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www.eco-solutionsonline.com/ As one of Southern Oregon’s most recognized names in premier custom home construction and development, Asher Homes is also recognized as the leader in Sustainable Building practices and “green” homes. Having built numerous “third party certified” green homes throughout the Rogue Valley, Steve Asher’s commitment and passion for sustainability is unrivaled. He is an Earth Advantage / Energy Star builder, an Energy Star Trade Ally, a Certified Green Professional with the National Associating of Home Builders a LEED AP, a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, a member of both the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Jackson County Home Builders Association Green Building Council. A Dept. Of Energy High Performance Home builder and the CEO of Eco – Solutions, a sustainable building consulting company.
Being one of the most experience and knowledgeable sustainable green builders in Southern Oregon, Asher Homes can easily guide you through the entire homebuilding experience. Asher Homes can not only provide the actual construction of your home but can also lead you through the process of site selection, solar orientation and design. Asher Homes offers third party certification through several different verification programs. We offer LEED for Homes, Earth Advantage / Energy Star, NAHB National Green Building program and the DOE High Performance Homes program.
A sustainable green built home by Asher Homes will be more energy efficient than a home built to current construction codes, easier on the planet and will provide a very healthy indoor environment while providing Maximum durability and maintenance.
Energy Efficiency
Energy Efficiency begins with the building envelope. The more efficient the building envelope is in reducing heat loss in winter and preventing heat gain in summer, the less energy a home will use. This can be achieved in many ways. There are numerous high performance building envelope techniques available today. Asher Homes can assist our clients in selecting which system would be most beneficial to use. Each system offers varying degrees of energy efficiency at different costs. Depending on site variations, solar access and home design we can design an optimal envelope system which will provide maximum benefits at minimal costs. Some of the advanced building envelopes we are using today include (but are not limited to)
SIPS – Structured insulated panels
ICF – insulated concrete forms
Straw Bale construction
Conditioned crawl spaces and attics
Stagger stud / double stud wall construction
Exterior Insulated wall systems with wood or steel studs.
OVE (OPTIMUM Value Engineering) and advanced framing techniques.
Along with energy efficiency of the floors, walls and ceilings, the windows and doors must also achieve high energy efficiency. All window and doors are rated with a “U” value. The lower the “U” value, the more energy efficient the window or door is. Selecting windows and doors with the lowest “U” value is one of the smartest decisions a homeowner can make. Currently, even the best “U” value for a window and door doesn’t come close to the energy efficiency of the rest of the building envelope. However, proper orientation of windows and doors for passive solar gain can dramatically offset its reduced energy efficiency. Minimizing air infiltration through the building envelope is reduced energy efficiency. Minimizing air infiltration through the building envelope is also a key element in energy efficiency. We seal the building envelope to eliminate air leaks.
After maximizing the energy efficiency of the building envelope, we then carefully engineering and design the heating and cooling systems to match the required loads for the home. There are also varying types of HVAC systems with assorted costs. We can assist our clients in selecting which system is most efficient and cost effective.
Some of the systems we use are:
1. Forced air, sealed duct, high efficient electric or gas furnaces with high efficient air conditioning equipment.
2. Ground source heat pumps with forced air sealed duct systems
3. Radiant floor heat powered by solar hot water, condensing boilers or ground loop heat pumps.
4. Zonal multi – split heat pumps or wall mounted radiators or baseboards
5. Energy Recovery Ventilators
Another way of increasing energy efficiency in our client’s home is by the use of alternate energy systems. Depending on solar or wind availability, we can assist our clients in selecting which system best suits their needs.
