WASHINGTON — The recent Solar Decathlon on the National Mall showcased green building ideas that may be used in the future.
But steps away from the Capitol a house is being transformed using green technologies available today. Greenspur, Inc. is working to turn a dilapidated old structure into an inviting sustainable home.
“This house is the first carbon neutral house in D.C.,” said Mark Turner, founder of Greenspur. “It’s a pre-Civil War house. It was built in 1852, one of the first houses on Capitol Hill, it’s an old wood frame structure.”
The house had sat vacant and unwanted for two years before Greenspur began making it over, first adding additional levels to the top and underneath the house.
“It’s one of the first houses in D.C. to have geothermal, so it’s got geothermal heating and cooling in the front yard,” Turner said. “The flooring is about 150 years old and it’s old beams out of a mill that they’ve repurposed. It’s old, it doesn’t require any more trees to be cut down. So the net result is we’ll have a house that’s 50-60 times more efficient than the average house on Capitol Hill.”
With all the “green” terms being thrown around, it can be hard for consumers to know what they all mean. Turner explains, “if you look at greenhouse gases as a whole, that’s what’s causing our earth to heat up. If you look at [it] by industry transportation is about 27 percent, buildings are almost twice what transportation is.”
“If you really want to curb carbon greenhouse gas emissions in the short term at least cost effectively you’ve got to focus on the building industry.”
While the homes built for the decathlon all feature solar panels and cutting-edge technology, Turner says there are steps each household can take to reduce its carbon footprint.
“People think they need windmills on top of their house and solar panels to be carbon neutral, and that’s not the story we’re telling here. It starts with good insulation, a good building envelope, good windows, a really good thermal envelope is the best thing to do to reduce your carbon footprint.”
“If every house in America was 10 percent more efficient it would change the world,” Turner said.
When the Capitol Hill home goes on the market next month Turner says the cost will be comparable to other homes in the neighborhood. “We’re trying to prove that green’s not more expensive,” he said. “It’s actually affordable and it’s on par with traditional construction.”