Green Building

To those of us entrenched in the green building world the benefits seem obvious. Why would anyone choose to build in a way that isn't comfortable, healthy, and energy efficient?

The Green Building Resource Guide defines green building materials and products as having at least one of the following characteristics: nontoxic; recycled content; resource efficient; long life cycle; or, environmentally conscious. Some materials and products have more of these characteristics than others and are, therefore, considered "greener".

Green building is "state of the art" construction, and I would recommend first hiring an architect familiar with green building practices, details, and builders, if you really want to get it right. If you insist on proceeding on your own, begin with fundamental decisions, such as, what structural system to use in the foundation and framing.

Concrete walls built with insulating concrete forms (ICFs) give a house superior comfort, solidity, durability, resistance to natural disasters, quietness, and energy efficiency. Use of ICFs is growing rapidly. They offer both home buyers and home builders a superior alternative to wood frame walls.

Build Green with ICFs - Protect our Children's Future!
Our world's number one challenge is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is being discharged into our atmosphere. The earth's relatively sudden warming and consequent dramatic effects of climate change are directly related to these carbon dioxide emissions.

Landfilling construction waste is reduced to less than 1% when you build with AMVIC. For every one tone of methane produced by landfilling practices, 20 tones of CO2 are produced.
Every ICF home saves approximately 8.5 trees and effectively preserve nature's air filters. Ask yourself the question, "How much oxygen does sand and gravel produce?"
If we can reduce our energy bills by as high as 40%, we can reduce CO2 emissions by the same amount. The world's international Kyoto agreement insists on a reduction of emissions by 50% just to slow down the effects of global warming. ICFs are a part of the answer to CO2 reductions.

How does you benefit?
Comfort. Houses built with ICF walls have a much more even temperature throughout the day and night. They have virtually no "cold spots", and sharply fewer drafts.

Dust free. The virtually airtight nature of an ICF building usually requires some form of ventilation that will bring fresh air into the home. By adding an air filter, you can achieve an indoor air environment that's virtually free of pollen, dust and other contaminants.

Quietness. About one-sixth as much sound gets through an ICF wall compared with an ordinary frame wall. This sharply cuts the intrusion of noise from outside.

Safety. A home built with ICFs is much stronger than a conventional wood-constructed home and is resistant to high winds and storms. The majority of injuries in severe weather storms come from flying debris impacting and entering a structure. The reinforced concrete walls of an ICF building are virtually impregnable and have actually been subjected to government supervised blast-resistance testing at the U.S. Marine base at Quantico, Virginia with excellent results.

Fire Resistence. Walls built with ICF typically have a 3 to 4 hour fire rating. With no wood in the wall structure itself, the and polystyrene offer little combustion potential. The Phoenix ICF uses a modified polystyrene bead that includes a flame retardant to improve the fire resistance properties of the form.

Bug Resistence. Termites don't eat either expanded polystyrene or reinforced concrete, so with no food source in the ICF wall system you can be assured that your termite problem is substantially reduced when compared to a wood frame home.

Energy efficiency. The superior insulation, air tightness, and mass of the walls cut the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling by 30-40%. This can save $200-300 per year in a typical home. In addition, it allows the installation of smaller heating and cooling equipment. That can reduce the initial cost of a house by over a thousand dollars.

Design flexibility. ICF houses can be completed with almost any interior and exterior finishes and can take any shape as easily as wood frame. In fact, some interesting effects, such as curved walls and frequent corners, can be less expensive to build into an ICF home.

Making the Case for Green Building