the nitty-gritty of building the first green cottage home. Since their bent was making not just a green home, but a green affordable home, we got to hear more about the financial challenges. We were also treated to more specific information as to the homes construction. Learning how some things were cut due to budgetary constraints, while others were left in due to importance was fascinating. I have always said that “green” is not black and white, it is a matter of scale. Bamboo is a renewable resource, but if it comes from China, then how green can it be? If a house is carbon neutral and free to heat, but costs so much that only Donald Trump can afford it, is it really a viable product? It was a great discussion.
The evening was lead off by Kevin Dreyfuss-Wells of City Architecture. This was a more personal discussion, as Mr Dreyfuss-Wells built a sustainable home for himself. He let us know about some of the green features of his home, like the bioswale and cistern for capturing rainwater on site. The engineering of the home is pretty damn cool, as there is little heating or cooling involved. The home was built to take advantage of the position of the sun to heat the home passively in winter. They made use of the natural beauty of the building materials to reduce finishes in the home. It sits near the border of Cleveland and Shaker Heights, and fits seamlessly into the neighborhood. In fact, both projects went to great lengths to look like they belonged, while retaining their own personality.
One thing that both remarked on was the tight use of the footprint. Over the years, we as Americans have grown to love our idea of taking up as much space as possible and using whatever resources we want. These homes are fine examples of tight floor plans that make great use of space, while providing exceptional living environments. The crowd was small enough to allow for great interaction both during and after the presentations. The attendees were thoughtful and asked excellent questions. Besides the great information, the food was excellent and there was ample time to meet and network. So while the game was good, this part of the evening was better. If this is any indication of the quality of speakers and events that the NEO Chapter is going to host, then it is shaping up to be a great year! Be sure to look at their calendar for upcoming events. I am looking forward to hearing Bill Doty talk about the Big Met Clubhouse. He is so interesting and a true leader for the green building movement in NE Ohio. I found him fascinating when he gave us a tour of his offices. Afterward, I will head down to Pickwick and Frolic for a networking event-come join me!
Tags: Cleveland, conservation, Events, Green and Sustainable Design
Kevin’s first house in Tremont, though not as energy-efficient, was an intelligently designed, nicely detailed, charming, comfortable small house, so I’m not surprised the new one works so well. I hope more and more residential architects and builders will follow his example.
Sustainable new housing is important, but the real frontier in Cleveland is renewing the embodied energy in our existing housing stock. It would take 75 years for a high-efficiency house to recapture the embodied energy value of one typical 1900s Cleveland Colonial with no energy efficiency upgrades. Moreover, although building systems have improved, many of the materials in older houses cannot be replaced – like the old-growth structural lumber.
The urgent challenge is developing retrofit and financing options that work for the average resident. NEO would reap nonexportable jobs and energy dollars redirected to the local economy – bringing increased tax revenue. Fuel subsidies to low-income residents would decrease, family stability would benefit. There simply is no downside.
I agree whole heartedly. One of the reasons we are doing a retrofit for our offices is that we are firm believers in preserving the surprisingly well made historic property. The greenest building is the one that you do not have to build. Part of the plan for us is to blog the progress of this project to encourage others to retrofit rather than demolish and rebuild.