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 Features of the Greenpeace/Healthy Building Network's Environmentally Friendly House for the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity On April 20, 2004, two days before Earth Day, Shylia Lewis and her four children became the proud owners of a unique house, sponsored by Greenpeace, the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity and the Healthy Building Network. The house was designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible while remaining within a standard Habitat budget. The main environmental attribute of this house is that it is PVC-free. PVC, or vinyl, is one of the most common and most harmful materials used in construction. Approximately two thirds of all PVC production is used in building materials such as siding, window frames, pipes, floor tiles, carpeting, wiring and wall coverings. The production, use and disposal of PVC release hazardous chlorine-based chemicals such as dioxin. These chemicals can build up in the air, water and food chain, causing severe health problems such as cancer, immune system damage and hormone disruption. Louisiana has more vinyl production factories than any other state and these facilities disproportionately impact the health of low-income African American communities in and around the Baton Rouge-New Orleans corridor known as "Cancer Alley." If the immediate goal of this project was to build a PVC-free house low- and middle-income families can afford, the long-term goal is to promote safe building materials of all kinds. Shylia Lewis' new home is proof that there are safer alternatives to PVC widely available on the market today and that they are available at a comparable price. All donated materials were accounted for as if they were purchased to ensure that the $55,000 budget was maintained to make the project replicable for other Habitat chapters. Greenpeace also incorporated energy efficiency, sustainably harvested wood and arsenic-free decking. During construction, power was supplied by Greenpeace's "Rolling Sunlight" mobile solar power generator. Environmentally friendly features of the house include: SIDING: Instead of vinyl siding, a cement-based fiber board made by Hardiplank was used. Hardiplank is not only termite-proof but also fire-proof, an important quality in New Orleans, where houses are located close to each other and fires can easily spread. This board is also long lasting and, unlike vinyl siding, can be painted any color. WINDOW FRAMES: Aluminum window frames with high performance energy efficient glazing (insulated two pane glass) were installed. It is often incorrectly assumed that vinyl-covered window frames provide greater energy efficiency. However, it is the window glass, not the frame, which has a far greater impact on energy savings. TILE FLOORS: Linoleum tiles made from linseed oil and wheat flour were used for flooring. Bio-based plastics are not new but they are the wave of the future and could conceivably be adapted to virtually all plastic applications. Cargill-Dow has one of the largest bio-based plastics plants in the U.S. in Blair, Nebraska. The tile for this house was donated by Forbo Linoleum of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. CARPETING: The New Orleans Area Habitat already uses PVC-free carpeting. Shaw Industries of Dalton, Georgia, donated PVC-free nylon carpeting with a polyolefin backing to this project. PIPES: Copper pipes were installed to supply drinking water. Instead of waste water pipes made of PVC, ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene), a widely available alternative plastic, was used. Although ABS is preferable to PVC, cast iron would have been an even more environmentally friendly choice for waste water pipes had the budget been a little larger. WALL COVERING: Paint was used on the interior walls rather than vinyl "wall paper," which can trap moisture and promote toxic mold formation. The paints selected were "low-VOC" (volatile organic compounds), resulting in less paint fumes for Shylia, her family and the volunteers painting the house. HEAT AND AIR CONDITIONING: An energy efficient (SEER) system by Lennox provides more efficient cooling and heating which results in lower utility bills. Also, this system's refrigerants do not deplete the stratospheric ozone layer. LIGHT FIXTURES: Compact florescent lights (EnergyStar) were used in the light fixtures. These bulbs last many times longer and use far less electricity than standard incandescent bulbs and will more than pay for themselves within a few years. ELECTRIC WIRING: Finding an affordable alternative to PVC-insulated wiring was the biggest challenge to making this house PVC-free. Electrical wires are commonly insulated with PVC and then further sheathed as a bundle with other wires in PVC. PVC-insulated and sheathed wiring currently dominates the U.S. market, despite the fact that the Pentagon, the airline industry and much of Europe have ceased to use it because of toxic smoke concerns. In this home, metal-cased (BX) sheathing was used instead of PVC-sheathed wiring, though some of the wiring may still be insulated with PVC. Entirely PVC-free wiring could have been possible only with a larger budget. The use of metal sheathing reduces a large percentage of PVC used in wiring and better protects the wiring from fire. SOLAR READY: The home is wired to be "solar ready," with wiring running from the attic to the circuit breaker box. If Shylia chooses to add solar panels to the roof to increase her home's energy efficiency even more, she can easily do so. DECK WOOD: The pressure-treated wood used for the house deck is arsenic-free and chromium-free. This wood meets the same industry standards as pressure-treated wood that contains arsenic and chromium, but will not release toxic arsenic to children who play on it. WOOD FRAMING: Sustainably harvested southern pine was used for the framing of the house.
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