{"id":13507,"date":"2011-06-23T16:47:37","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T20:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=13507"},"modified":"2012-07-23T16:57:58","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T20:57:58","slug":"beyond-weatherizing-environmentally-friendly-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/beyond-weatherizing-environmentally-friendly-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND WEATHERIZING: Environmentally Friendly Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Ivanitsky \u201902 and A. Neal Lewis, class of \u201901, 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sustainablesolutionsva.com\/\">Sustainable Solutions of Virginia<\/a> 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energystar.gov\/\">Energy Star<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/earthcraft.org\/\">EarthCraft House<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usgbc.org\/\">US Green Building Council<\/a>. This spring, Sustainable Solutions is installing Harrisonburg\u2019s first multi-family residential solar water heating system as part of a project to decrease energy costs for low-income housing.<\/p>\n<p>Aaron Yoder \u201901 owns <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amyoder.com\/\">A M Yoder &amp; Co<\/a>., 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 &amp; Co. applies these techniques to a wide variety of houses. The company can build a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.habitat.org\/\">Habitat for Humanity<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin Meredith \u201992 is owner and president of <a href=\"http:\/\/buildknow.com\/\">Building Knowledge: Professional Inspection Services<\/a> (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 \u2013 duct blasters, infrared cameras \u2013 to understand and improve a building\u2019s energy usage. \u201cResidential buildings consume approximately 22 percent of the energy consumed in the United States,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is my job to help people figure out how they can reduce their energy consumption footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bradley Yoder \u201902 is project adviser for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buildsense.com\/default.aspx\">Build Sense<\/a>, based in Durham, North Carolina. It builds all its new homes to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nahbgreen.org\/ngbs\/default.aspx\">National Green Building Standard<\/a> of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nahb.com\/\">National Association of Home Builders<\/a>. Smart and efficient homes, Yoder says, are a key part of living well-balanced lives: \u201cIf you\u2019re careful about building [people\u2019s] homes responsibly, efficiently and healthily, [they] are better equipped to do what they want with their lives.\u201d One of Bradley\u2019s colleagues, John Price, class of \u201976, is the \u201cbuild lead\u201d at Build Sense, overseeing several of the company\u2019s construction crews. Through another company, Carolina X Wall, Yoder also sells insulating concrete forms, an efficient and eco-friendly building material.<\/p>\n<p>In Fulks Run, Virginia, Heather Bauman \u201904 and Justin Thomas Yoder, class of \u201903, 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Ivanitsky \u201902 and A. Neal Lewis, class of \u201901, started a construction company in Harrisonburg, Virginia, soon after their college years. A few years later, after Lewis took coursework <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/beyond-weatherizing-environmentally-friendly-homes\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about BEYOND WEATHERIZING: Environmentally Friendly Homes<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,5643],"tags":[14359,14360,6745,14466,14465,17224,13860],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-13507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-environmental-sustainability","tag-aaron-yoder","tag-am-yoder-co","tag-crossroads","tag-earthcraft-house","tag-energy-star","tag-sustainability","tag-u-s-green-building-council"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BEYOND WEATHERIZING: Environmentally Friendly Homes - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2011\/beyond-weatherizing-environmentally-friendly-homes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BEYOND WEATHERIZING: Environmentally Friendly Homes - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alex Ivanitsky \u201902 and A. 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