Garnet and Gold Goes Green

A few years ago, green was just a color. Nowadays, “green” is a lifestyle choice—complete with trendy reusable shopping bags.

Helping to address the more serious aspects of the “green” lifestyle is the Energy and Sustainability Center (ESC) at The Florida State University. Researchers at the ESC are working to tackle the most challenging problems regarding the use of alternative energies and to make these energy sources viable for the average consumer. With the completion of the Off-Grid Zero Emissions Building (OGZEB), they now have a real world testing ground for their emerging technologies.

This 1,000-square-foot facility is constructed entirely of recycled or otherwise eco-friendly materials. The decking and interior walls, for example, came from Florida State’s former Center for Professional Development and the wood for the roof beams inside the house was salvaged from a demolished barn. Even the concrete for the foundation contains recycled ash.

The OGZEB includes a very comfortable-sized living space, with a full kitchen and bathroom, cozy living room and two bedrooms. The structure also has two offices that can be locked off from the interior living space, each with a separate exterior entrance. With natural light filtering down from large windows near the roofline, the OGZEB is downright homey.

“That is what we were going for,” said Justin Kramer, project leader for the OGZEB. “Most ‘green’ buildings look sort of sterile and futuristic. We wanted to create a home that was not only eco-friendly, but a place where people would actually want to live.”

While the OGZEB was designed to be attractive, it is also environmentally friendly from top to bottom—from the solar panels on the roof that create 300 gallons of hot water with nothing but energy from the sun to the underground runoff system that helps prevent erosion.

Perhaps the most impressive technology in the OGZEB is its electrical system. The house is referred to as “off grid,” meaning it is not hooked into the city’s electrical service. Instead, electricity is generated from solar panels on the roof. During the day, the home’s electrical components are run on this energy. Extra electricity is stored in an ESC-developed hydrogen “battery” for use at night. Unlike conventional batteries, this one is completely “green,” so much so that you could pour its contents down your drain without adverse effects to the environment. Because it is hydrogen, its only by-product is water.

Kramer said the plan is to have graduate students living in the house for a semester or year at a time in order to get a true test of technology installed in the building. For example, if someone were to develop a new light bulb, a standard light bulb could be placed in one of the two bedrooms and the prototype version in the other bedroom. Sensors in the house would collect data on how the two bulbs perform. How energy efficient are the bulbs? Does one change the temperature of the room more than the other? Does one provide better light? This data can then be compared and contrasted to see how the new light bulb would perform in the real world versus a standard bulb.

The generous support of many donors has helped make the vision of the OGZEB a reality. Several firms in the Tallahassee area offered gifts-in-kind of their time and expertise, including the architectural firm Gilchrist, Ross, Crowe Architects, the civil engineering and landscape architectural firm PBS&J, and the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering firm TLC Engineering.

The OGZEB is the first building of its kind in Florida and one of only 14 in the entire country. Once completed in the summer of 2009, the ESC hopes to attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum level certification for the OGZEB, the highest offered by the United States Green Building Council.

“We’re building the Cadillac of ‘green’ homes,” said Kramer. “And that allows us to pick apart which products and systems really give the consumer the biggest bang for their buck.”