2009 Michigan Energy Fair

Its time again for the Michigan Energy Fair! Come visit the fair June 26th - 28th in Onekama, Michigan and see the latest in green building technologies. We are proud to have our projected LEED for Homes "Gold" project called the "Granite Hill Project" in Kingsley Michigan (Just outside of Traverse City) Be the 2009 Michigan Energy Fair Show House its also the first LEED for Homes project in Grand Traverse County. Many of you toured our 2007 & 2008 Energy Fair Show House in Onekama which was West Michigan's first LEED for Homes "Platinum" project and won numerous local and national awards.

Stop by our booth (booth #8) and see what we have be up to since last year and get a look at some our latest projects. We are able to show multiple projects using the latest in Sustainable/Green building technologies such as ICF's (Insulated Concrete Form), SIP Panel (Structural Insulated Panels), Advanced Framing, Straw Clay Construction, Passive Solar Design, Solar Hot, Photovoltaic, Wind Generation, Geo-Thermal, Zero-Energy Homes (ZEH) along with the use of the Lifetime Design ( Aging-in-place or Barrier Free Design) and the Not So Big House Design Principles.

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Sustainable/Green Interior Design

Here is a sneak peak of the interior of the "Watercress Project" that my wife Christy designed with the homeowners. Following the LEED for Homes guidelines she can help save you and your builder time and money by helping you with your Sustainable /Green Interior Design selections. She has experience in the following areas.

• LEED for Homes
• Flooring (FSC, Recycled & Reclaimed)
• Lighting (Energy Star, CFLs & LED)
• Windows & Window Treatments (Energy Star)
• Paints & Interior Finishes (Low & No-Voc)
• Furniture & Furnishings Appliances (Energy Star)
• Children's Spaces & Baby Nurseries
• Kitchens
• Bathrooms
• Water efficient fixtures
• Lifetime Design

Christy is incredibly down to earth and easy to work with, people love working with her. By continuously staying up to date on new materials and innovative techniques, Christy is considered a green product expert. With her knowledge and enthusiasm, she continues to inspire our clients to mix these Green Design ideals into their projects.

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The Watercess Project is now complete

Team Hybrid has completed another one. The "Watercress" Project in Pentwater Michigan is now complete except for the final LEED for Homes certification which is projected to be "Platinum". This is the ultimate in Up North vacation homes; the home shell is constructed from ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms) & SIP (Structural Insulated Panels) panels and North White Cedar Log siding with a Energy Star Metal Roof. Almost all of the tree's that had to be removed for this cottage were use in the construction or furniture for this home. The interior of this home is unique and one of a kind it was designed by Christy Hughes (My wife) along with the homeowners and is something you really should see.

If you are interested in seeing how the homeowners followed the 3 R's (Reduce, Recycle and Reuse) along with all the other sustainable green feature inside and outside of this home we will be having an open house in the next few weeks, please let us know if you would like to see this home!

We want to thank the member of Team Hybrid for another project well done. Thanks goes out to Andersen Window Corporation, Hybrid Homes LLC, Homestead Timbers, Image Design LLC, Porter Sips and R-Value Concrete Structures LLC for another awesome job! We would also like to thank the Homeowner for allowing us all to be apart of the special project!

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Church of the Holy Spirt Addition Breaks Ground

This past Sunday was the ground breaking of the Church of the Holy Spirit Addition that Image Design, LLC designed. A main part of the addition will be used as a food pantry to help local area families. The food pantry at Holy Spirit is an Emergency Pantry for Northern Kent county through the North Kent Service Center. The Pantry is a cooperative effort with Church of the Holy Spirit and Assumption Catholic Church in Belmont. This construction will bring the Pantry up to ground level, currently the pantry is in the basement. This modification will make our pantry handicap accessible and provide for additional storage space for food stuffs. In addition, this modification to the church will provide additional meeting room for the pantry and community programming.

If you would like to help food and cash donations can be made to either church. The hours of the pantry are 6:00- 7:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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Andersen Window Sustainability Tour & Meeting

You may have noticed we use Andersen Windows on all of our projects whether there are LEED certified or not! As a Residential Designer they have been my window of choice for over 20 years now (Example see the picture in the post below this one). I didn't let my personal preferences sway the choice of windows for our Team Hybrid projects they had to earn that. When Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC and Image Design, LLC had the chance to design and build the LEED "Platinum" Onekama project, we wanted to form a project team to be involve with all of our LEED for Homes projects which we call Team Hybrid. This team of companies had to prove to Adam and me that they had a commitment and a passion for sustainability and our environment with their products or services. So when we were looking for a window company to be a part of our team we didn't let either Adam's or my past preference cloud our judgment we looked at Andersen, Marvin, Pella and Jeld-Wen (Don't get me wrong these are all good window manufactures and I have used them all before.) We also looked at some local manufactures of windows. We asked to meet with a local representative from each of these companies. Before these meetings we asked them all the same question before our meetings with them. "What makes your company Green or Sustainable"? Out of these four companies only one set of representatives could answer and show us why their company was green or sustainable; and that was Aric Lavancher and Mike Bottema from the Andersen Corporation. They were able to show us why their company has been green and sustainable by providing documentation, literature and explaining their manufacturing process to us.

