Sorting fact from hype is not always easy.  Building green is no exception.  Over the last couple of years I have been doing a fair bit of research on building green both because I think it is the right thing to do and because I'm working with several clients who want to build green.  Recently I was working with a woman who had a very nice modern home designed.  The architect was encouraging her to build this home using steel.  And, in fact he had even recommended a steel home manufacturing company that not only claimed to be Green, but even has the LEED* endorsement.  Sorry, there is no way you will ever convince me that you can build a residential home using steel and consider it green.  Here is why: 10% of all greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere come from the manufacturing of steel and concrete.  Not to mention that 1/3 of the steel produced globally comes from China, where there are few environmental laws.  This doesn't even take into account the amount of fuel required to transport steel to this country from half way around the world.  Even though most steel produced today comes from about 40% recycled steel, massive amounts of iron and other minerals have to be extracted from the earth to make steel.  Steel of course also requires tons of coal to manufacture.  Even well insulated steel walls will never be as energy efficient as wood walls.  So, I have to wonder how any manufacturer of steel homes can make the claim of being Green.

In my opinion one way to build green requires the builder to use wood whenever possible.  This is just one of the reasons I'm fond of the Pan Abode Phoenix System.  Solid wood walls greatly reduce another product that requires mining and vast amounts of energy to produce, and that is sheetrock.  Did you know that 17% of all sheetrock manufactured gets thrown away without being used because of cutouts for windows, doors and hanging larger sheets of sheetrock to minimize seams?  The Phoenix System also reduces the amount of fiberglass insulation that is required, thus saving the mining of silica and massive amounts of energy to produce the fiberglass insulation.

All too often I hear that solid wood walls are not energy efficient. I beg to differ.  By making walls air tight and doing a good job of insulating in areas of high heat loss like the floor and ceiling, installing good thermal doors and windows and taking advantage of the thermal mass of wood, a truly Green home can be built.
With few exceptions wood is the only building material that will regenerate itself. And, while it is regenerating it is absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere.  Producing a steel stud requires 9 times more energy to produce than the equivalent wood stud.  Not to mention that wood has over 400 times the resistance to heat transfer than steel. In my book there is no better way to build Green than using wood.  In fact a study by the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Management (ECCM) found that by substituting wood whenever possible in the construction of homes that an 88% reduction in greenhouse gasses can be accomplished.

To truly build green you have to take into consideration: resource extraction, product manufacturing, transportation, installation, heating and cooling, longevity of the material in the building, and the eventual disposal of the material when the building is torn down. Through the whole life cycle of the building, from resource extraction to disposal, no building material has a lower overall carbon footprint than wood.

My motto is "Build Green, use wood!"

*LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - a standard set by the US Green Building Council.

 

• It takes nine times more energy to produce a steel stud than it does to produce a comparable timber stud.

• It takes five times more energy to produce aluminum than wood.

• It takes three times more energy to extract and produce a concrete block than to produce its equivalent weight in wood.

• Producing a 3 ½” concrete slab floor requires 21 times more energy than producing a wood deck.

• Wood has 413 times the resistance to heat transfer (U-value) of steel, 2000 times that of aluminum and 8 times that of concrete. Of all the common building woods red cedar has the best insulating value.

•  A steel framed building uses 4,000 times more coal, oil and natural gas to process than a wooden framed building.

• Aluminum production results in 8 times the air emissions and 300 times the water emissions than that of lumber production.

• The production of concrete emits 2 to 3 times more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons than the production of lumber.

• Wood is the only readily renewable natural resource and its reserves are increasing everyday.

• Even steel containing 60% recycled materials, consists of 40% virgin materials that were mined from the earth and cannot be replaced.

• Timber is one of the few natural building materials. 

• Timber is generally non-toxic, does not leach chemical vapor and is safe to handle and touch.

• Timber ages naturally and doesn't breakdown into environmentally damaging materials.

• The synthetic materials industries (plastic, vinyl, etc.) rely on oil and natural gas for 98% of their raw materials.

• Wood is one of the few building material that grows itself.

• Wood scraps can be used to generate BTUs for heat; meaning less waste goes to a landfill.

After we completed building our 1,500 square foot Alaskan yellow cedar and western red cedar deck I knew I'd have to do a bit of research to find a de-icer that would not harm the deck, or the house.  Here is what I found.

In cold climates deicing of wood decks is often a necessity if the deck is going to be used safely.  Selecting the wrong deicer can significantly reduce the life of the wood and fasteners in the deck.  The most readily available and least expensive deicer, sodium chloride (salt), should never be used because salt is by far the most corrosive of all the deicers.  Salt will be absorbed into the grain of the wood and will slowly precipitate back out every time the deck is wet, greatly reducing the life of the metal fasteners.  Salt also attracts and holds moisture.

