Construction on ABC Green Home 2.0 Is Underway

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 18, 2014 – It was announced in San Francisco, CA during the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) that construction of the ABC Green Home 2.0 began in Walnut, CA. The design team, led by project developer Nick Slevin, Publisher of Green Home Builder magazine introduced several key design partners on the ABC Green Home project during a press conference held on the floor of the trade show, one of the nation's largest homebuilding shows.

PCBC was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, June 25 through June 26. Designed to elevate the industry's dialogue and explore new perspectives, PCBC offers numerous opportunities to contribute to the advancement of the art and science of community building, making it the perfect place to display the cutting edge technology of the ABC Green Home 2.0.

Following the success of the Gold Nugget award-winning original ABC (Affordable, Buildable, Certified) Green Home at the Great Park in Irvine, California, Green Home Builder magazine, Southern California Edison (SCE) and Habitat for Humanity are proud to announce these recent developments about the groundbreaking for the latest home.

Upon completion, the home will be open to the building industry and the general public for six months in order to showcase the home's technologies and green products.

"Home builders are looking for ways to compete for buyers in today's much changed U.S home building business. Buyers are seeking more efficient, healthier homes. High performance homes represent the intersection of opportunity and growing demand, for any smart home builder paying attention to the evolving housing market. Our ABC Green Homes represent the very best of American design, technology and construction, on an affordable on any lot footprint," said Slevin. "These homes represent an ideal template to promote significant and positive change in the sustainable housing marketplace."

The home will eventually be made available to a disabled U.S. Veteran family through Habitat for Humanity on a lot donated by the City of Walnut.

Noted architect Manny Gonzalez and his team from the Los Angeles office of the KTGY Group Architecture + Planning designed the home; a 2,400-square foot plan that will accommodate multi-generational living and offers "smart home technology," which works together to automate a number of the home's basic systems, including the electrical, lighting, security and communication systems.

The ABC Green Home 2.0 is smart and sustainable. It demonstrates that a solar-powered, sustainable home can be built using available and recycled materials, such as Emser tile; countertops from Eco by Cosentino; smart technology like WiFi enabled thermostats from Honeywell and remote access door handles and locks from Schlage; energy efficient appliances like Goodman HVAC and hot water heating by AO Smith at a cost that is competitive with conventional housing.

Implementing numerous green building practices, the ABC Green Home 2.0 will continue its high-performance themes brought to life by the original project and maintain the principles of being affordable, buildable and third-party certifiable. Since California is seeking to make net-zero energy use mandatory by 2020, the home and its sustainability template will show how to achieve net-zero now. SCE and other groups plan to use the home as a classroom to educate builders, architects, designers and others about energy efficient construction techniques.

This high-performance home is being developed by Green Home Builder magazine, supported by SCE and built by Habitat for Humanity. Noted design team members include The KTGY Group Architecture + Planning, Urban Arena, LJP, Albus Keefe, Hall and Foreman, Gouvis Engineering Consulting Group, Green Point Rated, Venture One, and Ripple Creative Group. Much of the designers were part of the original team from the ABC Green Home 1.0, which has been on display at the Great Park for two years and was part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon in 2013.

The ABC Green Home project features a flexible design by noted architect Manny Gonzalez and his team from the Los Angeles office of KTGY Group, who said that momentum has already been growing in recent years toward more housing such as this. "Being able to demonstrate that you can build a home that uses Net-Zero energy is important, but being able to do it affordably makes the message even more compelling for the home building industry," he said.

PetersenDean Roofing & Solar is supplying 8.5KW of solar for the home and a cool roof from Boral, helping it achieve Zero-Net Energy (ZNE), meaning it will produce as much energy as it uses during the year through a combination of energy efficient practices and products and on-site, grid-tied renewable energy production.

Organizers hope that the ABC Green Home will demonstrate how to utilize design, planning, engineering and science to create the ideal green home at a reasonable cost.

"There's a misconception in the housing business that green homebuilding is daunting," said Slevin. "We are building this home out of materials you can get anywhere. It is designed to be easily built by a homebuilder on a lot anywhere in the country, using modern sustainable products and practices. There are few if any, affordable, entry-level, certified green homes being built by production homebuilders for sale in America so the home is expected to serve as a laboratory for design and construction of future sustainable housing."

Demonstrating the best green practices in the industry, the home will be certified by six agencies, including LEED Platinum for Homes certified, Cal Green, Build it Green, California Advanced Homes, ENERGY STAR and NAHB Green. These well-known programs represent a high standard in national third-party certification for sustainability in new home construction.

"We chose the top six most commonly used rating systems that a builder would typically use themselves to independently certify that their homes are being properly constructed, sustainable and built green. Any builder can copy this model on any lot in America," said Slevin. 

With contemporary styling and classic curb appeal, ABC 2.0 showcases energy-efficient products and appliances throughout the home. A tight building envelope is created with Icynene spray foam insulation, Tyvek StuccoWrap and ThermalStar Chrome rigid insulation behind the walls, as well as superior indoor air quality created by Air King ventilation. Other eco-friendly interiors include low-VOC paints by Dunn-Edwards and efficient windows, doors and appliances. Water efficiency is important and was achieved through low flow faucets by Delta, plumbing by FlowGuard Gold and efficient irrigation nozzles for the landscape by RainBird.

