Glenn, Mich (WZZM) - Grand Rapids has nearly thirty "LEED" or leadership in energy and environmental design certified businesses, such as the new art museum, the YMCA and the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan.
Homes with the LEED certification are growing in popularity. We looked at one home being built to these tough environmental standards.
Cottage Homes is one of several "LEED" certified home builders in West Michigan. Its home along the lakeshore is built to a high standard for environmental quality both inside and out and energy efficiency.
Jeremy Vaneyk with Cottage Homes says, "Highly energy-rated windows are important for the solar heat gain and for cooling."
Our brutal West Michigan weather will certainly test this home.
"The indoor air quality I think is another large portion of the LEED and green buildings. We've taken a lot of measure to seal this home off from the outside environment," says Jeremy. "Insulation is always important as far as an energy-rated home. That insulation is all foam insulated and really sealed off."
And "Energy Star" appliances will fill the inside of the home.
Jeremy says, "In order to be energy efficient, this home is geothermal heated. We're going to use heat from the ground to produce the heating and air-conditioning for this home, so we're going to extract heat from the earth in the winter and we're going to put the heat from the house back into the ground in the summer. It's extremely efficient."
The efficiency carries to the outside with the landscaping.
"It will all be native grasses and things and we're going to have some prairie grasses around. It is really our intention not to have any outside irrigation. It's all going to be drought tolerant landscape that won't require maintenance," explains Jeremy.
That means no need for a lawn mower, allowing the home owner more time to take in the beauty of Lake Michigan.
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