LEED Facts »
| LEED for Homes Gold | 71/136 |
| Sustainable Sites | 7.5/22 |
| Water Efficiency | 6/15 |
| Energy & Atmosphere | 25/38 |
| Materials & Resources | 5.5/16 |
| Indoor Environ. Quality | 14/21 |
| Innovation & Design | 3/11 |
| Location & Linkages | 9/10 |
| Awareness & Education | 1/3 |
Architect: William Gardell
Interior Designer: Mitzi Walters
Civil Engineer: Alpha Associates
Contractor: Caldwell & Johnson Custom Home Builders
LEED Home Rater: Conservation Services Group
Mechanical Engineer: Standish Heating and Air Conditioning
Plumbing Engineer: Zawadzki Plumbing
Project Size: 1,296 square feet
Cost per square foot: $140
Photographer Courtesy of Caldwell & Johnson
Project Background
The original house located at 53 Hancock Drive was a 648 square foot, 2-bedroom ranch house built by the U.S. Navy in 1952. Between 2007 and 2009, the property was gutted, abandoned, and foreclosed. Caldwell & Johnson bought the house as a speculative building venture utilizing the following green building and energy efficiency standards: U.S. Dept of Energy Builders Challenge Program, National Association of Home Builders National Green Building Standard, EnergyStar®, and U.S. Green Building Council LEED® for Homes. This is the first project of its kind in New England to seek certification under all four standards.
Strategies and Results
The project salvaged the existing foundation, floor system, and first floor walls. The new structure is 1,296 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The house has a Home Energy Rating System score (HERS) of 51. The HERS Index is a scoring system originally established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET).A home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home, based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, receives a HERS Index of 100. Each one point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a one percent in energy reduction compared to the Reference Home. A HERS Rating of 51 indicates that this home is almost twice as energy efficient as a new home built to the building code at the time this project was completed!
Other significant green features include:
• Icynene open cell spray foam insulation
• A Heat Recovery Ventilator, which ensures that the air in the house will be changed with outside air once every three hours while maintaining the desired interior conditioned temperature, creating a healthy home indoor environment.
• Environmentally preferable products, including recycled glass countertops, bamboo floors, no-VOC paint, and recycled and recyclable carpets.
• EnergyStar appliances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Sense fixtures, including dual-flush toilets and low-flow fixtures.
• An instant tankless hot water system.
Furthermore, 35 percent of construction waste was diverted from the landfill, and the house is conveniently located within walking distance of many amenities and mass transit.
In addition to achieving LEED Gold, the house has been certified as Energy Star HERS-51, Department of Energy Builders Challenge HERS-51, and NAH B National Green Building Standard Silver. The Energy Star Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and the Department of Energy Builders Challenge emphasizes a home’s energy efficiency, while the NAH B National Green Building Standard and USGBC’s LEED standard both require builders to accrue a minimum number of points in the following areas: energy, water, and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality; and innovation, which includes home owner education.
About Caldwell & Johnson
Caldwell & Johnson, founded in 1968, has completed over 500 custom residential new construction and major remodeling projects in the state of Rhode Island. Caldwell & Johnson has a longstanding commitment to building energy-efficient homes. The company embraces the principles of the growing green building movement.