How You Can Help
Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven to Expand its Scope by “Building Green”
June 18, 2008 | Filed Under Habitat News
Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven has been building homes in New Haven County since 1986 and has kept pace with the national trend towards designing and building more environmentally friendly structures. Habitat will expand the scope of energy-efficient features when it begins construction on two new homes in New Haven this fall.
Currently, Habitat homes, designed by nationally acclaimed architect Duo Dickinson, are Energy Star-certified. This means that each of the 3-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath, single family homes is built with energy-saving features such as Energy Star-rated appliances; water saving fixtures; energy conserving windows, Energy Star light fixtures and bulbs; and high efficiency hot water heaters and furnaces to name a few.
According to Bill Casey, Habitat’s Executive Director, the goal is to build future homes that will be prototypes of non-profit “Green Building”. This will include using state-of-the-art building materials and techniques that will decrease the energy needs of the house, the selection of a location for the homes that is within walking distance of a variety of mass transit options, and initiating an intense recycling program to minimize construction waste.
“Our aim is to be at the forefront of the current move toward energy efficiency in affordable housing. There has been a misapprehension that building green is too costly for non-profits such as Habitat to support. We want to prove that energy-saving devices and durable building materials do not significantly increase the construction costs and will be more than justified because they will undoubtedly creat long-term savings and improve the quality of environment within the home for our Habitat families.”
# # # #