Information about Green Building

Building Energy Conference

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Green Schools Resources

Mid-Atlantic Sustainability Conference

Northeast Green Building Awards

Sustainability Series Workshops

Green Building Links

Recommended Books

The Philadelphia Million Solar Roofs Partnership, the Sustainable Development Fund, and the Philadelphia Solar Energy Association helped organize sites in the Philadelphia area.

Open sites are listed below.

Stargazers Vineyard, Coatesville

Designer: Mesa Environmental Sciences designed photovoltaic system

Construction Cost: $48,000 total for installation of 4,800 kW system.

Square Feet: 2,500 with press pad of 1,250

Building Style: Poured concrete, metal roof, in-ground on 3 sides.

Year Built: Solar installation June 2003

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics
  
• Earth sheltered

Other Building Information: 4,800 kW system with 30 BP solar panels. The winery is built of poured concrete, 1 foot-thick walls, 12 feet high, 50’ x 50’ with a 50’ x 25’ covered press pad. It is built into the hill on three sides. There is no heating or cooling system. It has a metal roof with a 26 degree angle in front, facing south. The 30 BP solar panels are installed there. All rainwater from winery roof is collected in cisterns alongside the building for use in winery washing and vineyard spraying.

General Information: Photovoltaic panels are on the roof of the winery. This is the building being shown. There is a passive solar house on the property that can be seen from the outside but will not be toured. The earth-sheltered winery is available to tour. Hardware for the photovoltaic system is in the bottle room of the winery.

Airville

Designer: Owners

Construction Cost: 90,000

Square Feet: 1250

Builder: Owners

Building Style: Contemporary

Year Built: 1997-1999

Fuel Type: Wood

Fuel Amount: 3-4 cords

Window Brand: Andersen

Insulation Type: fiberglass

Insulation Quantity: 6-8”

Building Features:

• Composting toilet
• Photovoltaics
• Passive solar
• Instantaneous hot water
• Alternative fuel vehicle

Other Building Information: Astro Power Panels. Trace inverter. TriMetric meter. Golf cart batteries. Aqua Star instantaneous hot water. Off-the-grid Solar Electric. 1kW watt solar, 3600 watt inverter. Sun Frost refrigerator. VW diesel Golf powered by home-made biodiesel (modified used vegetable oil).

General Information: Rural, owner-designed and built, solar electric off-the-grid, 1250 sq. foot contemporary home, heated by wood and passive solar, with composting toilet, Sunfrost refrigerator, 1kW solar electric system which is located about 150 feet from the home.

Collegeville

Square Feet: 2,700

Builder: Sunpower Builders

Building Style: Stone farmhouse

Year Built: 1700 (approx.) Renovated: 1984/1996/2000

Building Features:

• Solar domestic hot water
• Geothermal heat pump
• Passive solar

Other Building Information: Solar hot water, geothermal heat pump, passive solar assisted. 3-3x8 Heliotherm flat plate collectors. Geothermal HVAC with well water "chiller" for AC. 30 ton rock storage and high efficiency south-facing glazing. Solar heated pool, low chemical use. Air sealing, duct sealing, insulation/ventilation, compact fluorescent lighting.

General Information: 300 year old stone house with passive solar and energy efficient renovations and addition. Solar heated pool, organic gardens, composting, recycling, chickens, goats, sheep, peacocks, bird habitat and butterfly gardens. Passive solar office on the same site built with recycled and salvaged materials.

Conshohocken

Designer: Carolyn Bogart

Builder: Owner

Square Feet: 1900

Building Style: Custom ranch

Year Built: 2003

Fuel Type: Natural gas

Fuel Amount: $250.00

Window Brand: Andersen

Insulation Type: JM Formaldehyde free (plenty)

Building Features:

• Energy Star rated
• Solar domestic hot water
• Sunspace
• Photovoltaics
• Passive solar
• Instantanous hot water
• Earth sheltered
• Radiant floor heating

Other Building Information: Home has numerous accessibility features, efficient ventilation, bamboo flooring, water harvesting system.

General Information: This is the first of two rental homes with a focus on accessibility, efficiency, resource consciousness and education. For additional information, go to www.rebelhill.com.

