Co-Op Harvests a ‘Green’ Award: Common Fire Residence Wins 2nd Place for Being Gentle to Mother Earth

By Brian Nearing, Albany Times Union, N.Y.

May 11–TIVOLI — Tucked in the rolling farm country of northern Dutchess County, down a gravel road, sits a house. From the outside, the second-greenest building in the entire country, construction-wise, doesn’t look all that unusual.

Common Fire Housing Co-Op is the brainstorm of two West Coast transplants who wanted a place respectful of the environment where people could live while working on progressive justice issues.

That three-year quest ended Thursday when the U.S. Green Building Council certified the environmental pedigree of the 3,600-square-foot building, which includes internal walls made of compressed strawboard and bathroom tiles recycled from Chinese vodka bottles.

The solar-powered building, which consumes 50 percent less energy than a regular structure of comparable size, uses recycled newspaper cellulose for insulation of exterior walls. Four 20-foot tubes, lined with reflective material, bring down sunlight from the roof, reducing the need for electric lighting.

The L-shaped home is oriented so its south side, filled with energy-efficient windows, takes advantage of the sun to produce natural lighting, while 3-foot-deep eaves prevent direct light from overheating rooms.

Toilets come with both a regular- and half-flush system to reduce water use. In the basement, three underground root cellars hold apples, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and other locally grown produce, reducing the need to rely on trucked-in produce.

“In some ways, this is a building of the future,” said Jeff Golden, a lanky 37-year-old Idaho native who co-founded the Common Fire Foundation with his partner, Kavitha Rao. “It is a symbol of the transition that will be made until someday, buildings like this will not be abnormal.”

Golden and Rao, who came to New York when Golden got a job as director of a youth service foundation, live in the two-floor home with six other like-minded people — from a 63-year-old retired special education teacher to a student from nearby Bard College. Everyone has his or her own bedroom but shares the kitchen, dining room and three bathrooms.

To help recoup the costs of the $1.3 million project, residents pay between $525 and $800 a month to live in the co-op, which is owned by the not-for-profit foundation, and also kick in for food and maintenance. Rent funds 60 percent of costs, with the remainder coming from government incentives, corporate sponsors, and Golden and Rao’s savings.

As a soft breeze blew through the windows in the common room, Tracie Hall, executive director of the New York Upstate Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said the project showed “the passion of people dedicated to a more sustainable future. Grass-roots efforts like these are even more rewarding. Hopefully, this is the shape and vision of things to come.”

The co-op scored a platinum rating of 57 out of a possible 69 points on the council’s system. The national leader, Alberici Construction, a green-based construction firm in St. Louis, scored 60 points.

At Common Fire, next to a driveway lined with white birches, five ground-mounted photovoltaic solar panels are set due north of the building. Electricity from the panels runs a geothermal system that provides heating and cooling for the home. The state Energy Research Development Authority awarded a $170,000 grant for the system.

It was during a marathon six-hour meeting with NYSERDA that Golden and Rao realized that their idea for a co-op was poised to be a green example.

“They told us that our ideas already were at 50 points. So it propelled Jeff and I into this world of green building,” said Rao, 33, an instructor in youth nonviolence programs.

She and Golden plan to live there for the next several years and are planning other projects, such as a replication of the co-op housing project elsewhere in the country. “We feel like we can offer people a road map on how to do this,” said Golden. Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Albany Times Union, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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