Welcome to the Kentucky Chapter Site
Welcome to the Kentucky Chapter of the US Green Building Council
Greetings! Look here for an update on the status of sustainable design, construction and operation of buildings in the Commonwealth.
With this website, we intend to inform you of progress on our mission "to create a positive impact on the regions built environment by accelerating the knowledge and acceptance of green building practices, technologies, policies and standards".
It's an exciting time for us! The USGBC Kentucky Chapter received it's 501c3 Non-profit status late last fall. Our members elected their fist full chapter status board at the end of 2007. Our membership has grown four fold in the past year and continues to do so. Currently, most of our member base is concentrated around the Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville areas but we have members also from cities such as Berea, Elizabethtown, Somerset and Winchester. We hope to inspire citizens from throughout Kentucky to join us to educate and promote eco-effective building practices.
There are many discussions and activities related to green building occurring across Kentucky today. Articles and news stories discuss aspects of sustainability every day. It's hard to find a magazine that has not addressed "green" in some way. There are 9 LEED Certified building projects in Kentucky, 39 LEED registered projects and many more with notable sustainable attributes. We intend be a source to learn about many of these activities and projects, so keep plugged in to our website. If you have information on green activities that you believe are noteworthy, please let us know!
Thanks for taking the time to read about the great things that are happening and please join us to help promote better buildings for a healthier and more energy efficient environment!
2008 Board of Directors
- Jeffrey Moneypenny
- Kevin Mussler
- Clive Pohl
- Susan Ratcliffe
- Jesse Schook
- Wayne Turchetta
- Frank Weiss
Congratulations and thank you to these members for their dedication to the Kentucky Chapter. We greatly appreciate your willingness to share your time, energy, and talents with our chapter.
Upcoming Programs
Come network with other 'green minded' professionals. Cash bar and food provided by our sponsors.
We are happy to announce Green Scene is now held in both Louisville and Lexington!
LOUISVILLE
August Green Scene offers a unique opportunity to visit one of Louisville's most exciting venues (Proof on Main) and hear about Brown Forman's sustainability efforts as a global corporate citizen. As an added bonus, Green Scene attendees will be treated to a special tasting of Brown Forman's sustainable and organic wine selections.
Date: August 27, 2009
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Where: Proof on Main
Sponsored by:
You must link on the following link ONCE in
order to RSVP for Green Scene.
RSVP
LEXINGTON
Join Lexington for their first Green Scene the first Wednesday of September!
Date: September 3, 2008
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Where: Annette's City Cafe
431 Old Vine Street
Sponsored by:
You must link on the following link ONCE in
order to RSVP for Green Scene.
RSVP
Featured Project: Resonance House
Chris Fieldhouse Photography - ChrisFieldhouse.com
Resonance House, located at 151 Old Georgetown Street, has been awarded LEED® Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The certification is for achievement in green homebuilding in the LEED for Homes program. The Resonance House project was a collaboration between Design Lab Inc. and the University of Kentucky College of Design.
LEED for Homes is a national third-party certification system for energy efficient, healthy, green homes. LEED-certified homes complete a technically rigorous process that includes a home energy (HERS) rating and onsite inspections to verify that the home is built to be energy and water efficient, environmentally sound, and a healthier place to live.
Resonance House is the first and only Kentucky home to be certified by the USGBC to date. The home was built through a partnership between private nonprofit Design Lab Inc. and the UK College of Design. Gregory Luhan, the Kentucky Housing Corporation-John Russell Groves Professor in Affordable Housing Design and the associate dean for research at the College of Design, led the collaborative effort, which included assistance from several local professionals, UK faculty and more than 40 students studying architecture, interior design and historic preservation at the college. Luhan is recognized for his research in flexible-form manufacturing and design leading to affordable and sustainable residential design, and is well-known for applying his expertise in digital fabrication to building green homes.
Green homes have substantially lower utility bills and may qualify for advantageous financing, lower insurance rates and government incentives. Through their commitment to green homebuilding, Design Lab Inc., whose mission is to enhance the built environment by combining design education and research, is helping to keep homeownership affordable.
“The U.S. Green Building Council is proud to help celebrate Design Lab Inc.’s and the UK College of Design’s commitment to greener living,” said S. Richard Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founder of USGBC. “Their leadership – demonstrated at the Resonance House – is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environment footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live. The Resonance House is a showcase for high-performance, energy-efficient, healthy homes, and an inspiration for others.”
