Aaron Yoder ’01 before the “green” house his company built for Carroll and Nancy Yoder.

A construction company owned by Aaron and Melinda Yoder, both ’01 grads, took a top award in 2012 for building a single-family home in an environmentally friendly manner in Virginia.

AM Yoder & Co. Inc. was awarded in Virginia’s third annual Sustainable Leadership competition for an EarthCraft-certified home built for retired language professor Carroll Yoder and his wife Nancy.

Their two-level, 2,300-square-foot house, at 1322 Greystone St. in Harrisonburg, was constructed with styrofoam-covered concrete blocks that form energy-conserving walls. Three solar panels on the roof provide most of the hot water needed for the heat that radiates from water-filled tubes in the floor and for washing. The house was oriented to permit passive solar heating, shaded in the summer.

“We really like our house — it is very quiet . . . we have thick walls and no moving hot air,” says Carroll. “Our son (Joel ’97) is now using Aaron to build his house.”

Harrisonburg architect Randy Seitz, class of ’87, commends Aaron for his interest in building “well-crafted, modest-sized houses in existing neighborhoods, rather than another McMansion on former farmland.”

Aaron has been a leader in promoting EarthCraft-certified construction in Virginia since 2006. EarthCraft began in Atlanta, Ga., in 1999 and has been spreading across the nation. From its website:

EarthCraft House certifications are determined through a points-based worksheet, which allows builders to select the sustainability measures that are best suited for their project. Worksheet items address proper site planning, energy-efficient appliances and lighting, resource-efficient building materials, indoor air quality, water conservation and homebuyer education, and all are verified during site visits and inspections.

Aaron says that EarthCraft Virginia has certified over 1,600 homes and 7,000 multifamily dwelling units.

—BPL

Alex Ivanitsky ’02 and A. Neal Lewis, class of ’01, former EMU basketball teammates, own Sustainable Solutions of Virginia. They were the general contractors for this three-unit townhouse building, which includes passive solar design, solar water heaters and other green features.

Alex Ivanitsky ’02 and A. Neal Lewis, class of ’01, started a construction company in Harrisonburg, Virginia, soon after their college years. A few years later, after Lewis took coursework in sustainable design at EMU, the pair renamed the company Sustainable Solutions of Virginia and refocused their business on sustainable construction practices. Both have since received further training in solar hot water system installation, energy auditing and home weatherization. Their company now partners with Energy Star, EarthCraft House and the US Green Building Council. This spring, Sustainable Solutions is installing Harrisonburg’s first multi-family residential solar water heating system as part of a project to decrease energy costs for low-income housing.

Aaron Yoder ’01 owns A M Yoder & Co., a Harrisonburg home construction and remodeling company that uses the EarthCraft House program. Compared to conventional building, EarthCraft House projects generate less waste during construction, require less energy for climate control and demand less ongoing maintenance. A M Yoder & Co. applies these techniques to a wide variety of houses. The company can build a Habitat for Humanity home that uses 40 percent less energy, and an 8,000-square-foot luxury home that is far less resource-intensive than a conventionally built mansion.

Benjamin Meredith ’92 is owner and president of Building Knowledge: Professional Inspection Services (Harrisonburg), which conducts home and small business energy audits to identify the best ways to reduce energy consumption. It also provides third-party verification for homes built to Energy Star or EarthCraft green building standards. Meredith uses construction expertise and specialized equipment – duct blasters, infrared cameras – to understand and improve a building’s energy usage. “Residential buildings consume approximately 22 percent of the energy consumed in the United States,” he says. “It is my job to help people figure out how they can reduce their energy consumption footprint.”

Pictured on the job in Raleigh, North Carolina, Bradley Yoder ’02 works as a project adviser for Build Sense, a green design and construction company. The Raleigh project pictured here will earn a Gold certification, as defined by the National Green Building Standard.

Bradley Yoder ’02 is project adviser for Build Sense, based in Durham, North Carolina. It builds all its new homes to the National Green Building Standard of the National Association of Home Builders. Smart and efficient homes, Yoder says, are a key part of living well-balanced lives: “If you’re careful about building [people’s] homes responsibly, efficiently and healthily, [they] are better equipped to do what they want with their lives.” One of Bradley’s colleagues, John Price, class of ’76, is the “build lead” at Build Sense, overseeing several of the company’s construction crews. Through another company, Carolina X Wall, Yoder also sells insulating concrete forms, an efficient and eco-friendly building material.

In Fulks Run, Virginia, Heather Bauman ’04 and Justin Thomas Yoder, class of ’03, live in a passive solar house, with supplementary heat from a masonry stove. It has a lightcolored metal roof to ward off summer heat. Built by Justin and his father, Kenton E. Yoder, the house stays comfortable during summers without air conditioning, says Heather.