A green, energy-efficient home doesn't have to be expensive. That's the lesson behind a new home that has recently been completed in the Virginia mountain city of Roanoke.

Back in 2005, an international competition was held to find a home design that best followed the principles set out by the cradle to cradle philosophy, as envisioned by architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart. The purpose of the C2C Home Design and Construction Competition was to encourage the design and building of sustainable homes that use resources efficiently, eliminate waste and employ modern systems that mimic natural systems.

The winner of the competition, a design for a modernistic home that uses spinach to produce solar energy, was spotlighted in an earlier issue of this magazine (see "Spinach Power" in July/August 2005), and it was deemed so innovative that drawings of the home were displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Fast-forward a few years, and the first competition-related home has been built. But it's not the award-winning design, which will require several hundred thousand dollars to build. Instead, the first cradle to cradle-inspired home incorporates sustainable elements while dealing with real-world costs.

Tough Decisions
Purists have expressed dismay that the first home to result from the highly publicized C2C competition is so -- vanilla. Located in a low-income section of Roanoke, the home has no far-out modern design features, not even a two-story living room. To keep costs down, architects Stephen Feather and Richard Rife had to make some tough decisions and compromises on what was already a modest home. For instance, some key alternative energy and sustainable design features were cut from the final plans.

Those decisions subjected the designers to less-than-enthusiastic blog-blasts. "Why was this model chosen for construction over one of the winners?" asked one blogger. "Is this the best representative of innovation in sustainable systems, technologies, design and living? We had hoped the design would be more aesthetically inspiring."

But stay with us. Vanilla, even low-cost vanilla, is an important element of this C2C competition home. Part of its premise is to demonstrate that sustainable design and cradle to cradle-inspired features aren't limited to homes selling for $300,000 and up. This recently completed home will likely sell for about $100,000.

Even at that price, the home is still priced slightly higher than many of its neighbors. The three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,653-square-foot house is located in an area of Roanoke where surrounding homes range in price from as low as $40,000 to $70,000 to $85,000, with a few priced in the $90,000s.

"There has been a fair amount of frustration that what we're moving forward with is not a winning design," says Gregg Lewis, executive director of C2C Home and a board member of C2C Home Inc. (C2C Home was formed after the competition by principals of Roanoke-based SmithLewis Architecture, as well as planners and consultants for the competition, to bring green, affordable housing to the marketplace. McDonough helped judge the competition but is not affiliated with C2C Home.) "For this particular house, we have not achieved cradle to cradle [standards], nor was it our expectation that we would achieve cradle to cradle," Lewis explains. "What we've got is a great green house with a lot of features that move us toward cradle to cradle."

Had it been built on the site, the competition's winning project would have looked like a piece of modern art displayed among traditional watercolor prints. As it is, the newly completed property is the first new home built in this historic neighborhood in decades, and it blends in smoothly with the surrounding homes, many of which are 100 years old. In fact, the city passed new, stricter historic overlay design requirements after entries were submitted that made the selection process even tougher, Lewis says.

"We're showing [that green, energy-efficient building] is possible at different price points," Feather says. "It doesn't have to be all or nothing. It doesn't have to be a $600,000 house. It can be very affordable, built multiple times. Before we walk, we have to crawl."

Affordable Living
The buyers of this home will have to meet an income standard at or below 80 percent of the median income for the area. That means a family of three buying the home can earn no more than $41,750, says Gilian Corral, director of neighborhood services for nonprofit builder Blue Ridge Housing Development Corp., which renovates vacant homes and builds new homes, including the cradle to cradle-inspired home, for lower-income families. The owners can sell the home only to someone else who meets those same income guidelines, or must repay some of the subsidies built into the purchase price.

To create an affordable home, some sustainable design basics had to go. Solar panels, for instance, would have added about $20,000 to the initial cost of the home, and a geothermal system would have added another $25,000, compared to a conventional energy-efficient heat pump. Both were in the original plans but weren't practical options for a $100,000 home.

C2C and the architects also cut 200 square feet from the design, reduced the two-story living room to a single story and eliminated Universal Design elements intended to help the homeowners age in place.
"We can build bigger houses," Feather says. "We can apply more sustainable design features. But we had to start somewhere. We wanted to get something built to show to the public. As we make people more aware of it, they're obviously going to be willing to make these things part of their homes. It's gaining momentum. The more people who want these elements, the more of a market there will be to manufacture them. Then the pricing may go down. It's supply and demand."

In fact, plans are underway to build a market-rate home using more ideas generated by the C2C Home competition elsewhere in the city soon, as well as to eventually build the competition's winning design.

Green and Efficient Features
Even with the deletions, the new home offers many features that are either specific to the cradle to cradle design philosophy or fit the overall concept. For example, the home was built using modular construction, which uses resources more efficiently and reduces waste. "The home was manufactured in a facility with a controlled environment," Feather says. "Scrap wood did not litter and contaminate the site." (C2C hopes to use modular construction to build more homes with cradle to cradle features, Lewis says, because modular building lends itself well to the philosophy.)

The foundation includes Hycrete, the first cradle to cradle-certified product. Hycrete extends the life of pre-cast concrete by 10 times or more compared to conventional concrete.

The home's interior features energy-saving, cradle to cradle-certified MechoShade systems, which provide optimum solar protection, increase natural light and save money on energy costs. Speaking of costs, utility bills are expected to be lower than those for surrounding homes. The hope is that the buyer will allow C2C to look at energy and water bills after a year to determine the extent of the savings.
The home is framed with sustainably harvested, formaldehyde-free wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. It also features Interface carpeting, which is made from recycled materials, including old carpet. "They take old carpet, grind it up and incorporate it into the new carpet," Feather explains. The carpet is laid in tiles so worn or stained sections can be easily replaced.

Other features include Hardiplank fiber cement siding on the home's exterior, and interior paint that is either low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds) or VOC-free. Marmoleum natural linoleum flooring was used in the kitchen and baths.

The home's metal roof will have a BASF cool-roof coating that increases energy efficiency. Shower heads, faucets and toilets are designed to use less water. A rain barrel outside will provide water for the lawn.

Building a home with these components was challenging but doable, says Robert Jarrett, sales manager of modular home company Southern Heritage Homes Inc. of Rocky Mount, Va., chosen because it builds custom modular homes. "All of the framing lumber [used in the home] suddenly becomes different from what's widely available in the market because you can't use formaldehyde," Jarrett says. "The insulation changed from fiberglass to something more user-friendly - cotton. I had never seen [cotton used in a modular home]."

Despite the difficulties involved, Blue Ridge Housing and Southern Heritage, as well as other companies involved in the project, are open to building green again. "We are very new to this process of green building," Corral says, who notes that by being involved in this project, "we're getting our feet wet. The features that are green - such as the metal roof - are also good for historic preservation. We'll be seeing when we can use these types of materials in our regular construction."
And that, ultimately, is the goal for everyone involved with the project.

Freelance writer Karen Haywood Queen covers such topics as home design, landscaping, technology and building. She's based in Williamsburg, Va.