On April 28th Adam and I were invited by Aric Lavancher, our Andersen Architectural Representative, to fly out to Bayport Minnesota to tour the Andersen manufacturing facility and to meet with the Andersen Sustainability Team. We were able to see firsthand and behind the scenes of many of Andersen's manufacturing facilities and process. We were given access to several restricted area's that most people have never seen (even many Andersen employees) This access allowed us to see firsthand how Andersen Corporation is committed to environmental stewardship. To put it in perspective for you the Andersen plant is a 2.8 million square foot manufacturing facility that takes up 64 acres along the environmentally sensitive St. Croix River. Below are just a few examples of their commitments.

• Andersen Corporation strives to utilize a majority of sourced wood from FSC or FSC Certified Controlled Wood in its clad wood products* based on availability and market conditions.”
  
• They commissioned in 2007, a Steam Generating Facility at the Andersen plant that uses wood byproducts from manufacturing, and it produces 80% of the plants energy source. (We are one of the few people that has ever tour this facility and it was amazing to see it working).
  
• 98.5% of raw materials that come into the Andersen plant are used in the manufacturing of their products. Land-filled solid waste at Andersen's Bayport, Minnesota facilities has been reduced by 83% since 1990.
  
• Andersen was the first window company to be Green Seal® certified. Green Seal is an independent non-profit group that labels environmentally responsible products.

I could show you numerous more examples but don't have the room here to do it. So if you would like to find out more about Andersen Windows commitment to Sustainability please visit their web-site by clicking on the underlined Andersen Windows link at the beginning of this post.
To say the very least I was impressed with Andersen Corporations commitment to green and sustainability and give them my endorsement as our window of choice for Image Design, LLC and Team Hybrid.

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March & April Update

March & April were very busy months for us. We now have 16 projects under design in our office with several of them in the pricing stages. Such as the Grand Rapids, West Branch, Glenn, Howard City and Pittsford, Michigan projects. We also have several projects under construction beside the one's mentioned above. Our projected LEED for Homes "Platinum" "Turtle's Hope" project is now under construction. The existing cottage (Which was un-savable) was taken down last week and and recycled. The augers cast pile should be going in next week. Please follow the Turtle's Hope projects web-log. The picture above is a updated photo (South Side or Rear Elevation) of our projected LEED for Homes "Gold " project called "Granite Hill" which is under construction in Kingsley, Michigan (Just outside of Traverse City) they're moving along to have this home ready for the 2009 Michigan Energy Fair this will be the 2009 Michigan Energy Fair Show Home. To find out more about these two projects please read the previous web-log posts on these projects. We also have a non-green project under construction in Forest Hills and a sustainable project near completion in Lake Placid, New York (I'll try to get some up dated picture from the owners of this project to post soon!). We also have the "Watercress" and the "Vineyard" projects now complete and anxiously waiting for their final LEED for Homes rating.

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The Vineyard Project is now complete

Team Hybrid has done it again. The Vineyard Project is now complete except for the final LEED for Homes certification which is expect to be at least "Gold". This net-zero or Zero Energy Home (ZEH) is sure to be another national award winning home with all of its sustainable features such as being Passive Solar, ICF construction and having Solar Hot Water, Radiant Heat, Geo-thermal, 3.3 kw of Photovoltaic and pre-wired for Wind Generation just to name a few.

If you are interested in seeing all the sustainable green feature inside and outside of this home we will be having an open house in the next few weeks, please let us know if you would like to see this home!

We want to thank the member of Team Hybrid for another project well done. Thanks goes out to Andersen Window Corporation, Bauer Power, BuildBlock, Hybrid Homes LLC, Image Design LLC, and R-Value Concrete Structures LLC for another awesome job! We would also like to thank the Homeowner for allowing us all to be apart of the special project!

Update: Read the post on PrairieMod web-site about this project!

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Happy Earth Day 2009

Happy Earth Day everyone! I hope you all take a moment today to really appreciate our earth and maybe do something today to help save it. Try planting a tree or picking up some garbage get your kids involved too. Please remember one of my favorite Indian quotes today.


"We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we are borrowing it from our children."


Last chance for our special Earth Day incentive see the post below!

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Earth Day Special

To help celebrate Earth Day on Wednesday April 22nd Image Design will be taking $500.00 off our design fee for any new design projects that we are hired for between April 15th and April 22nd 2009. We hope that you all enjoy the different Earth Day events through-out the next week.

