Students and Volunteers Take the LEED to Help Harford Habitat for Humanity Build a Brand New Green Home
First LEED-certified Modular Home Ever Built by High School Students in the USA
(Bel Air, MD) – To celebrate Earth Day this year, volunteers from Bank of America, Harford Technical High School and other community businesses and organizations are working together to build a new home. But this is not just any home.
Harford Technical High School Students have spent this school year building the brand new LEED certified home in partnership with Harford Habitat for Humanity (HHH) and Ms. Joy Duke and her daughter Adrianna. The home, dubbed the “Habi-Tech Project,” will be an example of a sustainable, energy-efficient building that the partners hope others will follow.
“Building a new home is always exciting, but building a LEED certified home is an amazing project,” explains Joann Blewett, Executive Director of HHH. “This partnership is really a first of its kind, with high school students leading the construction. LEED certified buildings truly help the whole community through sustainable building practices and less energy consumption in the finished home. It’s not easy to gain LEED certification, and we’re thrilled that our students and our partner family are demonstrating that it can be done by real people, in real communities, when we all work together.”
This is the first LEED certified modular home ever to be build by high school students, and the first such partnership to help a Habitat affiliate create a greener community.
“Bank of America is pleased to further Habitat’s efforts in our community and to provide affordable housing for working families like the Dukes,” said William Couper, Mid-Atlantic president, Bank of America. “Creating more affordable housing is imperative in Maryland and in communities across the country. Bank of America has partnered with Habitat for Humanity for the past 20 years, and we are thrilled to work with Habitat and Harford Technical High School students to help make this family’s dream a reality.”
Students began working on the 1008 square foot, two bedroom modular home at the start of the school year. The two sections of the house will be transported to the final home site at 1512 Mitchell Lane in Aberdeen, Maryland, in May 2009. The sections will be mated and then approximately two weeks of finish work will be needed to complete the home.
LEED certification is a third-party certification program that is the nationally recognized benchmark for sustainable green building practices and operation. For the Habit-Tech Project, students are following the guidelines for the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System set by the U.S. Green Building Council. They are incorporating a number of green building components into this home including recycled insulation and drywall, a rainwater collection system, an energy efficient HVAC system, energy efficient windows and appliances, and a gray water re-use system.
To gain LEED certification, the building process is detailed and documented and submitted for review at various benchmarks. Each benchmark that is met is awarded a point value, which then adds up to total value which determines the level of certification achieved. The Habi-Tech Project hopes to gain Silver certification.
“Thanks to Bank of America and our other generous sponsors, HHH has the chance to show that building community really can benefit our whole world,” says Joann Blewett. “We are so very honored and inspired by the faith of our sponsors to make this dream a reality. We hope others will see that sustainable, green buildings are achievable for every community.”
What began 20 years ago as a home sponsorship program has become an expanded and multifaceted partnership. Under former Bank of America Chairman and CEO Hugh McColl Jr.’s leadership, a commitment to Habitat turned the Jimmy Carter Work Project into a 14-house “blitz build” in Charlotte and the first worldwide House Raising Week. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has donated more than $16 million to home-building efforts with Habitat for Humanity International since 2002. The corporation has also given $600,000 to Operation Home Delivery, Habitat's hurricane recovery project. In addition, Bank of America associates contribute more than 25,000 volunteer hours annually to Habitat for Humanity home builds across the country.
In addition to Bank of America, other sponsors of the Habi-Tech Project LEED house include PEG Environmental, American Infrastructure, Emmert Hobbs Foundation and Maryland Affordable Housing Trust
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