Project Frog

“It’s like a high-quality IKEA building in a kit, but it’s hurricane strength” says Ann Hand, CEO of Project Frog, a technology-meets-hgih-design startup. The firm creates low-energy prefab buildings that reduce both cost and waste while optimizing performance for the user inside. Hand – who spent 20 years at BP, most recently as SVP of global brand marketing and innovation – says that the VC-backed Frog approaches buildings as tech platforms: a structure composed of “smart” parts that can be optimized depending on size, use, and location. And because all the parts arrive flat-packed and ready for assembly, what once took two years to build can now go up in less than a month. Hand has helped expand the potential for “Frogs” from schools to partks to the health-care industry and retail structures. She is determined to revolutionize the entire $400 billion U.S.-commercial-building market. “I won’t rest,” she says, “until we shake up the industry and attach some guilt to wasteful construction.”

Article from Fast Company. Issue 156, June 2011. p.98
Image from “Project Frog” via Fast Company website.

1. pieceHomes eP:Studio (link)

pieceHomes are green, modern, modular homes designed by Davis Studio Architecture + Design. Taking advantage of the beauty of the surrounding environment is a hallmark of the designs by Davis Studio Architecture + Design, the husband and wife design team of architect Jonathan Davis and designer Mary Jo Davis. Bringing an appreciation of, and care for, the environment is a key goal of pieceHomes. Their combination live + work residence in the Venice area of Los Angeles was designed in part as a showcase of green technologies and materials and as the pieceHomes prototype, showing clients that green, modern, and affordable can go together.

2. Lindal Cedar Homes (link) – Featured Home: Colorado Retreat

Coming from local independent Lindal dealer Majestic Peaks Custom Homes in Colorado, this nicely-sized home is designed for one floor living. The great room opens to the kitchen and dining area with a 4 bay sunroom capturing light and views. The generous sized master suite is on the main floor, and two more bedrooms, and a full bath and garage are located in the daylight basement. Square foot on the main floor is 1,838, basement is 1,560, and the garage is 278, for a total living space of 3,398.

3. Method Homes (link):  Balance S-M-L series

Now available, the Balance S-M-L series, which consists of a choice of 3 simple structures designed to arrive 95% complete within 2-3 months of purchase. All three series of custom built prefab homes function as full time residencies, vacation homes & cabins, and even self contained prefab studios and in-law cottages.

Smart, efficient and well designed, the series of self-contained modular units highlights Balance’s experience in custom detailing and natural modern aesthetic at prices starting under $100,000.

4. Blu Homes (link) : Evolution series

Blu | Evolution homes are eco-friendly and designed for single-family primary residences, townhomes and development communities. The Evolution is the first Blu model to offer two-story living and features a beautiful roof deck, high ceilings, an open floor plan with a large kitchen, and abundant south-facing windows making it bright and spacious.

Steel, however, is abundant and fully recyclable at a constant price. Resistant to termites and Recreation: With steel, you can be sure that does not eat termites and holes in the frame. So, now accounts for termite damage maintenance steep or high. Steel does not burn: the conventional wood can burn, but not steel, so that you and your home safe and sound. Furthermore, because it is flammable, but does not cause the smoke, so that your house does not blend into flames. Lightweight but strong: Although lightweight steel, is actually a solid material.

This means that it uses fewer bolts are used and makes it ideal for house framing used. It was found that the most durable, economical and safe materials, and is ideal for housing. No running, reduced or distorted, is inorganic, it is quite stable, not run, reduce or curvature. So, with steel, not meet behind closed doors, locked windows, cornices cracking or leaking roofs caused by the movement of the frame. Compatible with all materials: steel is compatible with all types of wallcoverings and interior materials such as fiber cement, wood, plasterboard and the floor of particle board.

Electrical Safety: All the steel structures should be established independently. And since steel is a very good pilot goes on a power structure which is directed towards the Earth. Environmental security: the steel frames are 100% recyclable. This has the advantage that the steel used several times without losing its strength or intrinsic characteristics. Usually are prefabricated, with lower losses. Good building material: steel is lightweight, easy to transport and concentration.