Other components include:

• Solar panels have been placed on the rear roof to improve the home's appearance.
• Outdoor living area to help reduce indoor electricity costs.
• Studs -- the upright pieces of lumber in walls -- have been built 2-feet apart instead of the traditional 16 inches and are made from 2-by-6-inch boards instead of the traditional 2-by-4's. This reduces lumber use and creates bigger spaces in walls for insulation.
• Carpets are made from recycled materials.
•  Landscaping reduces water consumption, using permeable paving stones from Angelus Block
• Non-toxic, zero emissions paint and wallpaper are used to improve the indoor air quality.

Innovation is the key to success, according to Saeed Bekam, president Gouvis Engineering Consulting Group. "With the ABC 2.0, we have been able to use new means and methods to achieve a sustainable and economical building. By using 2X6 studs spaced 24 inches apart instead of commonly used 2X4 at 16," we were able to provide a better system for both structural resistance to the imposed loads and provide more cavity space for energy efficient design without increasing the cost of construction. We also eliminated the corner studs. Other innovative ideas used single top plates, LED lights, structured plumbing and HVAC design, demand water circulation and more efficient roofing system/insulation."

The ABC Green Home 2.0 is setting new sustainable standards for Habitat for Humanity as well. 

"We view it as a great learning opportunity for us while also allowing us to serve a local veteran and his or her family. While our homes exceed Title 24 standards, this is a whole new level of sustainability and we're very excited about it," said Jody Gmeiner, President/CEO of the Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity. 

The 2.0 home is pushing sustainable boundaries in many areas, including the solar component by PetersenDean, which includes 8.5 KW of solar, compared to the average 3.5KW on other green homes.

Energy conservation is just one of the reasons the project has been so popular with industry leaders and groups like SCE, Habitat for Humanity and KTGY.

"Southern California Edison is proud to support the ABC Green Home. It's our hope that this visionary project inspires homeowners, builders and renters to think about all the possibilities that are open to them. Every energy-efficient feature, no matter how small, makes a positive impact on their own electric bills and the environment that we all share," said John Morton, project construction manager with SCE.

The ABC Green Home 2.0 is also a showcase for cutting edge technology.

"Any home that is programmable by the home owner is exciting. There are a lot of things you can do with this home with the push of a button from turning on and off the lights, sprinklers, appliances and unlocking the doors, to monitoring your security system, or even closing the blinds, or turning on the ceiling fans," said Slevin. "Being able to operate your home from your smart phone device is a feature and a benefit. This smart home technology is standard in an ABC Green Home and we believe that technology simplifies life, and if you are a wounded vet you want things to be simple."

The home even includes Universal Design elements, making it suitable for ownership for a wide cross section of the American home-buying public. It is handicapped-compatible with wider doors and halls, lower work spaces, and can be adapted for wheelchairs in showers and under sinks.

Upon completion, the ABC Green Home 2.0 will be open to the building industry and the general public for six months in order to showcase the home's technologies and green products. Networking events and demonstrations will be hosted at the home by SCE, BIA, AIA, and ULI along with several product partners and sponsors. After which, the home will eventually be made available to a disabled U.S. Veteran family in Walnut, California through Habitat for Humanity. 

Virtual 3-D modelling is also being used to showcase the green attributes on the 2.0 home.

"The ABC Green Home 2.0 Project is truly a 'green' project from the concept design to marketing. Ripple CG worked with all facets of the design and construction team as well as Peninsula Publishing to build a hi-end 3D virtual tour that provides a realistic view of the finished product before construction even begins. All of this was achieved without printing a single page of paper. This virtual tour gives the entire team and product partners a tool to explore the new ABC Green Home while clicking on embedded links that take the viewer to corresponding product pages online. This approach makes for a unique and informative marketing experience both for the product vender and the home buyer," said Joe King, Operations Director and Principal, Ripple Creative Group.

ABC Green Home 2.0 partners include: ACT Inc., Action Power, Air King, Angelus Block, AO Smith, Atlas EPS, BEAM by Electrolux Central Vacuum Systems, BlazeMaster Fire Sprinkler Systems, Boral Roofing; California Redwood Co., California TrusFrame, Cultured Stone by Boral, Canadian Solar, Dacor, Danver, Delta Faucet, Dunn-Edwards, DuPont Building Innovations, ECO by Cosentino, Emser Tile, First American Title Company, FlowGuard Gold CPVC, Goodman HVAC, Hardy Frames, Honeywell, Icynene, Kaco, King Architectural Metals, LaHabra Stucco Solutions, LifeSource Water Systems, Milgard Windows, MiTek, MP Global Products, Nick's Building Supply, PetersenDean, Rain Bird, Sapphire Software, Schlage, Silestone, Stego, Trim-Tex, United Site Services and USP Structural Connectors. For more information, please use the contact information and link provided below. For more information, please use the contact information and link provided below.

About Green Home Builder Magazine: Since 2006, Green Home Builder has published bi-monthly magazines in print and online by Newport Beach, Calif.-based Peninsula Publishing Inc., publishers of business management magazines for homebuilding professionals since 1990. For more information, use the link provided below.

About Pomona Valley Habitat For Humanity: Habitat has helped build or repair more than 800,000 houses and served more than 4 million people around the world since 1976. Through the work of Habitat, low-income families have found new hope in the form of affordable housing. For more information, use the link provided below.

About Southern California Edison: An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California. For more information, use the link provided below.

About KTGY Group Architecture + Planning: As a full-service architectural and planning firm established in 1991, KTGY has delivered a depth and breadth of successful design solutions for planning and urban design, residential, mixed-use and retail. For more information, use he link provided below.