The two homes we featured in this previoiusly published post will be on the Sept. 28th Green Living and Learning Tour. We are happy to bring another opportunity to the public to tour these "green-built" homes. Read more about them and plan to visit them on the Tour!
The first ever GreenBuilt Home Tour will take place on Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21 and homes will be open from 10 am – 6 pm on both days. The tour’s theme, Living Healthy and Saving Green, features 16 exceptional, award-winning, nationally-recognized Chicago area homes, including two stops in Oak Park and River Forest.
By attending the tour, you will learn about the latest advances in healthy living, energy and resource efficiency, and cost-effective green design. Home owners, as well as the builders, architects and area leaders building sustainable homes will be onsite to answer questions and share their experience with the sustainable building process. For more information on the tour and to purchase tickets, or to volunteer, check out the website at http://greenbuilthometour.org. Enter the coupon code "green" for $5.00 off your ticket price!
The Doyle residence, underwent a deconstruction and gut rehab in 2012. The project won a 2012 Green Award from the Village of Oak Park and incorporated green innovations for energy and resource conservation, while preserving the character of the original Prairie-style, American Four Square home. The home utilizes a geothermal energy system for HVAC and domestic hot water. It includes one of the first residential greywater systems in IL, anticipated to save 20-30% on indoor water use by recycling water from tubs/showers into toilets.
Ana Garcia Doyle is active member of Green Community Connections and leader of the One Earth Film Festival. Ana and Jim Doyle and family hosted a water conservation tour stop for the 2012 Green Living and Learning Tour. At that time, the house was still under construction. If you haven’t seen the completed project, the GreenBuilt Home Tour would be an excellent opportunity to do so.
Oak Park architect Tom Bassett-Dilley has designed the first certified passive house to be built in the Chicago area and 28th in the nation. The new house, built for the Lema family, uses only a small fraction of the heating and cooling energy of a conventional house. What is a Passive House? Passive House is the most stringent building energy efficiency standard in the world; it requires that the envelope of the home is designed to minimize losses and maximize passive gains, with careful attention to building science and indoor air quality. The result is a super comfortable home with minimal operating costs, great indoor air quality, and far less maintenance requirements than a typical home. With its cost-effective emphasis on the building envelope, Passive design is a good first step toward Net Zero building.
For information and tickets or to volunteer: http://greenbuilthometour.org.