Also, if you use prefabricated steel frames, could lead to less problems in case of bad weather. You will notice that these frames do not shrink, warp or twist. And if you use pre ‘holes in the wall of steel frames, has the advantage of installing plumbing and electrical services quickly and efficiently. Remodeling easiest way: As non-load bearing walls can be deleted, moved or changed without any problem, the definition of steel can be used for future remodeling.And for the common man, the main advantage is that these frameworks can be created from two or three people in one day.

Frames, furniture and appliances and other items hanging can be created fairly easily using normal drills and fasteners available at any hardware store.

- Just like we need to breathe in and out, so do our homes

- Many building materials emit toxic gasses that can affect the air we breathe.  Choose responsibly

- Good indoor air quality is achieved by both properly sealing and ventilating your home.

- Toxic offgassing can seep from the garage to the house.  Separate the garage from the house or install proper ventilation techniques to prevent toxins from entering the main home.

Insulation is one of the most important aspects of energy-efficiency in a home.  There are many types of insulation , the majority used for thermal purposes.  Insulation reduces unwanted heat loss or gain and can decrease the energy demands of heating and cooling systems.

Over the past years we’ve seen leaps and bounds towards creating cheaper, thinner, more breathable materials with higher R-values. Aerogel is one of the top contenders for most efficient & “green” product used for insulation.  This space-age material has the lowest bulk density of any known porous solid as well as some incredible insulating qualities, and recently two companies rolled out Aerogel sheets that make installations a breeze.

It is made up of a gel that has had its liquid component replaced by air — in fact the material is 99% air. It’s quite thin, breathable, fireproof, doesn’t absorb water, and is very strong considering it doesn’t weigh much. What makes it such a great insulator is its low thermal conductivity (14 mW/m-K) and results in an R-value of 10.3 per inch, which is twice as much as rigid foam board. In fact you can light a blow torch on one side and it won’t burn a hole through it or even get hot enough to light a match sitting on the other side.

Unfortunately the material is still fairly expensive and out of the price range for the average homeowner. NASA has used it as insulation for a number of projects including the Mars Rover and space suites. Two companies currently have a commercial product available – Aspen Aerogel and Thermoblok. Aspen Aerogel offers a roll of the material in 0.2 or 0.4 in thicknesses and 57 inches wide. Thermoblok has 1-1/2″ wide strips, which are used to cover framing studs and help prevent thermal bridging and costs about $1.99/ft.

Aerogel a great material for renovations where size matters, and would make great insulation for shipping containers. Due to it’s incredible R-value and thin form factor it’s one of the best insulative materials out there, and we hope to see prices come down so that it is more affordable for the general public.

Modern prefab homes are also popularly known as modular homes as you can put together any number of rooms to create the kind of home you wish.

Prefab homes are increasingly witnessing high demand due to a variety of reasons:

Speedy construction

The construction of a prefab home is much faster than a custom built home. Within two months of order time your home is ready.

Since each room is built in a factory, all you have to do is to place your order with the prefab house builders and your house is built, transported to your site and then put together. On the other hand a traditional home can take few months or even a year.

Life nowadays has become very fast and people are perennially short of time. Prefab modern homes are an ideal option as they are faster to build and hassle-free.

Better Insulation

The insulation of prefabricated walls is superior to traditional houses as they are built in a factory. Although site-built walls are thicker than prefab walls, they still tend to sag over a period of time.

Protection from Bugs

Since modules of prefab houses are built in the factory, they are better protected from bugs. In contrast, traditional homes take a lot of time to build so the timber and other parts are more exposed to damage.

Money Saver

Once your prefab home is built, you can save a lot of money on electricity due to superior insulation. Precious money is also saved on lumber. It generally reduces construction and design costs to a great extent as compared to a traditional home.

Design the Way You Like

With a prefabricated home you get the benefit of designing your own home according to your whims and fancy. You can choose the number of rooms you want, their size, designs, etc.

Environment- Friendly

Prefabricated homes are less damaging to the environment as they are made from recycled, renewable materials, use less energy and don’t pollute. As people are becoming more conscious about environment, the demand for eco-friendly green prefab homes is growing.

In fact, there are green home building websites now that offer aesthetically designed environment-friendly prefab houses, modern outdoor and indoor furniture, home accessories, etc.

