Turning Bean-Counters into Tree-Huggers

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Money is one of the factors that can hamper green construction efforts. “Too often people think sustainability is only for the rich,” said Tim Duggan, landscape architect for the Make it Right Foundation, in the LLAMA President’s Program, “Community Beyond Housing.” But finances can also turn skeptics into enthusiasts.

Duggan said that last year the city spent $47 million on electricity to pump water over a levy. “Pervious concrete is a pretty good opportunity in this area to reduce runoff,” he explained, noting that every gallon that didn’t need to be pumped would save 0.7 cents. The Foundation received a variance to install pervious sidewalks in the Lower Ninth Ward, where it is working to build 150 affordable, green, storm-resistant homes, promising that if the sidewalks didn’t have the desired impact they would pay to replace them. That developed into larger projects.

“Thinking of it as an investment led to a plan that alleviated 375,000 gallons of water every time it rained,” Duggan said. Within seven months, the premium cost of the project was paid back. The lesson? While you can’t turn a bean-counter into a tree-hugger, “The moment you can show the bean-counter value in hugging a tree, they’ll do it all day long.”

Affordability doesn’t always just happen, however. In the earliest homes built in the neighborhood after Katrina, installing solar power systems cost $21,000. Upon investigating, they found that significant expense was because the solar systems required more than 200 roof penetrations, which all needed to be reinforced to sustain hurricane-force winds. The builders discovered a hurricane-rated clip that could mount solar panels to the roof and only required a single roof penetration for wiring. The clips cut the price to $11,500. “We did that with the framing package, HVAC, concrete—everything,” Duggan said.

The result? “We’re building LEED Platinum houses for the same price as formaldehyde-filled FEMA trailers.”

Building a community

Make it Right is currently on house number 78 toward its goal. Each structure is certified LEED Platinum and has solar power to be self-sufficient.

The foundation is building in the area where a barge broke through the levy on the industrial canal, where 96% of homes were swept off their foundations. Duggan admitted that the first homes “looked like spaceships landing in the landscape” because there was nothing else in the neighborhood.

But he insisted that the work was focused on rebuilding community. To avoid gentrification, houses are sold to the individuals who owned the original lots, or to other residents of the Ninth Ward before Katrina. The community meets constantly, on what used to be the front porches of neighborhood homes, to break bread and discuss the collaboration. Design work goes to local firms, and construction creates jobs within the community. And now that there is a density of homes built, “We’re no longer seeing the spaceship issue.”