It might be a stretch for some people, including its designer, to describe The New American Home 2011, at 8,500 square feet, as resource-efficient. “It’s something of an absurdity to say that a home this size for two people can be called green,” says designer Michael Curtis, who admittedly followed the desires of the homeowners to expand the footprint well beyond the 5,000 square feet initially programmed. “From the beginning, the owners wanted a larger home, so we designed what they wanted.”

But also consider the items on the other side of the balance sheet: That the two smaller homes it replaced on its 0.6-acre lot were responsibly deconstructed (pictured, above) to divert a significant portion of materials away from landfills; that the house is expected to achieve a 58 percent whole-house energy savings versus a comparably sized home built to the Building America benchmark; that it features a rainwater recycling system for irrigation and solar thermal collectors for hot water; and that its rooftop solar electric array will generate about a third of the home’s energy and earn credits from the local grid—all of which and more will earn the house Emerald-level certification from the NAHBGreen rating system based on the National Green Building Standard.

Not to mention a design that includes proper orientation and roof angles for sun reflection and proper rainwater drainage, cross-ventilation and passive cooling, and ample and shared daylight that offsets artificial lighting demand, reflecting the inherent efficiencies of the classic style.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Rain Harvesting System

Buried and concealed in the garden, the Complete Home 1700PE rain harvesting system from BRAE cleverly captures rainwater from the home’s gutter system, filters it within an underground, 1,700-gallon cistern, and pumps out non-potable irrigation water to nourish the landscape. The system also manages overflow, directing it to a buried filtration system that gently returns it to the ground instead of spewing it into the street and the city storm-sewer system. www.braewater.com.

1. Filter

The system’s downspout basket filter is offered in a small (5,000-square-foot) or large (12,000-square-foot) capacity, depending on the size of the other components and site conditions.

2. Inlet/Overflow Pipe

The inlet/overflow pipe is available in either a 4-inch or 6-inch diameter, depending on capacity.

3. Tank

The BRAE system is modular, allowing the interconnection of several tanks. The one-piece, rotationally molded tank has a capacity of 1,700 gallons, which was the capacity chosen for the house given site restrictions and available clear underground area.

4. Pump

The ½-horsepower automatic submersible ECOS pump features run-dry protection (automatically turns off and won’t run when dry) and is designed to run off of a 115-volt or 230-volt circuit.

5. Enclosure

The system offers two enclosure types: rock or an insulated green cover. The former was selected for the system installed at the house.

VERIFIED VALUES

The IBACOS Consortium, working in conjunction with the federal Building America program, conducted a variety of tests to measure and verify the home’s performance values. Among its findings:

• The tight building envelope achieves a mere 0.8 air changes under blower door testing;

• Sealed ductwork exhibits 3 percent or less air leakage of the system’s airflow;

• Mechanical ventilation provided by an energy recovery ventilator delivers 70 percent efficiency.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Insulation

CertainTeed’s new Certa-Spray open-cell expanding foam insulation was a key component in achieving the home’s energy-efficiency goals. Completely filling wood-framed wall cavities furred out from the perimeter concrete block walls, as well as the ceiling frame, the foam effectively encapsulates mechanical runs in the cavities and combines an effective air-sealing quality with a high R-value per inch insulating value in one application, resulting in R-19 wall and R-30 ceiling assemblies. www.certainteed.com.