Thursday, March 20, 2008

Image Design and Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes are please to announced today that its Hybrid Home project in Onekama Michigan has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) highest certification through is LEED for Homes program. The Hybrid House received LEED "Platinum" certification. Only 22 other homes in the nation have received this honor. Along with the "Platinum" LEED Certifications and winning the GLREA 2007 Exemplary Project Award, this hybrid home has also been awarded an Energy Star Rating of 5+ Stars. You can also read more about this project in the March issue of Concrete Homes magazine and in the up coming Northern Home & Cottage magazines May issue. If you would like to tour this home it will be the 2008 Michigan Energy Fair Show Home. The Michigan Energy Fair is June 27th - 29th in Onekama Michigan.

Monday, March 03, 2008

After meeting so many people at the Home & Garden show this last weekend and hearing them all telling me about there utility bills being $500 to $1,200 dollars and wanting to know what they can do to make there home more energy efficient. I told them sometimes replacing old, leaky windows with new, energy efficient windows may help, but you need to take a step back and see how your home is really performing before you spend any money on windows, insulation, roofing, etc. My advise to all of you is have Mike Holcomb from the Home Inspector General come test your homes. Mike can perform a “energy audit” to find out how well your home is performing. If your home has leaks, where are they? As part of Mikes energy audits he performs thermal imaging where he takes a picture of your home to see where the heat is leaking in vivid color. Mike can also preform a blower door test where a 15-20 mile per hour wind is simulated in your home to see where air (and heat) is leaking from. Without knowing how your home performs, you could be throwing your money out the window. I recently read a energy audit report Mike did on one of my remodel clients project and I was amazed at how detailed his report was. I believe Energy Audits are worth it and would recommend you get one done before you start any remodeling project.
Thank you for those of you that stop by Team Hybrids booth and the LEED for Homes booth at the West Michigan Home & Garden show at DeVos place this past weekend. I got to meet alot of great people and vendor wanting to know about Sustainable Home Design and LEED for Homes. For those of you that missed us at the Home and Garden show or for those of you that didn't get enough of us we are also going have a booth for Team Hybrid and a booth for LEED for Homes at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute on Saturday, March 15 for the 6th Annual Renewable Energy Conference. Our friend Mark Bauer from Bauer Power will be speaking on solar hot water and our friend John Sarver of the Michigan Energy Office will be give a State of the State Address. Hope to see you all there.