LEED for Homes Illinois

Finding diamonds in the rough has been the strategy for many a house-flipper, and there are plenty of people doing that with the number of foreclosed homes available on the market.  However, a new spin on this is taking a foreclosed home that needs a gut rehab and turning it into a LEED-certified home, and could be a model solution for dealing with the glut of foreclosures on the market. Read more » »

Chicago Magazine recently profiled a gut rehab home that achieved LEED Platinum certification, and included a photo tour of the home along with affordable green home remodel. View details at the Chicago Magazine online blog.

See this home for yourself at our tour on May 5!

Chicago’s green consumer magazine, Mindful Metropolis, released their January issue with an article focusing on the first prefabricated LEED home in the city of Chicago.  The project, which AES toured in December, is the focus of a two-page cover story discussing the evolution of prefab homes as an affordable green alternative.  The magazine has an interview with the architecture team of Jeff Sommers and Kate Votava, of Square Root Architecture, and their plan to replicate prefab homes across Chicagoland. Download the full article.

Another Chicago project was recently in the news, filmed by the ABC (Channel 7) News team. Tom McGrath’s Elemental Building is a gut-rehab project transformed into a high-end LEED Platinum home right in the heart of Bucktown. The project’s first move was to build a solar garage that could provide power for the construction team, and has some innovative reuse of materials.  Watch the video.

Have a newsworthy project you’re working on?  Be sure you’re on our Project List page and send us information.

This article republished from patch.com

As the first planned green home in Northbrook, the 4,500-square-foot, 2-story, 4-bedroom house will take advantage of the land’s orientation and unique flood, solar, and energy conservation characteristics. The home’s owner and general contractor is Ihab Riad, owner of Green Park Construction, a builder of luxury custom homes. As the first LEED-certified home in Northbrook, Mr. Riad expects to receive a rebate for the building permit fee, given Northbrook’s green building incentive program.  Read more » »

Imagine that every building maintained the ecological balance needed to sustain life on earth. An immensely complicated goal?  Maybe.  But if we put our fears of failure at the back of the bus, we will maximize the possibility of success.

An Ecologically Balanced Building (EBB), then, is the most advanced building possible for our times because it strives to replicate the ecological balance found in nature.

This project in Isabella, MN was designed to consume an annual energy load of Read more » »

AES certified another LEED Platinum home in Wisconsin that features a picture-perfect location on Lake Michigan’s west shore in Racine, Wisconsin. The Scekic-Osborne home is a three-bedroom, 1900 square foot home — an example of the recent trend of home sizes retreating to more reasonable levels rather than the McMansions of yesteryear. The home, designed by Johnsen Schmaling Architects of Milwaukee, mixes modern architecture with a growing design trend known as “micro architecture,” which places a premium on petiteness, design and sustainability.

Download Scekic-Osborne Residence Profile

The home’s modern exterior features Read more » »

Chicago’s Yannell residence has gained a lot of notoriety as the first “net-zero” home in the city – capable of producing as much energy as it consumes. Yet another home on Chicago’s far northwest side, the Helenowski Residence, has joined the prestigious ranks of ultra-green LEED Platinum homes. In fact, it’s one of the highest overall point totals ever achieved for a LEED-certified home.

Net-Zero LEED Platinum Home - Zukas Photography

This incredibly energy-efficient home was actually a gut-rehab of Read more » »

A LEED home in Palatine offers exemplary design details, intending to max out the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) section of the LEED for Homes rating system.

In a groundbreaking partnership with industry leaders in green design, Healthy Child Healthy World plans to create a real-life, interactive, educational model for healthier living. Healthy Home 2010: Designer Showcase & Tour will be a cutting-edge initiative that will raise the bar on sustainable design by focusing on healthier indoor environments. The home will be open to the public when completed in September and available for tours from September 25, 2010 through October 10, 2010.
Read more » »

The Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (AES) announces an exciting new addition to its LEED Homes roster in Illinois: the first prefabricated “green” home to be built in Chicago, which will earn the prestigious LEED Platinum certification upon completion. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Homes certification provides third-party assurance that a home complies with rigorous technical requirements for energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, non-toxic materials, and environmental performance. Square Root Architecture, along with Helios Design/Build and Indiana Building Systems, will be installing the prefabricated green home, a single-family residence in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood.

C3 Prefab in Chicago

Read more » »

Solar panels and wind turbines sold Meg Barrett and Doug Smit on the Prairie Ridge Estates development in New Lenox. “I would be an ambassador for this type of technology,” Barrett said. (David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / July 28, 2010)

A newly formed company thinks the beacon that will attract homebuyers to its patch of dirt in New Lenox isn’t a clubhouse or walking paths, the extras that once drew attention to new subdivisions, but 30-foot-tall vertical-axis wind turbines.

Prairie Ridge Estates, as envisioned by local developers Jim and Phil Regan, could just possibly become the nation’s largest net-zero energy subdivision, filled with homes that produce as much energy as they use during a year.

But selling 132 lots of really green housing also could prove a formidable task for Energy Smart Home Builders, and not just because homebuilding has screeched to a halt.

View full Chicago Tribune article

Reproduced from Chicago Tribune, Aug 3, 2010.