Take action this Earth Day, encourage your states law makers to adopt programs that will help support green homes like Michigan House Bill 4193 http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2009-HB-4193. Call your local State Representative and ask what they are doing to support green homes in your area.

"YOU MUST BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD." - Mahatma Ghandi

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West Michigan Home & Garden Show

Come see us at the National Award Winning Team Hybrid booth #84 ( it's in the atrium across from our friends at Bauer Power) at the West Michigan's Home & Garden show . Many of you meet us there last year. Come see all that's happened since last years show. Check out our latest LEED for Home projects just nearing completion and see our new projects just about to start construction.

Dates & Times

Thursday, March 5th 3:00 - 9:30
Friday, March 6th 12:00 - 9:30
Saturday, March 7th 10:00 - 9:30
Sunday, March 8th 11:00 - 6:00

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Pierce Cedar Creek Institute's Renewable Energy Conference

On March 21, 2009 from 8:30am-4:00pm Pierce Cedar Creek Institute will be having their Seventh Annual Renewable Energy Conference. This conference is designed to provide a quality experience for anyone interested in renewable energy, from the novice to the expert. The conference consists of a keynote session, break-out sessions and an exhibit area. Please save the date to join us for an exciting set or presentations. Renewable energy is incredibly important for the future of the state and our local communities.

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Onekama Project in ICF Builder Magazine

The award winning Onekama Project is feature in this months ICF Builder magazine. It was the ICF Magazines award winner for Best Large Residential ICF project in the nation for 2008. Congratulation to Buildblock our ICF manufacturer, WallTech Products our ICF supplier, Hybrid Homes LLC the Builder and ourselves for designing and building this award winning project. Be sure to check out the extra photo of the project on their web-site. You can even see a photo of me helping to build this home.

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Turltle's Hope plans are ready for construction

Here is a sneak peak of the new Turtle's Hope project which is projected to be a LEED for Homes "Platinum" project. This near Net-Zero Farm House Style cottage will be built by Adam BearUp of Hybrid Homes, LLC. The perspective above is a southeast 3d perspective created with Google SketchUp software. By double clicking on this perspective you are able to see an enlarged view that shows the suns angle on June 21st. Which enables you to see how the 2'-6" overhangs and the passive solar awnings shade the sun from coming it to the home. You can also see the location of the Solar Hot Water system that will be installed by Mark Bauer from Bauer Power. To follow this project through construction please follow the home owner web-log by clicking on Turtle's Hope at the beginning of this article.

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Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live

Sarah Susanka is back, with a new book that shines the spotlight on remodeling, Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live. With new house sales continuing to flounder, many people are opting to stay put and work with the house they have. The book walks through the process of evaluating problem areas in a house and identifying the least invasive and most effective strategies for solving the challenges. The book, like Susanka's others, is packed with photos of actual projects, including a remodel of her own home. This is a must read book for anyone looking to remodel their homes. Image Design, LLC highly recommends reading this book!

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Onekama project wins ICF Builder Magazine Award!

We just got the news from the World of Concrete 2009, held in Las Vegas. That the Onekama project has won the 2008 ICF Builder Magazine Award for Large Residence 3,000 to 6,000 sq. ft. We are proud that BuildBlock our ICF supplier believed in our project so much that they entered us it this prestigious award. Buildblock also had two other projects besides ours win awards too.

Congratulation to the Homeowners and "Team Hybrid" members Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC (Builder), Dave Russell of Wall Tech Products, LLC (Distributor), ourselves Image Design, LLC (Designer) and BuildBlock (Supplier) for winning another prestigious award. Also a big thank goes out to all the behind the seen people who worked on this project, we could not of done it without all of you. Team Hybrid would like to send a special thanks to BuildBlock's Marketing Department for all of their hard work.

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January & February Update

Great news our projected LEED for Homes "Platinum" "Watercress" project in Pentwater is one of the main features in Walls & Ceilings Architect Magazine this month please take a moment to read the article. Also our national award winning "Onekama project" was feature on the 9 & 10 News Northern Michigan's leading news station click on the link and watch the video. We are also excited to have been hired for three new LEED certified projects here in Michigan, there in Ionia, Fruitport and Dexter. Five of our projects are now under construction or nearing completion, we now have sixteen projects in various stages of design in our office. Also we interviewing for several more new and exciting projects all over the country.

Besides being able to follow the "Turtle's Hope" project on there web-log you will also be able to follow our newest project we were just hired for through their design & construction process on there web-log called "Building our Green Dream Home" . This project will be in Dexter, Michigan (just out side of Ann Arbor) and were looking forward to working with these new clients on it. Some of the main features there looking for in their new home are a passive solar design with a rainwater cistern on it. Please watch the two web-log for updates!