Fort Washington

Square Feet: 2000

Year Built: 1965

Fuel Type: Natural Gas

Fuel Amount: 912

Electricity Amount: 6051 kwh

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics
• Alternative fuel vehicle

General Information: I have a 3kwh pv system installed on my garage roof. Visitors will see the solar panels on the roof and the Sunny Boy inverter in the basement which converts the solar energy from DC to AC.

Glen Mills

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics

Other Building Information: Recycled window sashes for walls of the greenhouse.

General Information: 5kw of solar panels on three trackers.

Kennett Square

Designer: Karl W. Boer

Builder: Karl W. Boer

Building Style: Ranch

Building Features:

• Solar domestic hot water
• Photovoltaics

Other Building Information: PV roof size: 1375 sq. ft.; 12.5 kw Astro Power PV panels with Trace and SunnyBoy inverters directly connected to grid. Avg. solar harvesting per year, 13, 150 kWh (36.0 kWh/day). Solar water heater for swimming pool & domestic water.

General Information: You will see the outside PV roofs, the inverters and metering system on the guest house complex and the outside thermal roof on the pool house roof.

Lincoln University

Building Style: Victorian

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics
• Solar domestic hot water

General Information: I have a 3 kW solar electric system with roof panels and a dual axis tracker. I also have solar heated domestic hot water. For more information about the house please visit my website, http://udel.edu/~slbun/solar.

Media

Designer: Kevin Castellan and Baggot & Bak

Square Feet: 1,100

Builder: Creative Dwellings, Inc

Year Built: To be completed early 2004

Fuel Type: Natural gas

Window Brand: Andersen

Insulation Type: Cellulose wet spray walls and dry blown attic

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics (solar shingles)

Other Building Information: Waste water heat recovery. Functional beauty, maintenance-free poly propylene shingle.

General Information: 2 BR single family residence to be tenant occupied. New house, under construction, sloping roofs are shingled with UNI-SOLAR SHR-17 PHOTOVOLTAIC SHINGLES. These solar shingles look and function as a part of the roof. This 4 KW photovoltaic project has all of the components in place, including 2 SMA SUNNYBOY 1800U inverters. All that's missing is the utility connection. Another energy efficient element of the house is the Doucette Industries' "GFX wastewater heat exchanger" which is probably the most durable and simple way to save on hot water since the proverbial cold shower.

Media

Designer: Susan Maxman Partners

Square Feet: 10,000

Builder: Pennex

Year Built: 2001

Window Brand: Marvin

Building Features:

• Geothermal heat pump
• Daylighting
• LEED rated
• Energy Star rated
• Passive solar
• Earth sheltered

Other Building Information: LEED and Energy Star ratings are pending. Many recycled, sustainably grown and rapidly renewable components including: Bio-composite wood products (wheat & sunflower seeds), certified sustainably grown lumber, recycled plastic countertops

General Information: Offices for non-profit land conservancy with 33 on-site employees. Located on a 55 acre preserve. New building is attached to circa 1830’s stone farmhouse. The new building is a steel framed two story structure built into a hill. The upper level has a large planning office with a high clerestory area.

Melrose Park

Construction Cost: $26,000

Square Feet: 1,911

Year Built: 1917

Fuel Type: Natural Gas Wood

Fuel Amount: $526 gas 2001 & 2 cords wood/yr

Window Brand: Low-E double glazed

Insulation Type: Blown-in recycled styro beads

Insulation Quantity: varies

Building Features:

• Photovoltaics
• Solar domestic hot water
• Sunspace
• Passive solar

Other Building Information: The Rudin house has a 2.7 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) grid-tied system mounted on the back roof. It was installed in June, 1998, and has been in continuous operation since June 27. It primarily consists of 36-75 watt PV panels (12V DC) and a 4 kW Trace inverter (battery-less), amongst other hardware. It is grid-tied meaning that the system uploads surplus solar power (after meeting the house loads) onto the utility grid, thus spinning the utility meter backwards. This system generates more power than the Rudin residence normally consumes each year. The building also utilizes flow-restrictors on the faucets , water-saving showerheads, high efficiency gas boiler, high efficiency refrigerator, florescent lighting and Velux skylights. There is also an organic garden. Water from roofs drains into the garden & kitchen waste is collected for compost along with leaves.

