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Green star
New Benzie County home to be largest in state for energy award
By
MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
Record-Eagle/Keith King
A new home being built by Bob and Joni Formisano in Benzie County is among a handful of houses in Michigan receiving Michigan Energy Star grants for energy-efficient construction and innovation. Constructed of dead-standing fir and structural insulated panels - two layers of chipboard with foam in between - the Formisanos' house is finished with cement fiber siding and cast "stone" made of concrete.
Robert and Joni Formisano are green — and proud of it.
They shun fertilizer, buy shares in community supported agriculture and sport a "Treehugger" bumper sticker on their SUV.
So when it came time to build a second home in northern Michigan, the Grosse Pointe couple decided to step up their commitment to the environment by showcasing green design.
"When you move to this area, especially on the waterfront, you need to design in a way that respects the environment," said Bob Formisano, an architect, licensed builder and owner of Home-Cost.com, an on-line home building cost estimation service.
The couple's 6,200-square-foot house in Benzie County is situated on 10 wooded acres along the east shore of pristine Pearl Lake. More than a year in the making, it features timber frame construction with exposed posts and beams, recycled and sustainable materials, and dozens of energy-efficient and barrier-free features. When completed in May, it will be the largest house to receive a State of Michigan Energy Star grant.
The grants are given every year to licensed residential builders whose projects demonstrate energy efficiency and innovative design and construction, said Patrick Hudson, coordinator for the State Residential Energy Program. Grant winners receive up to $8,000 for marketing, energy rating and other expenses.
Although the grants typically are awarded for smaller homes, which get bonus points for having smaller footprints and less environmental impact, Formisano was one of five winners for 2005. He beat out more than 100 applicants.
"Understanding that large houses are going to be built, they should be energy efficient," Hudson noted. "In the case of this home, it got a 92 (home energy) rating, which means that it still uses energy very efficiently."
In fact, while it's more than three times the size of the smallest house, which also happens to be in Traverse City, the couple's Pearl Lake home has the highest home energy rating of all the grant winners, Formisano said. A home energy rating indicates the energy efficiency of a house compared to the best energy performance possible for that structure.
Constructed of dead-standing fir and structural insulated panels — two layers of chipboard with foam in between — the house is finished with cement fiber siding and cast "stone" made of concrete. The panels are put together so tightly that the air infiltration rate is just .25 Air Changes per Hour (ACH) compared to the average rate of 1.75 ACH with traditional stick-built homes.
"When the house is put together, it's like a thermos," Formisano said. "When you heat it, it retains the heat."
Other energy-efficient features include solar orientation, radiant heat, Energy Star-approved appliances, a computer-controlled heating and cooling system that can be operated from the Internet or a cell phone, and a heat recovery ventilator, which takes air from outside and conditions it before releasing it inside.
Even the caulk used to seal the doors and windows is specially designed.
The home's tight construction, coupled with its other energy-saving features, means its total energy cost will only be about $3,850 a year, Formisano said. Better yet, giving up some traditional construction materials didn't mean giving up beauty.
From the outside, the house resembles a northern Michigan lodge, while inside, fir and cherry timber beams and cut-down textured walls with rounded edges — brushed with low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paint containing an anti-microbial agent — give it a softer "Old World" look.
The design mixes large and small spaces for a variety of living areas. There's a great room with cathedral ceiling, cast-stone gas fireplace — with direct vent to prevent air loss up the flue — and cozy window seat, where Joni, an avid reader, plans to spend much of her time. A focal point is the spiral staircase that leads to the open loft and other second-story rooms and, higher up, to a copper-roofed lookout.
An intimate library features the other side of the see-through fireplace, more beams and recycled oak paneling and wainscoting. It overlooks a stone terrace with a bridge leading to the deck. Upstairs, a master bedroom looks out on a cedar stand along the waterfront that will be left intact to control erosion and filter water that goes into the lake. An office with dormer windows sits over the garage, which features a lift to accommodate an extra vehicle without taking up floor space.
In keeping with the couple's green design, the flooring is a variety of farmed maple, marmoleum (made from flax plants, pine rosins, wood flour and jute fiber), colored concrete and cork. Cork is harvested by cutting the bark from the cork oak tree, which is capable of regenerating its bark within three years.
Thanks partly to their son, an organic agriculture major at Michigan State University, the yard will be landscaped with non-invasive native plants instead of lawn, whose fertilizer can run off into the lake. Nature also is evident in the outline of leaves pressed into the screen porch floor in honor of Joni's late sister.
Eventually the house will become the couple's permanent home. For now, though, it will be used to showcase green design, to promote timber framing and to demonstrate Home-Cost.com's estimating engine, which was used in the budgeting of costs for the project.
"We're spending more to showcase some of these things that are personal values but we also wanted to show people you don't have to spend that much more for good design," said Formisano.
In fact, a special loan program called a "green mortgage" allows qualified borrowers to finance improvements that will lead to lower energy costs, or to purchase more home with their spending dollars if that home has an Energy Star rating, said Rod Koehler, assistant vice-president of mortgage lending at Northwestern Mortgage.
The house will be featured on the June Parade of Homes tour, when visitors can watch a DVD on its production and learn more about green design. The tour is sponsored by the Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area.
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