Case Studies Archives | Green Built Alliance

A Net-Zero Adventure: Setting New Records

A Net-Zero Adventure: Setting New Records Raymond Thompson There are many ways to link in to the green revolution. A person can focus on energy consumption, human rights, individual health, environmental protection or a little bit of everything at once, but it is generally driven by a calling in...

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Holding the Vision: The Winding Road to Our Dream Green Home

Holding the Vision: The Winding Road to Our Dream Green Home Mary Love My wife Deb and I moved to Asheville in 2003 with the dream of building green homes around a farm. At the time, green building was a new concept and investors were wary. Having grown up...

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Learning New Tricks: Lessons from WNC’s First DOE Zero Energy Ready Home

Learning New Tricks: Lessons from WNC’s First DOE Zero Energy Ready Home Leigha Dickens The Department of Energy wants builders to up their game. Though it’s worth celebrating the energy savings achieved by the DOE’s ENERGY STAR® Homes program (said to be 20 percent), it’s possible to build homes...

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Aspiring to Zero Carbon: First Net-Zero Home Certified in Green Path Commons

Aspiring to Zero Carbon: First Net-Zero Home Certified in Green Path Commons Don Nicholson Can we build a zero-carbon-footprint neighborhood? It’s a challenge. We are attempting this at Green Path Commons in West Asheville. The neighborhood will have seven net-zero homes; the first is at 9 N. Belgium Lane....

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Bridging Sustainable and Social Gaps: Earth Care, Fair Share and People Care at Echo Hills Cottages

Bridging Sustainable and Social Gaps: Earth Care, Fair Share and People Care at Echo Hills Cottages Garret K. Woodward When Ron Czecholinski and his wife moved to Asheville in 2010, he had one goal in mind: to create a sustainable development that truly focused on the meaning of the...

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Simple Shifts: How Creature Comforts Can Coexist with Sustainability

Simple Shifts: How Creature Comforts Can Coexist with Sustainability Garret K. Woodward At first glance, the new Green Built Home on Hawberry Court in Asheville appears to be a normal house with a lot of aesthetically pleasing qualities and spacious appeal amid its luxurious appearance. “We built a pretty...

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Brick by Brick: Finding New Ways to Reach Net Zero

Brick by Brick: Finding New Ways to Reach Net Zero Garret K. Woodward When reflecting on the recent completion of his first net-zero home, Kevin Hackett still marvels at the number of bricks that went into the project. “It must have been over 40,000 bricks,” chuckled Hackett, the president...

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Stephens Smith Farrell: Green Building

Green Building: A Love Story Stephens Smith Farrell On paper, Jorge and I wouldn’t be candidates for great friends. In practice, Jorge and I became great good friends through a shared passion for early-era-east-coast mountain biking (EEECMB) and mountain biking’s gateway companion, beer (B). Jorge (not his real name)...

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Randolph Richardson: Green Inside and Out

Green Inside and Out: Lessons from Europe Applied in Appalachia Randolph Richardson “We’re gonna have to build,” we concluded, as the plane climbed past Mount Pisgah on the first leg of our return to Vienna. After six years living in Austria, we would be returning to the United States...

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Darren Henegar: Enough Water for Everyone

Enough Water for Everyone: A Water Supply Case Study in Swannanoa Darren Henegar Here in the U.S., we have long been fortunate to have access to some of the safest drinking water in the world available just by turning on the tap. However, continued population growth and economic development...

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