Common Fire Housing Co-op
Each week many of our readers reach out to us via email to help inform us of the many wonderful eco-initiatives they support and are involved with. We received an email today regarding the Common Fire Housing Co-op in New York’s Hudson Valley.
The Common Fire Housing Co-op is a 3,600-square-foot building located on 36 acres of land in Tivoli, New York. The total cost of the building was $1 million. Though initial construction was partially financed by donations from individuals and corporations throughout the US, and by New York State, residents primarily fund the venture by sharing the cost of the mortgage, food, utilities and maintenance.
Facts about the Common Fire Co-op:
* The Common Fire Co-op is the second “greenest” building in the United States and is the greenest building east of the Mississippi*.
* The USGBC has given the building a Platinum certification, the only one of its kind in New York state.
* It is one of only 18 buildings in the United States to receive Platinum certification in the New Construction category.
* The USGBC’s LEED certification is based on 69-points of criteria, with 26 points necessary for basic green building certification, 33 for a “Silver” certification, 39 for “Gold”, and 52 for “Platinum”. Common Fire received 57 green building certification points for its project.
* The “greenest” building in the U.S., based upon the most points ever given to one building in the New Construction category, is the Alberici Corporate Headquarters, in Overland, MO, which scored 60.
* The Common Fire Co-op is considered a net-zero energy building, because it generates enough electricity on site to meet all of its energy demands.
These are just a few of the many green features/achievements the Co-op has accomplished. To learn more about how they built the co-op and green technologies and materials they used, head over to their website located here.
Technorati Tags: green building, LEED Certification, Common Fire Housing Co-op, sustainable living, net-zero
Written by steve on May 1st, 2007 with
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