Deicers that contain potassium chloride are not as corrosive as sodium chloride, but they too should not be used on wood decks because they are still way too corrosive for metal fasteners.

Urea based deicers, also known as ammonia sulfates, are considered fairly safe around pets and children and are not very corrosive to fasteners.  However, urea based deicers should be used carefully if your deck is located near streams or lakes because urea, which is also used as a fertilizer, releases nitrates.  Increased levels of nitrates in some water bodies have increased the growth of both native and invasive species of aquatic plants to the point that the water loses oxygen and kills fish.  So, urea based deicers should only be used in areas where water runoff will not enter streams and lakes.  In some areas ammonia sulfates are banned, so if you are going to use them be sure to check with local regulations.
Of all the various deicers it is clear to me the most environmentally friendly, as well as the least corrosive, is Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA).  In fact some studies show that CMA is also a wood preservative because the calcium neutralizes acids and it inhibits rust and other metal corrosion by neutralizing salt's natural corrosive properties. (If you live near the cost airborne salts will be partially neutralized by CMA)  The biggest drawback to CMA deicers is that they are several times more expensive than other deicers.  However, if you look at the cost of deck maintenance and replacement then CMA de-icers are a real bargain.  Luckily CMA deicers are becoming less and less expensive as municipalities and other large users of deicers are purchasing larger quantities each year.  They are doing this because they are finding that using CMA deicers cuts maintenance cost on roads, bridges, and other structures.

Before I totally decided to use CMA as the deicer on my deck I had a few more questions to answer.  Here they are:

1. How is Calcium Magnesium Acetate made?  CMA is a combination of dolomitic lime (limestone), magnesium and acetic acid; the same acid that is found in vinegar.
2. Is CMA safe around children and pets?  In many tests CMA has proven to be as safe as common table salt to children and pets.
3. What temperatures does CMA work in?  CMA works best above 15 degrees Fahrenheit but will work down to temperatures of -20 degrees or lower. (Check the manufacturers label and recommendations.)
4. What is the environmental concern when using CMA?  CMA like all deicers does have some concerns. It has been shown to deplete oxygen in water, but far less than urea based deicers.  In many tests CMA has shown to be the least harmful of all deicers to water quality.
5. What does CMA do to floors and carpets?  Like most deicers CMA is water soluble so it will clean up easily and does not harm most floor surfaces.
6. Does CMA harm vegetation?  CMA, of all the deicers, is one of the least harmful to most vegetation.

There is one last thing to consider with all deicers when used on decks.  Make sure you check that the deicer you select doesn't include dyes that could discolor the wood.  I ran out of CMA deicer and substituted a deicer with potassium chloride that contained a green dye; now I have some permanently green stained wood in portions of my deck.  Of course read and follow all the instructions on the packaging.

1. Esthetics: Will it look good and be a home we are proud to call our own?
   
2. Function: Will the house fulfill the needs of my family? Will it provide the shelter and comfort that we need in our home? Will it be energy efficient?
   
3. Cost: What will it cost to build?
   

Many design classes will teach you that there are 3 things that must be considered when designing or choosing a design.  They are; Esthetics, Function, and Cost. After many years of working in the building trades I will argue that a 4th should be added and that is Serviceability.

Many years ago an architect told me his primary goal was to design a home that the owner would always be proud to say they owned.  He said it was important that each and every time the owner saw their home amongst the other homes they would proudly point to theirs without hesitation.  This architect demonstrated to me how important esthetics is; especially considering that a house is an important part of what makes a home for your family.

Obviously when we decide to build our dream home we all want the most value for our money.  We want our home to not only look nice but we want it to be comfortable and function well.  Balancing a budget to build a functional house while still making our home look good, can be a challenging task.  Add in the fact that we want a low maintenance house, and then the task can become even more of a challenge. However, I would point to red cedar as being one of the most ideal building materials to help us achieve our goals of functioning well and being esthetically pleasing, while still being easy to maintain.  By incorporating red cedar into our family's home, balancing all of the design criteria decreases our challenge.

Red cedar functions very well in most building environments and is an especially good building material in our rainforest environment.  Red cedar is also a very affordable building material that is easy to build with.  And, who doesn't like the looks of red cedar?  Now for the 4th consideration that I have added: Serviceability.  Red cedar is known for its longevity.  It is extremely rot and insect resistant and holds finishes well making it an easy material to maintain over the life of the home.