General Information: The system was designed by Ron Celentano; the panels were installed by Russell Roofing; electrician who wired the system was Bob Loeffel. Total cost of the system was about $26,000. On sunny days, the domestic water is preheated by two 3’ x 7’ drain-down solar hot water panels mounted on the roof of a sun room. If the sun does not heat the water enough, a Morflo direct vent water heater heats it. There are submeters for both the hot water and natural gas use. The system was installed by Bob Nape of Solar Technologies for $2,500.

Narberth

Designer: John L. Cox

Construction Cost: Photovoltaics approx $12,000

Square Feet: 4500

Builder: Fred Zeiter & Son, Bryn Mawr

Building Style: Pole Barn

Year Built: 1992

Electricity Amount: 20,521 kwh during the 12 month period ending Sept. 2002

Insulation Quantity: R 30 ceiling, R 19 walls

Building Features:

• Passive solar
• Photovoltaics

General Information: The PV system has 20 BP Solar 150W panels connected to a SunnyBoy 2500 inverter. It is connected to the building’s single phase electric service. (The building also has a 3-phase service in the shop.) The system began operating on June 5, 2003. The best daily output observed so far was 18.23 kwh on 8/24. Over the summer the system generated about 1/4 of the total electricity used on the single phase service. This includes electricity sold back to the grid when it wasn’t used in the building, primarily weekends and after business hours. The building is a particularly good location for a PV system because the roof faces almost perfectly south with a 14 degree tilt and there is no significant shading. Another unique feature of this project is the collaboration between the BP installer and the owner. The owner did the mounting himself and with his assistants, which kept the cost of the system down. The building is located next to the Pottstown Limerick Airport. The 3 acre property has 300 trees in its nursery. The owner also uses the property to sort sawlogs, firewood, and other materials relating to their tree and landscape business.

Philadelphia

Designer: Susan Maxman & Partners

Construction Cost: $6.7 million (Phase I: Exhibit and Education Wings - $5.34 M); (Phase II: Administration Wing - $1.4 M); Parking areas and entrance road upgrade - $600

Square Feet: 18,700 (total) - Exhibit/Education Wings - 13,200; Admin. Wing - 5,500

Builder: Domus (Education and Exhibit Wings), A & E (Admin. Wing)

Year Built: 1999 - 2000 (Education and Exhibit); 2003-04 (Admin. Wing)

Fuel Type: Electricity

Electricity Consumption: 30,000 kwh/year

Window Brand: Trimline

Insulation Type: Blown-in cellulose

Building Features:

• Geothermal heat pump
• Daylighting
• Passive solar
• Instanteous hot water

Additional Building Features: The building was designed to maximize daylighting, natural ventilation & solar heating. Stressed skin insulated panels and sprayed cellulose provide a well-insulated & sealed building envelope. Building uses daylighting and energy efficient electric lighting. The geothermal heating system borrows heat form the earth in the winter and returns heat to the earth in the summer for low life-cycle cost. Building materials include: salvaged timber for frame, framing lumber from sustainable forests, salvaged and recycled content materials renewable materials, and locally or regionally produced products.

General Information: The mission of the Cusano Environmental Education Center is to demonstrate, in an urban setting, the importance of the natural world to the human quality of life, & inspire visitors to become responsible stewards of the environment.

Philadelphia

Designer: David Ben Yacoov architect for reconstruction

Construction Cost: $10,000

Square Feet: 3,200 main building, 1,500 second attached building

Builder: Charles Miller roof engineer and installer for the green roof, company Roof Scapes Inc.

Year Built: 1920’s, renovation 1997

General Information: The Fencing Academy is covered by a “green roof” consisting of a special moisture retention fabric, three inches of soil and growth medium to support a variety of semi arid plants and what ever other grasses blow in. Different plants have found a home according to the water supply from air conditioner run off in some areas or more arid conditions in others. Roof was installed six years ago and is doing well. For information about our roof visit Roofscapes.com. The building is of brick construction with a concrete floor with only a small utility basement. Open space with a 35 foot high ceiling. Ceiling fans also used for cooling. Use of gas radiant ceiling heaters is very limited even on very cold days. High level of athletic activity provides a lot of body heat. Offices have electrical heaters but almost never use them. We are also next to Pizza restaurant whose ovens are against our wall so we have a radiant heat wall!! Owners apt. overlooks the main building and the green roof reduces significant reflected heat into the apt. Green roof also serves to protect the main roof the building from weathering. Green roof was a retrofit to existing roof which was new but planned for a green roof. Green roof is the oldest in America.