Habitat for Humanity of Kent County proposes net-zero energy home

Rick Martinez

Habitat for Humanity of Kent County is making a bid to be the first of the affiliates in Michigan to build a Habitat net-zero energy home that is designed to generate as much energy as its household consumes.

The home proposed for the 300 block of Freyling Place SE is to feature passive solar heating and hot water, thermal mass, a wind turbine and "a tight envelope" with natural ventilation, says Chris Hall, Habitat's construction operations director. "Hopefully, we can influence the next generation of building, period, and not just Habitat homes."

It is the centerpiece of the Wealthy Heights Partnership Project. The 14-home effort, expected to be completed by November 2011, is the latest by the non-profit, which is collaborating with a dozen non-profits and governmental agencies on the effort.

Habitat, a Christian-based organization focused on building affordable housing in partnership with people in need, plans to gut, rehab and historically preserve four homes ranging from 900 to 1,700 square feet and build seven new 1,200-square-foot, single-story homes in Wealthy Heights' Eastown.

The Dwelling Place Inc., a non-profit focused on affordable housing, supportive services and urban revitalization, plans to build three new homes in the working-class neighborhood dating to the 1840s.

The project on Freyling, Donald, Robey and Visser places SE north of Wealthy also includes a weatherization program targeting up to 30 other nearby homes, a mix of working-class single-family and duplexes. In addition, the City of Grand Rapids is planning two one-block connector streets, linking Robey with Freyling and Donald.

Expectations are the homes will only cost slightly more than typical to build, says Mary Buikema, Habitat's executive director.

Habitat is partnering with the Ferris State University Energy Center, Grand Rapids Community College's Tassell M-TEC and Grand Rapids Public Schools' Academy of Design & Construction to make the project a learning laboratory. The non-profit rehabs homes in addition to building anew.

Several departments from Ferris State, which this fall offers a bachelor's degree in energy systems engineering, will be involved in the homes' design and study their energy usage. The project will provide 127 GRCC students green-building and deconstruction opportunities.
 
"We have a huge opportunity to learn and validate the energy-efficiency in these homes," says Arn McIntyre, Energy Center coordinator. "We need to learn how to do these things practically on house, after house, after house."

Carol Moore, a neighborhood resident for 32 years, is excited about preserving existing homes. Kathryn "K.C." Caliendo, East Hills Council of Neighbors neighborhood organizer, says the effort continues 30 years of revival in the area.

For the past three years, all new Habitat homes in Kent and eastern Ottawa counties have been certified Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED), Buikema says. Habitat has built and rehabbed nearly 30 homes over the past year and about 300 since its 1983 founding, Hall says.