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Cell  604-414-5994

Coastal British Columbia

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Powell River, BC Canada The Pearl on the Sunshine Coast

Janet Alred

The Green House

Interviews

On the first page of The Green House, information was provided about home energy assessments and Energuide, LEED, Built Green™, an example community - Ucluelet, and a list of Suppliers.

The Green Home now continues with interviews conducted with people in the building industry who are taking the challenge to be environmentally sustainable and sensitive in their practice.

CaroleAnn Leishman, Built Green™ Builder

CaroleAnn is a Certified Built Green™ Builder with Agius Builders Ltd., co-founder of Powell River’s Pebble in the Pond, and sits on the Sustainability Charter Committee. For the past 15 years, she has been walking the talk by doing what she can to recycle before recycling was the cool thing to do. I recently interviewed CaroleAnn for an article in Powell River Living Magazine (April 2009). Here is the full interview:

TGH: How would you describe an energy efficient home?

CAL: It is a home that is at a higher standard of energy efficiency than a typical house built to the current building code. Energy efficient homes cost less to heat and cool.

TGH: Have you noticed the built green™ industry growing?

CAL: The green building industry is definitely taking off in other places. Certified Built Green™ Builders and green building practices are slow to take off in Powell River due to our geographic location. People are becoming more aware of improved building technologies and upgrades but the general lack of awareness makes it hard for a lot of people to see the benefits of lower costs for energy.

Other areas of British Columbia are ahead of us. They have more houses, more opportunities for green building practices, more information for purchasers, and a greater buyer’s market.

We recently had a Built Green™ home on the Powell River market. It received the Gold Built Green™ designation and a score of 81 on the Energuide ratings. The home has an HRV system which changes the interior air supply 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The moist, warm air leaving the home warms up the cold air coming into the home. Filters can be applied to the system to make the system hypoallergenic. We used minimal VOC (volatile organic compounds) materials to minimize toxic off-gassing of wall paints and flooring for a more healthy interior atmosphere.

Built Green™ will become more of the norm as time goes on. The building codes were recently upgraded to include a few of the more environmentally sensitive building practices.

TAL: What advice do you give to people considering a built green™ home?

CAL: They should consult with a green builder and designer. There are incentives to homeowners to purchase or renovate homes to a built green™ standard. There are mortgage insurance discounts for homes that score high on the Energuide rating; there are many materials that builders and owners can use if they are adventurous enough; and there are government rebates available to homeowners who renovate using specific products.

One way to reduce hydro bills is to reduce the temperature of your hot water tank by 20 degrees. You probably won’t notice too much difference in the heat of your shower water, but it will cost you less overall.

Mostly, it is hard to really see what the energy savings will be before a family has lived in a home. You can have two homes that look the same on the same street with the same number of family members. But one is Built Green™ and the other isn’t. If the two families were to compare hydro bills they would probably see vast differences between the two homes in their amount of energy usage. But of course people’s lifestyle habits are vastly different too so it is hard to make a comparison that way.

TGH: Why did you take the Built Green™ certification?

CAL: I became certified at the end of 2006 because it was an obvious direction to go in for today’s climate. Building science is continually changing and growing, with a learning curve to follow. I am fascinated by building science and the house as a system. I truly believe that the way we think about building needs to be flipped on its end. We need to look at building as a whole system by starting with the right property/neighbourhood/town for the owners and siting the home in the right direction to take advantage of solar energy gains. Community planning needs to be done right from the start.

I enjoy continually learning, studying, and finding out new information. I am absorbed in environmental and sustainable living. The more I learn the more I realize I have to learn.

 

Audrey McLeish, McLeish Redesign

Audrey is an interior decorator and principal of McLeish Redesign. She knows the importance of making eco friendly choices in design products. Her company has been involved with the remodeling of the Bruce Denniston Bone Marrow Society’s Oncology Unit at Powell River’s General Hospital.

 

TGH: Tell me about your experience working on the Oncology Unit remodeling.

AM: The patients going in there are immune suppressed, so we had to be very careful about introducing any product that would off-gas VOCs (volatile organic compounds) - such as paint and carpeting. Everything we brought in had to be durable, washable, and able to stand up to hospital cleanliness standards. We needed to blend aesthetics with function and bring healing aspects into the health care environment.

Taste and colour are affected by illness, so we had to be careful with choice of colours for large pieces - such as walls or drapes. The Pebble Project from the States is a model used by Vancouver Island Health Authority in the remodeling of Victoria General Hospital. It incorporates green building practices with environmental healing aesthetics. The set of criteria they state is changing the way we look at health care environments.

When it comes to floor coverings, if carpet is needed then it must be made of natural materials. But even then, it can still collect dust and allergens. Instead, for a more hypoallergenic environment it might be better to use ceramic tile, cork or bamboo flooring.

TGH: How do you see the interior design industry in today’s housing market?

AM: There is more acceptance now in getting a professional design consultant to guide you through the process. We are able to make educated choices for our clients. There is a resurgence of interest in getting a professional evaluation and for clients to be given direction for design of products.

I am really trying to source products locally. I start from home and then search beyond. It is all part of trying to reduce my carbon footprint. I would rather have products brought into town by a local company than order online.

It would be great if people could support local producers. There are paints now that are totally free of VOCs and so people should choose paint carefully. People can look to see where the products they are contemplating purchasing are made of. Recycling should be automatic. We need to get comfortable reusing, repurposing and recycling. We need to get back to basics with our needs list and look for appliances, lighting and ventilation that will be good for us and good for our environment.

TGH: What’s new in today’s interior design world?

AM: There is more of a push to renovate than to move. We are going back to a more basic philosophy by incorporating recycled, reused and repurposed materials to change old into new. We really need to look at what we already have and reuse it. I am also seeing more downsizing.

It is really important to stay current with new design options and availability. If your builder doesn’t know about new environmentally sensitive products then we have to encourage him or her to learn. We need the knowledge in order to make eco friendly choices in our homes.