Types of systems we generally use today are:
Grid-tied solar photovoltaic electric systems
Battery Backup grid-tied solar photovoltaic electric systems
Battery storage “off-the-grid” solar photovoltaic electric systems
Solar Hot Water systems
Wind Turbines
Once we have optimized our energy efficiency in our building envelope, HVAC equipment and alternative energy systems, we then focus on the products we use that consume energy in the homes and how we actually us those products. Our first effort in reducing energy consumption in the home is to design the home to provide “day lighting” by strategically locating windows, solar tubes or skylights to eliminate the use of artificial light. When artificial light is required, we use CFL (compact fluorescents) or LED (Light emitting diode) bulbs in at least 75% of the fixtures. We also try to design a natural cooling system into the home by the operable us of clerestory window, whole house fans, cupola, with operable windows, skylights vented or proper window orientation to provide a night purge for the home.
Resource Efficiency
Our goal is to build our customers thoughtfully and aesthetically pleasing home which minimizes its impact on the environment and natural surroundings. In every step o f the construction process, we strive to achieve maximum sustainability.
1. We begin with low impact site planning and development
2. We design to optimize the use of the sun incorporating passive solar design with active solar electricity and solar hot water
3. We use Optimum Value Engineering and building practices to reduce our material consumption, therefore minimizing the waste we recycle.
4. We carefully and thoughtfully select our building products in an effort to purchase as locally as possible and from suppliers and manufactures that practice sustainability in their companies.
5. We promote the use of as many recycled content products as is currently available.
6. We provide LCA (life cycle assessment) and Cradle to Cradle information on available products to ensure our customers long term satisfaction with the products they select and avoid “green washing”
7. We expertly construct your home with these products to maximize durability and minimize maintenance.
Another step we employ is to use energy efficient appliances. (i.e. refrigerators, dishwashers, cook tops, ovens, clothes washer and dryers, hot water heaters).
We also help our clients reduce their energy consumption by recommending the use of programmable thermostats, occupancy indicators, and dimmers for their light fixtures. We also provide remote switched surge protectors for counter top appliances and computer equipment to minimize on phantom power usage.
Healthy Indoor Environment and Air Quality
At Asher Homes, your family’s health and safety are very important to us. We strive to provide a healthy indoor environment which can minimize the effects of the numerous pollutants and contaminants all around us.
A healthy indoor environment starts with good indoor air quality. By building a well sealed, tight home, we have reduced the migration and infiltration of outdoor pollutants with the indoor environment. However, many interior finishes and products, as well as the furnishings and cleaning supplies provided by our homeowners upon move-in, can “outgas” bringing pollutants into the indoor environment. By providing proper filtration and ventilation of the home, pollutants and contaminants can be adequately removed.
Using green products is on of the best ways to improve indoor air quality. We select products that are formaldehyde free, contain low or no- VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) use water basted rather than solvent based finishes, and choose non-toxic building materials such as hardwood flooring, wool carpets, ceramic tile, marmoleum, and natural solid surface countertops. We suggest to our homeowners to choose their furnishings, cleaning supplies, and other household goods with the same specifications.
We also seal off the garage from the home to reduce the entry of fumes and gases with the indoor environment. We suggest not storing gasoline, oil, antifreeze, pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, etc. in the garage without proper ventilation. We install an exhaust fan in the garage which automatically comes on when the door to the house from the garage is opened. This is to prevent these fumes from entering the home.
Bringing fresh air into the home is a requirement for health and safety. Ventilation is the only way to dilute unwanted toxic gasses. We use ERV’s (Energy Recovery Ventilator) to regulate our ventilation needs and provide the refined fresh air to the home.
In our forced-air HVAC systems, we use only mastic sealed ducts (which are tested for leeks) and install them in the conditioned space. Therefore, we insure the duct system is not a source for pollutants to enter the home through the unconditioned attic or crawlspace. We also install a high efficient air filtering system that removes contaminants including dirt, dust, pollen, smoke, dust mites, etc. from the air.
Other methods we use to help insure a healthy indoor environment and maintain high air quality include radon mitigation in the crawl space or basement, preventing back drafting of gas appliances and maintaining proper humidity levels to prevent the growth of mold.
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