Someday the term green will be obsolete and everything will just be done with sustainability in mind, but today, out of the 5,922 single family homes on the market in MLS only one of those, 18 Boylston Ave in Providence, will be LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified Platinum by the US Green Building Council. This week, I had Chris West, from William Kite Architects and Dave Kessler from Native Structures on to talk about this remarkable new home and let me tell you, if you had to assemble a sustainable building "Dream Team", these two would be on it . In 2008 Christine won the Providence Sustainable Housing Competition with her design for an affordable green model house that is available to builders with incentives to redevelop lots throughout Providence and Dave's Company, Native Structures designs builds and remodels with sustainability in mind. The LEED Green Building Rating SystemTM provides a nationally recognized certification system for environmentally sustainable construction and focuses in five areas when evaluating a project, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Developers have to register projects for evaluation, and accredited professionals then grade the project giving points for each approved design feature utilized. Structures can be accredited at four levels: Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-69 points), Gold (60-79 points) and Platinum (80 points and above). There are 100 possible base points, and 18 Boylston hopes to achieve a 98 when completed. This Week's Real Estate Insight: The environmental impact of buildings is often underestimated, while the perceived costs of green buildings are usually overestimated. A recent survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development finds the true average cost difference of about 5 percent for green construction. The Providence LEED Home
- By Michael McCann
- Posted
Someday the term green will be obsolete and everything will just be done with sustainability in mind, but today, out of the 5,922 single family homes on the market in MLS only one of those, 18 Boylston Ave in Providence, will be LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified Platinum by the US Green Building Council. This week, I had Chris West, from William Kite Architects and Dave Kessler from Native Structures on to talk about this remarkable new home and let me tell you, if you had to assemble a sustainable building "Dream Team", these two would be on it . In 2008 Christine won the Providence Sustainable Housing Competition with her design for an affordable green model house that is available to builders with incentives to redevelop lots throughout Providence and Dave's Company, Native Structures designs builds and remodels with sustainability in mind. The LEED Green Building Rating SystemTM provides a nationally recognized certification system for environmentally sustainable construction and focuses in five areas when evaluating a project, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Developers have to register projects for evaluation, and accredited professionals then grade the project giving points for each approved design feature utilized. Structures can be accredited at four levels: Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-69 points), Gold (60-79 points) and Platinum (80 points and above). There are 100 possible base points, and 18 Boylston hopes to achieve a 98 when completed. This Week's Real Estate Insight: The environmental impact of buildings is often underestimated, while the perceived costs of green buildings are usually overestimated. A recent survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development finds the true average cost difference of about 5 percent for green construction. 
