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This is part of a series of video blog posts about green architecture and construction leading up to Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council's annual conference. Planet Green is a Silver sponsor of this year's event, which will be held in Boston November 19-21. This post was written by Sara Gottfried, David's wife.
When you remodel an old home, and certainly a 1915 craftsman, and you embrace green and you want LEED Platinum like us, there's a lot of decisions to be made. What do you save? Do you keep the old beautiful wood? I would say absolutely. But you have issues of insulation, so you have to figure out how you blow it in while you keep the old wood and also how to install new windows.
When you look at the electrical—we had knob and tube. This is new wiring we've pulled through so it meets code, and you have to think about it...Do you do that throughout the house?
Beyond the electrical, what do you do with the plumbing? We had half-inch plumbing. We didn't even have a main going out to the main city link, so we upgraded it with 1-inch copper plumbing that will give us better pressure, service.
So the issue is, how far do you go? Do you touch your windows? We have these old single pane windows that let all the heat out, and that doesn't work for a green building. But some of the details like you see on these old Craftsman windows, with these little boxes and grid patterns. How do you make that double-pane efficient glass for each one? We figured all of this out and installed super-efficient low-E windows from Marvin.
David Gottfried started Regenerative Ventures and its consulting arm, WorldBuild in 1995, after founding the U.S. Green Building Council in 1993. He is the author of Greed to Green, and is internationally acknowledged as one of the foremost founders of the global green building movement.
Read more in this series:
USGBC Founder David Gottfried's LEED Home Renovation: Intro (Video)
David Gottfried's Home Renovation: Success Is Based on Teamwork (Video)
David Gottfried: Walkable Neighborhoods Are a Greener Choice (Video)
David Gottfried Home Renovation: A Family Affair (Video)
David Gottfried's Home Renovation: Building a Office Lifepod (Video)
Home Renovation: David Gottfried on Green Framing (Video)
Kitchen Design: David Gottfried's LEED Home Renovation
Building an Efficient Bathroom (Video)
Green Home Renovation: In the Yard (Video)
LEED Home Renovation: Solar Realization (Video)
Green Home Renovation: Water Strategy (Video)
Green Home Renovation: Ponder the Growth of the Green Movement (Video)
Read more about green building:
How to Go Green: Home Renovation
Learning about Labels: Energy Star vs EPEAT
Know Your Green Home Technologies: Radiant Heat
Green Glossary: Sick Building Syndrome
Keep Your Home Green and Dry: 5 Easy Waterproofing Tips
Know Your Green Building Materials: 3 Cutting Edge Insulations
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