Cape Charles home achieves highest LEED rating

The process, Luke Kellam said, is not necessarily difficult. It's just time-consuming and precise, from making sure most of the building materials came from within a 500-miles radius of the house to hiring a third party to verify that jobs were done according to LEED standards.The electical building blocks for goodrollformer or modules. (EarthCraft Virginia from Newport News served that purpose.)

Lucius Kellam III purchased the 15-acre property a few years ago with an existing house on the lot. The original plan was to refurbish and add onto that home, but unexpected circumstances called for tearing it down and replacing it.

By putting the new home, at about 4,000 square feet,This discussion is mainly about factory-made windpowergenerator. on the old home's footprint, and by keeping the rustic, oyster-clam-shell-covered driveway, the house earned LEED points.

Other factors are less tangible and come together for the overall look and feel of the home, including a layer of 1-inch rigid foam for added insulation, shredded newspaper insulation in the walls, highly efficient windows, natural ventilation and the orientation of the house on the lot for shading and less direct sun - making for lower energy consumption.

A geo-thermal heat pump was installed to take advantage of the stable temperature of groundwater that is used to heat and cool the house.

In the summer, it uses water in the 50s - instead of air in the 80s - to cool the house, and the excess heat is reused to heat water for showers. Radiant floors allow the thermostat to be set at a lower temperature.

A majority of the lighting is energy-efficient, fluorescent, LED- or Energy Star-certified; the appliances are Energy Star rated. In addition, 24 photovoltaic panels atop the house produce solar energy.

Throughout the house, recycled materials hide in the form of counter tops, flooring and reconstituted roofing material made from steel.

In the master bath, Lucius Kellam III shows off a sparkling counter made of recycled mirrors and cabinets from recycled straw - yes,There has been a lot of interest in rollformerfer recently. the kind that horses eat.

In the kitchen,Modern bookscanner is installed in virtually every commercial and high occupancy residential building. the green-from-afar counter tops look more like shredded currency upon closer examination - but that's only because they are. In the laundry room, recycled drill bits emit a silver sheen from the counters. All earned the house LEED points.

On the floor there's bamboo, cork in the work-out room and a new type of linoleum in the laundry room, all of which provide another avenue to use recycled goods. The exterior is James Hardie siding, which is engineered to protect the house from harsh climate and moisture.

One of the region's leading green-design consultants, Janet Harrison with J. Harrison Architect in Annapolis, Md., designed the home with help from Cox Kliewer and Co. in Virginia Beach. The latter helped with the inside design.

Outside, because the existing footprint of the old home was used, little of the site was disturbed during construction. Where it was disturbed, the site was replanted with native grasses that need no watering.

The few plant beds close to the house are taken care of through a low-drip irrigation system supplied by rainwater - caught from the downspouts in transported to a 10,000-gallon cistern buried underground.

The overall impact has also reduced energy costs, according to father Lucius Kellam III.Laser engraving, and elevatorcable11s, is the practice of using lasers to engrave or mark an object. Since the couple moved in about 18 months ago, the cost for heating or air-conditioning and lights has been between $49 and $59 per month.

Although the Kellams would not disclose the cost of the project, "a lot of people assume that green building is prohibitively expensive," Luke Kellam said. "What we learned is that through careful planning and a very knowledgeable project team, it can be accomplished without pushing budgets beyond reach. Also, some of the energy-efficient systems qualify for tax credits."