Better Equipped to Handle Natural Disasters

Prefab homes are stronger than traditional homes. Particularly, for an area which has experienced hurricanes or tornadoes, a prefab is an ideal choice as they can withstand violent storms and other natural disasters better than traditional homes.

Lower prices, faster and easier to build, and a range of designs to choose from are the chief benefits of prefabricated homes. The popularity of prefabricated homes is thus sky rocketing.

Prefab homes today are built from such advanced technology that you can’t even tell the difference between a prefabricated house and a traditional house. People from all walks of life are now choosing prefabricated homes instead of traditional homes.

Architect Andres Duany, best known for work designing New Urbanist communities (walkable, small-scaled, mixed-use) has shifted gears a bit to create a light, expandable shelter known as the “core house” for Haiti’s homeless. The house, designed to stand up to earthquakes and hurricanes isn’t Duany’s first foray into disaster relief housing: several years ago he helped develop the prefabricated “Katrina Cottage” as an alternative to the widely criticized FEMA trailers.

Duany’s house for Haiti is small– 8′2″ x 8′2″ x 19′8″—but can sleep 8. Essential for cost-reduction and ease of distribution—can be packed flat in a package less than two feet thick. It’s designed for quick assembly from a strong, lightweight, and waterproof composite material Duany describes as miraculous. Can this work in Haiti? We hope so. At present, there are at least a million people without homes in the hurricane-battered country.

Rendering courtesy of Jetson Green

This post originally appeared on www.refresheverything.com, as part of GOOD’s collaboration with the Pepsi Refresh Project, a catalyst for world-changing ideas. Find out more about the Refresh campaign, or to submit your own idea today.

The AFUE is the measure of the amount of heat delivered from your furnace through your house. For example, a furnace with an efficiency rating of 70 percent means that the furnace converts 70 percent of the fuel you supply to heat. What happens to that other 30 percent? It’s lost. The higher the AFUE percentage, the better the efficiency. Good efficiency units today are 85-plus for furnaces and 90-plus for boilers.

According to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), for a material to qualify as “green”, it must:

• Meet or exceed performance requirements.
• Have sufficient, predictable strength, durability, or stability.
• Be resistant to moisture, decay, or biocontamination.
• Be nontoxic or nonhazardous to occupants and installers.
• Be comparable in cost (labor + materials + equipment + other) to traditional materials.
• Be able to be harvested sustainably and installed efficiently.
• Be rapidly renewable or abundant.
• Be a closed-loop material, which means it can be recycled again and again.
• Involve minimal direct/indirect use of nonrenewables.
• Be adaptable, reusable, or recyclable.

Boulder, CO has big plans for a green construction project that will provide approximately 153 units (homes) to a range of home buyers.  But what exactly is the range?  How much $$?  That is the first question people are going to ask before being interested in a home in this development.  In this economy, whether the home is green & will save you money over time, there is still the reality of PRICE and GETTING FINANCING for such a home.

The article claims that two-thirds of the new units, to be built in Lafayette, Colo., will be available to residents with limited incomes. They will be certified by both Green Communities and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

So let’s see how limited your income has to be to own one of these:

* $100 to $125 a square foot, depending on whether geothermal heat pumps or solar panels are included

Already if you calculate a typical 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1600sq ft home; we’re talking about $200,000 base price @ $125 a square foot (assuming you would want to include the heat pumps & solar panels) – otherwise you might as well buy an existing home & upgrade other items with sustainable products because the solar panels & geothermal heat pumps are additions that most consumers are NOT going to make on their existing home by themselves. Sure it saves a bundle on energy costs over the lifetime of the home, but it also can cost a bunch to install. So we’re assuming the logical thing to do would be go with the $125 a square foot and get those additions.

So, MINIMAL a down payment of $10,000 will be required – only if you have EXCELLENT credit, (because that is only 5%) – calculating the monthly payment, including principle, interest, tax and insurance will be over $1600.00 per/month.

A bank is going to need 60K yearly income from the purchaser just to justify a loan like this.

Where does the limited income part factor in? Because I’m not seeing anything limited or discounted about this project.

Be careful when you hear about projects like these – there can always be hidden costs & they sink all their money into marketing the sustainability of the home without being very upfront about the money involved to actually MAKE it happen.