Yes, we could all live in tarpaper shacks.  They would fulfill our need for shelter.  Even with heating costs that tarpaper shack could possibly be economical.  However, esthetically a tarpaper shack would not be very pleasing to our eye, and would not function well for your family.  I will stick to my assertion that you will have to look long and hard to find a better building material than red cedar.  It functions well, it is very economical, it is very pleasing esthetically and best of all is easy to take care of. Short term and long term you will get more value for your hard earned dollars with red cedar than with any other building material.

 

All too many times I have seen heating systems that have been designed for homes more as an afterthought than taking center stage as they should in cold climates.  Way too often heating costs are much higher than they should be simply because the system was not well thought out.  In today’s world of escalating energy costs, before the ink hits the paper for the building prints, you should have a good idea of how you are going to heat your home.  By preplanning how you are going to heat, the house can be built in such a way that you are not only going to save on your heating bills, but the house is going to be comfortably warm too.

Keep in mind that heat is transferred in three ways, Convection, Conduction and Radiation.  All of us are familiar with convection and know that hot air rises.  We also know that different materials conduct heat at different rates.  However, many of us find that the movement of heat by radiation can be a bit puzzling even though we experience it everyday when we feel the warmth of the sun.

By thinking about how heat is transferred and remembering that heat moves from warm to cold we can build a home that is not only comfortable but economical to heat. The fact that Pan Abode Homes are made of wood helps us in our quest for comfortable inexpensive heat. This is because wood has a low U-factor.* In other words, wood does a good job of not conducting heat away from where we want it even though it has a relatively low R-value.  Additionally the thermal mass of wood will help keep temperatures uniform within the living quarters through a 24 hour day by slowly absorbing and then releasing heat.
If we build the ceilings of our homes relatively airtight we can assure that the transfer of heat via convection will not rob our homes of the BTU's* that we have generated to heat the home.  If we not only insulate well but use materials such as wood that have low conductivity rates this too will help ensure we keep the warm air where we want it. The same is true of our floors; lower conductive materials will help keep our home warm.

Now to that mysterious heat; radiation. Radiant heat is a form of energy that travels via electromagnetic waves.  These waves do not heat the air they travel through.  They release their energy when they hit an object - like people, furniture, floors and walls.  In turn those objects release some of that energy in the form of convection or conductive heat.  By properly placing windows we can gain significant heat in our homes via solar radiation.  If those homes contain large masses of materials such as wood that have a low conductivity rates then the energy is stored for later use. If we then combine in-floor radiant heat which works much the same as the radiant heat from the sun we can ensure economical, comfortable heat all the time.  By heating a surface, such as the floor of the home, heat is transferred via radiation until it hits another object.  This is why people often feel warmer in a home with radiant heat, even though the air temperature is cooler, than in a home with other forms of heat.

As you can more than likely tell, I'm a fan of in-floor radiant heating.  I'm certainly not a heating expert, but even with my limited knowledge on heating, I could nearly write a book on all the attributes of radiant heat.  In my own Post and Beam Pan Abode Home, a custom Cutter Design, we used Warmboard to hold the PEX tubing for the in floor heating.  Of course the design team at Pan Abode did a great job of working with us to ensure that the Warmboard worked for our application.  Since we were building in Southeast Alaska we knew we would be working in some very tough conditions so we elected not to install the Warmboard until the house was weathered in.  This meant that all the rough openings for doors, ceiling heights and so forth had to be part of the design.

Now that we have been heating with the radiant heat for about a year I'm even more pleased with it than I thought I would be.  I had read several times that ceiling fans were not necessary with radiant heated homes because there is not much heat loss via convection currents.  I found this hard to believe so a ceiling fan was installed in our cathedral ceiling home because I was sure the 2nd floor would be roasting without it.  Man was I wrong, as there is truly little to no temperature rise from the 1st to the 2nd floor.  I find the only time the fan gets any use is when my grandsons are visiting and that is because little kids find that turning off and on a ceiling fan is fun.  So far the only problem we have had with the radiant heat is the fact that some of the zones don't turn on very often because the woodstove more than heats the main living areas.  Because the house has a tight ceiling, convection currents of warm air rising don’t have anywhere to escape so even with the woodstove burning, the 2nd  floor is seldom much hotter than the 1st floor.
For anyone who is reading this and wants to know how a single 50 gallon hot water heater supplies the BTUs for the in-floor heat please e-mail me.  I can be reached at southeastcedarhomes@gmail.com. I'd be happy to pass on what I learned designing and putting together our heating system.

* U-factor is a measurement of the ability of materials to conduct heat.  The lower the conductance the lower the U-factor.

* 1 BTU or British Thermal Unit = 1 degree Fahrenheit raise in temperature of one pound of water. Or about the equivalent of burning one wood match.