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Bringing efficiency home: Expo at NCC shows the latest ways your home can be more earth-friendlyMar 21, 2010 (The Morning Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Lehigh Valley Green Building Expo isn't your everyday environmental showroom. Yes, the 11-hour event Saturday featured green mainstays like solar panels and energy-efficient windows. But it also included some modern materials that haven't really hit homes in critical mass. Those attending the event at Northampton Community College got a peek at kitchen countertops made out of recycled paper, driveways that rain can penetrate and insulation described as an energy blanket. Some of the materials can save homeowners money on their energy bills. Some will qualify for government tax credits and rebates. All promise to make your home just a little bit greener. "There are so many things you can do: spray foam, LED recessed lights, bamboo floors, floors made out of cork," said Hersh Ruhmel of Ruhmel Contracting in Orefield. "We've built a model home that incorporates all of them." The home, which Ruhmel calls HoudenHAL (renewable home in Dutch), will become his company's offices in Weisenberg Township. It features the recycled paper countertops, called Paperstone. Ruhmel said the surface is as hard as granite. People can cut on it and clean it with normal household solutions. The countertops come in different colors and can be detailed for custom edges. The prices, Ruhmel said, are comparable to granite. Driveways were another place where homeowners could go green. Jim Engelman of Engelman Construction Inc. of Macungie, displayed some pervious concrete. The material is mainly a mix of cement, water and little sand, creating pockets where water can penetrate. Instead of rain running off a driveway, as it would normally on concrete or asphalt, this material allows the water to drain through the surface like a sieve. The water collects in an underground basin and drains into the soil. The environment benefits because there is less water runoff, which carries pollutants into streams and rivers. Meanwhile the underground water table is replenished with clean water filtered through the soil. The material is helpful to homeowners who are bumping up against how much impervious coverage is allowed on a building lot, Engelman said, though he admits there could be resistance from some municipal planning departments that don't have rules regulating the material. He said the material will last 20-40 years, longer than asphalt, and costs $3-$12 per square foot; the bigger the project, the lower the unit price. If you're building a new home, there's probably no better payoff than good insulation. The expo includes several vendors selling such products as spray foam, cellulose insulation and even insulation for outside the frame of a home. Jasmine Andrews of American Remodeling and Roofing in Schuylkill Haven, showed off siding that is backed in insulation that saves the typical home 20 percent in heating costs. Couple that with an "energy blanket" -- a reflective house wrap -- and the savings jumps to 45 percent, she said. It's the type of philosophy that Anthony Hyde of Saving Green Energy Studies preaches while performing home-energy audits. He said he typically finds poor insulation costing homeowners 15 to 20 percent more . He made a long argument for sealing up the drafts. But the two-foot-high prop he brought did a better job convincing the crowd. The miniature home, trimmed in a green roof and window frames, had play money falling out the roof, windows and doors. [email protected] 610-778-2253 To see more of The Morning Call, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mcall.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |