Knowledge Base
The Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB) program, now in its 16th year, serves as a rich resource for Pilgrim Building Co. The program’s rating system (which awarded four stars to the Pilgrim-built house shown above and on the preceding pages) and house tours help market green building to the public. Its seminars prove popular with both consumers and professionals. And the utility company that oversees AEGB, Austin Energy, offers substantial rebates to encourage the use of solar and wind power.
According to Mary McLeod, coordinator of AEGB’s residential component, the real key to building green lies not in any particular systems or materials, but in the way builders, architects, subcontractors, and homeowners work together. “We really are trying to get people to work with a team process from the beginning,” she says. “The builder has to be brought in right away. Very typically the mechanical contractor has nothing to do with the design, so it’s compromised from the start. We consider this to be the whole basis of green building—getting all the experts together in the beginning to get the most effective result.”
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As an Austin, Texas-based custom builder and founder of Pilgrim Building Co., Branson Fustes likes to do things right—and for him, that means building a house as green as the scope of the project allows. Here are some of Fustes’ thoughts on building green and some of his favorite green resources:
“I’m really intrigued and excited about things that are fabricated off-site. Using SIPs saves money on labor and almost always on steel.” (www.sips.org)
“The SIPs homes we do are very airtight. The homes insulated with Icynene are the same if not better.” (www.icynene.com)
“Reclaimed longleaf pine is fun because you can see the old nail holes.” (www.reclaimedwoodcouncil.org)
What Fustes is reading: Refabricating Architecture by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003).
Links to professionals and organizations mentioned in “Seeking Green”:
Austin Energy: www.austinenergy.com
CF Architecture: www.cfarchitecture.com
Mell Lawrence Architects: www.architecturalpolka.com
Pilgrim Building Co. www.pilgrimbuilding.com
Thomas McConnell Photography: www.mcconnellphoto.net
Urban Jobe Architecture. www.urbanjobe.com
