Kneipp developed a list of 10 categories ranging from rain conservation to transportation and assigned each random point values. A household must break 1,000 points to be considered a ‘‘Cheverly Green Home” and can earn a maximum of 1,600 points.
Examples of ways to earn points include recycling regularly and driving a vehicle that gets more than 45 miles per gallon. A worksheet on the Progressive Cheverly Web site lists the point values.
Davis, a sustainable design architect for the General Services Administration, and his wife, Melanie Hartwig-Davis, also a sustainable design architect, were the first of three families in Cheverly to earn their certification in June 2007, followed by residents Craig and Janet Tupper and Kneipp and his wife, Casey. Sustainable design emphasizes building with conservation in mind and depending less on non-renewable sources of energy such as oil and natural gas.
‘‘Every time we painted a room, every time we pulled up the carpet and refinished the wood floors, did a renovation here and renovation there, we were always thinking about how can we make this sustainable and green,” Lance Davis said. ‘‘When you do it that way, you find it’s not a huge sticker shock to you. You can bite it off in small chunks.”
Their carport roof is now an extension of their garden, watered with precipitation collected from rain barrels fashioned from Pepsi Bottling Group containers from the Pepsi plant less than two miles away from their home. Their outside deck is made of recycled plastic bags and oak saw dust. Their kitchen floor is made out of cork and their countertops from recycled paper.
Even the dual-flush toilet uses only 0.8 gallons of water per flush. A second button uses 1.5 gallons to flush solid waste. Hartwig-Davis said a regular toilet uses 1.5 gallons on every flush.
‘‘You have to special order them when you go to Home Depot and Lowes,” Hartwig-Davis said. ‘‘Unfortunately the more common hardware stores are [slower] in changing out their advertised goods to promote sustainability.”
Davis said building the deck from recycled materials cost $1,000, compared to the $700 for a standard wooden deck. However, Davis said he will never have to worry about staining or sanding the deck and can use it year-round.
‘‘I could certainly have a deck made out of crappy materials that are dangerous to my kids for a whole lot less money,” Davis said. ‘‘But I chose to have an upgraded deck that I can use almost all year long that my kids can be on. I’m paying for peace of mind. I’m paying for more usability over a longer life. To me that doesn’t cost more.”
Davis said Cheverly residents know he and his wife as being ‘‘strong advocates of design” and said it is important for neighbors to see for themselves ways they can improve their own homes.
‘‘You can’t just go to Home Depot and say ‘I want to have a green home’ and know what you need,” Davis said. ‘‘You need to be able to ask your neighbors. You need to be able to see examples.”
During his own quest to have a certified green home, Kneipp paid for a professional energy audit, which runs tests such as a solar orientation survey to determine if a home can benefit from adding solar panels and a ‘‘blower door test” which identifies rooms letting in gusts of air. Kneipp said he learned caulking around old windows, adding insulation and sealing windows with plastic and double-sided tape can help plug the holes. Kneipp said his audit cost $275. Audits can run as much as $300.
‘‘In the long term it pays back for itself,” Kneipp said. ‘‘Once you recoup the costs, you continue to get the savings. My bills have gone down about 15 percent, so it’s been helpful.”
Davis said going green is easy if you are into ‘‘just picking cool products and technologies that are out there,” but said staying green is often much more expensive for people who think that way.
‘‘What we really suggest is an integrated design approach,” Davis said.” Something like the rain barrels that we have, those serve multiple purposes. It captures the water off our house, which waters the gardens that I get food from.”
Kneipp said no other family has attempted certification since his family. He said application forms will be available during Cheverly Day on May 17 at Town Hall or people can visit www.pipeline.com⁄~progchev⁄green_homes.htm to download a form.
E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.
