• Timeless Construction

This custom builder planned to build a large energy efficient custom home in New York with photovoltaic (PV) grid-connected panels. Discussions began on optimizing electrical energy use and including solar water heating panels for household water. The builder planned to use gas appliances wherever possible and a floor radiant heating system (pump energy is one-third that for a fan air distribution system). FSEC recommended a solar water heating system with gas backup and forwarded information on two solar water heater designs available from Duke Solar. FSEC also provided several choices in heat recovery ventilator (HRV) units which would provide 200 CFM of outside air.

New construction drawings were received and EnergyGauge USA analysis results were discussed with the builder and Alten Design, since PV grid-interconnect requirements and architectural changes were needed to accommodate the PV panels. FSEC’s PV group laid out a 7 kW PV system that included 4.5 kW’s of flat roof panels (unique for a residential application) and sent information to the architect. This activity ended in 2002 with no home construction.

• Tommy Williams Homes

This builder has gone from Florida energy building code minimum homes to being committed to build over 250 homes in two new sub-divisions that meet the BA goal of a HERS score of 88.6 or above. Each home will be serviced with a "right-sized" Seer 14 heat pump with a variable speed air handler, double pane low-E windows with a SHGC of .36 or less, passive OA system and a programmable thermostat. Each home will be performance tested and commissioned.

• Top of the World Retirement Community

Florida H.E.R.O. worked with project managers in charge of On Top of the World Central, a retirement community in Ocala developed by Sidney and Kenneth Colen who have built 15,000+ homes for senior citizens and have a commitment to developing communities that meet the needs and desires of that unique population.

Project managers of On Top of the World Central have every home performance tested for duct and whole house air tightness. Other features of the homes are summarized in Table 19.

This is the largest plotted sub-division in Florida, with over 24,000 homes slated to be built. Top of the World has gone from code minimum construction to Energy Star.

• Trinity Construction Corporation

Figure 29 Panel forms on forming bed

Figure 30 Setting pre-castconcrete wall panel

Trinity Construction Corporation is a large shell contractor serving Florida homebuilders. Faced with increasing demands for higher quality, lower cost and more timely delivery, Trinity is actively exploring innovative alternatives to conventional concrete block construction, the predominant homebuilding technology in the central and south Florida market. Trinity operates a pre-cast concrete panel production facility, in South Bay, Florida where concrete panels are pre-cast (Figure 29), transported to the construction site, and quickly assembled using a construction crane (Figure 30). The UCF Housing Constructability Lab (HCL) was asked to assist Trinity in improving the current panelizing process by incorporating lean production principles such as "just in time" materials handling.

Preliminary research involved extensive observation and analysis. Value stream mapping, a process to isolate waste and production efficiency opportunities, identified activities that contributed value to the customer as well as activities that added little or no value. Material handling and rework were primary contributors to the 47% of labor consumed by non-value added activities. Once construction started, the flow of value-added activity was routinely interrupted. Poor access to materials and tools, rework, ill-defined process flows, and workforce/1 st line supervision issues were contributing factors. To address these issues, BAIHP researchers utilized lean production principles - challenging non-value added activities and removing the obstacles to continuous production flow. Recommendations addressed issues of organization/communication, structured procedures and work flow, material handling, and off-line sub-assembly.

To test the recommendations, Trinity allowed BAIHP researchers to perform a 3-day pilot test. The test involved a single house consisting of 25 panels. The panels had a total of 21 window and door openings and a gross wall area of 3,119 ft 2. The first day was used to organize and train the test production team. The second and third days were dedicated to production. All 25 panels were produced. Productivity increased (Table 20) for all observed activities. Lifting productivity was not observed. Conservatively assuming that lifting activity will remain at historical levels, overall labor productivity increased by 47% during the Pilot Test. If lifting productivity is assumed to increase at the average rate observed for the other activities, overall productivity increase of the Pilot Test would be 68%. Not all recommendations could be realized during the test. Some equipment and personnel issues could not be resolved on a short-term test basis. This suggests that the true potential is significantly greater than that observed during the Pilot Test – possibly approaching 200% increase in labor productivity. Corresponding cycle time reductions are estimated to be 20-25%.

The BAIHP research team recommended that Trinity precede with implementation of the lean production recommendations. In addition to the technical recommendations, the research team also made recommendations involving worker empowerment, dealing with the heat and sun, and material/equipment availability. Potential future research areas include covers for the production area, on-site factories in new home developments, and factory installed wall insulation. This successful pilot test has given Trinity the opportunity to develop a competitive advantage in the housing construction market and a solid foundation to gain dominance.

• Vincent Village

Vincent Village is a 49 home rental community, located in Richland, WA. All of the homes are small, single section HUD Code homes, heated and cooled by Insider heat pumps. Half the homes were built to Super Good Cents standards, the other half were not. Metered utility data indicate average yearly savings of $241 for the SGC homes. (See also Appendix D, WSU)

• WCI Communities, Inc.

During the fourth budget period, in November of 2002, BAIHP staff members were planning to meet with WCI to discuss a partnership. Because of their corporate environmental mission, WCI plans to build a significant number of homes to the Florida Green Home Designation Standard and has requested the help of Building America to ensure a systems engineering approach, to conduct efficiency monitoring, and to offer staff training. WCI constructs approximately 2,000 homes per year across south Florida. In 2002 they committed to having houses incorporate a variety of green principles. In some WCI communities, every home will meet the Florida Green Standard.

Figure 32 WCI Home in Evergrene Community, Palm Beach Gardens (FL), HERS Score = 92.

FSEC received sample home plans and conducted an energy analysis using EG USA. Recommendations were adopted by WCI (Table 21) for a model “green home” in the Evergrene Community (Figure 32) in Palm Beach Gardens (FL). BAIHP monitored progress on the prototype and installed monitoring instrumentation in April 2003 (fifth budget period).

The home and the instrumentation were completed in August 2003. A device called
WebDAQ was installed, which acts as a server to provide an internet web page to display real time data as part of WCI's community education approach. WCI maintains a website dedicated to the home at www.greengeneration.org.

In September 2003, WCI held a grand opening at Evergrene. Staff from BAIHP and the DOE Atlanta Regional Office attended the event which included tours of the home and a program of distinguished speakers such as local government and business leaders.

This prototype “green home” received the highest score to date on the Florida Green Home Designation Standard. With a HERS score of 92, it is estimated to save 31% compared to the Building America benchmark home and 38% compared to the HERS reference home on a whole house basis.

In February 2004, FSEC staff visited the Venetian Development in Venice, FL developed and built by WCI Communities, Inc. Over 1,000 homes will be constructed in Venetian, and all will meet the requirements of the Florida Green Home Designation Standard.

In addition, WCI constructed another "ultra green" model. WCI consulted BAIHP during the initial planning stages, and this home was expected to have higher performance and contain more green features than the Evergrene Community home. WCI took the initiative to develop in-house expertise and capabilities in this area and needed much less support from BAIHP. BAIHP did involve IBACO, another BA Team, to help develop an advanced lighting design.