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The "Granite Hill" project is under construction

Our latest LEED for Homes project call "Granite Hill" is under construction on 60 pristine acres in Kingsley, Michigan (just outside of Traverse City) This home sits on a ridge next to a hill of large granite boulders thus comes the projects name "Granite Hill". The project is being built by a new builder that were working with, Joel Diotte of the Frontier Group, LLC. The project team will be registering this project as a projected LEED for Homes "Gold" project. It will also be the first LEED for Homes project in Grand Traverse County. We are also striving for this to be a Carbon Neutral Home.

This home will be a Passive Solar Arts & Craft style home built with BuildBlock ICF's (Insulated Concrete Forms) from foundation to the second floor, then the gable end and dormer will be framed using Advanced Framing Methods, for the roof will be using Kasselwood metal shingle which are energy star rated and uses 30% recycled materials. The exterior will be using some of our favorite products James Hardie Fiber Cement Siding and Andersen windows. The interior will have tile and stained concrete floors on the main level which will make great thermal mass. The home was also design with lifetime design principles. The main heat source for this home is a Tulikivi Masonry Heater from Positive Chimney in Cadillac as backup heat we will be using electric base board heat and low EMF electric heat mats from SunTouch which will be installed in the master bath and the main bath. The ideas behind the the electric heat is that in the near future the homeowners hope to add Photovoltaic (PV) and or a Wind Generator to their project to provide all their electrical needs for the home.

This home will also be using re-used /recycled products from Odem Re-use Co through-out the home.

Update: This will be the Official 2009 Michigan Energy Fair Show Home!

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West Michigan Chapter of USGBC names two Residential Green Building Advocates

The West Michigan Chapter of the USGBC has named two of its members Residential Green Building Advocates (RGBA) for the State of Michigan. Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC and Eric Hughes of Image Design, LLC both have accepted the nomination of Residential Green Building Advocates for the chapter. A chapter’s Residential Green Building Advocate (RGBA) volunteers to serve as the local face of USGBC’s LEED for Homes program, helping to educate, build awareness and demand for green construction practices in the local & state homebuilding industries.

Besides being one of the two RGBA's Eric Hughes has chaired the Residential Green Building Committee for the last two years and also is working on be coming a LEED AP + Homes certified professional. Adam & Eric also were founding members of the Residential Green Building Committee.

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Following the Turtle's Hope Project

Here is a unique chance to follow the construction of a projected LEED for Homes "Platinum" project from start to finish. The project is called Turtle's Hope it is a small (1,328 sq.ft.) energy efficient cottage being built in rural Southwest Michigan, on a small inland turtle-filled lake in Hope Township (Thus giving it the name Turtle's Hope). This near zero energy cottage will be using some interesting construction technique on it. Because of the soil this project will sit on 27 Auger Cast piles roughly 48'-0" deep. Our special foundation system was designed by Roger Kelley of Engineered Structures.

The construction of the cottage will be done by Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC. This home will have a special floor system with radiant heat designed by ourselves and Adam, the main construction will be SIP panels, with a large amount of southern glass on this house Passive Solar will do most of the heating in winter. There will also be Solar Hot Water on the roof and that should also help with the heat distribution, when integrated with a radiant floor heat system. With the home also being pre-wire for Photovoltaic it will be ready for future upgrades when and if the homeowners choose too. The homeowners will be recycling anything they can from there existing cottage that's on there site, which will then be donated to Habitat Re-store for anything they can use. We would like to thank the homeowners for sharing their design & building experiences with you through there blog.

Updated!!! We are happy to annouce that "Turtle's Hope" will be the show house for this year's Pierce Cedar Creek Institutes renewable energy conference on March 21, 2009. Adam and I will be giving a presentation on the design and construction of this near zero energy cottage.

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November & December Update

As we are near the end of 2008 we have a lot to look forward to in 2009. We will have a new President with a strong goal to make the next 4 years better than the last 8 years. We have new legislation just passed in Michigan and in the the bail out that benefits renewable energies like wind energy, solar hot water and photovoltaic. If all goes as planned Michigan will become one of the major manufactures of renewable energies. At our home/office we just finished our green bathroom remodel and are close to finishing our kitchen remodel. Our office remodel is starting to progress nicely and this winter we will start a new green bathroom and bedroom project.

We are also excited to have been hired for two new LEED certified projects in Pitsford and Bezonia. Four of our projects are under construction and nearing completion, three project are almost ready to start construction and we have eleven projects in the design phase. Also we interviewing for several new and exciting projects all over the country. The picture above is a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Style home we designed that's being built in Lake Placid, New York. I would like to thank the home owners Carlo and Amy for keeping us updated with pictures of their project. I will keep you all updated on this project as I get more updates.

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