About the Project
Resonance House is a contemporary, single-family residence located in the Western Suburb Historic District of downtown Lexington within walking distance of public transportation, shops and other conveniences. The 5-star plus Energy Star home was completed in May 2006 and is a sustainable-oriented, demonstration project."The essential goal for the project was to establish a design-driven, proof-of-concept prototypical residence that could resonate between the building’s structure, the immediate context, and the surrounding community,” Luhan said. “With so much continuing development in the area, the project was an enormous success and a proven catalyst for change.”
Sustainable Features
Every aspect of Resonance House was digitally designed, enabling Luhan and his students to design the building as a series of prototypical modules, with the highest possible ease in manufacturing. Design innovations for the 4,400 square-foot home led to the reduction of material usage and waste. Where a typical project of this size generates between 15 and 18 tons of construction waste, this project generated less than three. One reason for the smaller output was the digital panelization process employed on the home. Materials were laser cut and milled by computer numerical control, and scraps were precisely calculated to be integrated into the wall panel as blocking and/or intermediate support. The flooring and staircase details for the house resulted from the design team’s research and development collaboration with the UK Department of Forestry in Quicksand, Ky. A collaboration with Jon Carloftis Landscape Design <http://www.joncarloftis.com/><http://www.joncarloftis.com/> , extended to sustainable measures in the home's landscape design. Carloftis, a Kentucky native and renowned landscape designer, developed a drought-resistant scheme for Resonance House to produce a sustainable garden. Despite their urban setting, the homeowner’s could produce enough herbs, fruits and vegetables to sustain themselves.
A central sculptural element in the house known as the “Light Vortex,” is a two-story, zinc-clad figure that covers the fireplace and mechanical core. The unique feature was fabricated by the A. Zahner Company <http://www.azahner.com/><http://www.azahner.com/> , of Kansas City, Mo., that designed the sculpture for Design Lab using aircraft and automotive software. The "Light Vortex" and the home's accompanying sunscreens and shadow-screens are models of energy efficiency using passive solar design to block out heat from the sun between March and October, but let it in between October and March.
LEED certification of Resonance House was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project and the broader community. The four bedroom home focused heavily on reducing energy use, featuring low-e argon windows, high efficiency lighting fixtures, LED and compact fluorescent bulbs, and high density, recycled wool cellulose insulation. Other energy efficiency upgrades included programmable thermostats, high efficiency electric furnaces and air conditioners, as well as mechanical ventilation. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint, recycled fiber carpet, hardwood flooring and 90 percent Forest Stewardship Council-certified sustainably harvested wood content casework were used throughout the home. As a result of incorporating energy saving products and technologies, Resonance House achieved an outstanding Energy Rating System score. The combined innovations and smart building practices allowed the house to have a small average operating cost of 2.8 cents per square foot or roughly $125 per month.
USGBC <http://www.usgbc.org/><http://www.usgbc.org/> is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Founded in 1993, the council now boasts more than 16,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, educational offerings, the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo <http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/><http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/> , and a network of 77 chapters, affiliates and organizing groups.
LEED® for Homes <http://www.greenhomeguide.org/><http://www.greenhomeguide.org/> is a third-party certification system for high-performance green homes. Developed and administered by USGBC, LEED for Homes awards points to projects in eight categories of environmental performance: location and linkages; sustainable sites; water efficiency; materials and resources; indoor environmental quality; energy and atmosphere; homeowner awareness and education; and innovation and design. To date, more than 540 homes have been LEED-certified, and more than 13,000 have been registered and are under development.
We would like to thank the following for the photos and information:
Fieldhouse = Chris Fieldhouse Photography - ChrisFieldhouse.com
Luhan = Gregory Luhan
Schnoedt = Heinrich Schnoedt
For more information on this project please visit the following sites:
Membership
To join the Kentucky Chapter, Please download the membership form, fill it out and mail it in with check or credit card information to USGBC P.O. Box 404296, Atlanta, GA. 30384-4296.
Sponsors
If you are interested in chapter sponsorship or sponsoring an upcoming event contact Jeff Moneypenny
If you would like to add a news item, an event to the calendar, or a resource link, please contact Emma Kuhl