State College Community Land Trust Announced as a Winner of USGBC Central Pennsylvania’s 2018 Leader Awards
 
State College, PA – September 13, 2018– The State College Community Land Trust’s (SCCLT) GreenBuild Duplex has been named a winner in the Innovative Project, Residential Category in the 2018 US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Central Pennsylvania Leader Awards, honoring people and projects in our region that advance sustainable building. The USGBC Central PA chapter will name the 2018 award winners at the 2018 Forever Green ceremony and dinner (https://www.usgbc.org/event/forever-green) on Thursday, November 1 at The Civic Club of Harrisburg. The Leader Awards focus on green schools, historic preservation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable development, LEED and more.
 
The USGBC Central Pennsylvania Leader Awards is the premier awards program in the region recognizing innovation and leadership within the green building community. Awards categories include: LEED Project of the Year, Improving the Acceptance of Green, Innovative Project; New Construction, Innovative Project; Residential, Climate Champion, Green School of the Year, Rise to the Challenge, Commercial Project of the Year, Greenest Apple, Community Changemaker, and Sustainable Leader of the Year. Finalists are selected by a diverse group of experienced judges and, from that group of finalists, one winner from each category is awarded.
 
“When we started the project, some people questioned whether building one duplex would make a significant contribution to the affordable housing market,” said project Chair, Peg Hambrick. “Since we have completed the building and opened the project to professional and community visitors, I hear comments about applying GreenBuild’s concepts to their own projects. I am confident that this prototype has sparked interest in building green throughout the Centre Region and beyond.”
 
The Hamer Center for Community Design/Energy Efficient Housing Research Group, one of several GreenBuild collaborators, submitted the project. Other collaborators on the project were the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund, the Borough of State College, Centre County Government, S&T Bank and many generous donors. Architecture and administrative services were provided by Henry Architecture and Design, and Weber Murphy Fox, Inc. The homes were constructed by Envinity, Inc.
 
Forever Green is an annual awards program honoring innovative sustainable design. Finalists were selected by a diverse group of experienced judges and, from that group of finalists, one winner from each category will be awarded. The USGBC Central Pennsylvania seeks to inspire sustainable transformation in Central Pennsylvania through the built environment. The State College Community Land Trust is a first-time homebuyer program in the State College Borough. Since its founding in 1996 it has helped 65 households to achieve the dream of homeownership, and preserved 43 homes in its innovative, shared equity model.
 
For more information on the USGBC Central Pennsylvania Leader Awards, please visit www.usgbc.org/articles/2018-usgbc-central-pennsylvania-leader-award-recipients-announced. For more information about the State College Community Land Trust, and GreenBuild, visit www.scclandtrust.org.

GreenBuild is featured on the FirstEnergy's Builder Showcase
http://energysavepa-newhomes.com/builders-showcase-homes/university-drive-state-college-pa/

Both GreenBuild homes received ENERGY STAR Certification from the EPA in mid-July. This certification is a necessary prerequisite for both the EPA's Indoor airPLUS and WaterSense programs, as well as the Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERHs) Program, each of which are programs GreenBuild is pursuing for certification. The final step in completing the ENERGY STAR certification process is to undergo 3rd party testing and verification of efficiency measurements. This thirrd party verification took place last Friday. Now that the GreenBuild homes are verified as exceeding the ENERGY STAR standard for efficiency, final submissions will be made to the remaining certification programs. Third party verification was performed by folks from Pennsylvania's Energy Efficient New Homes Program through First Energy, and Cornerstone Energy Conservation Services in Columbus, OH. Cornerstone Energy Conservation Services checked all testing equipment calibration before the First Energy rep performed the actual test. For those who are curious, the result of the blower door test was 208 CFM at 50 pascuals, around 1 ACH50. Photos from the testing are below:

The buyers of GreenBuild closed on their homes on Friday, July 27. In honor of their moving in, here are some fictional renderings of the homes furnished, by local real estate photographer Stephanie Girouard of Homes2Vu. There was no furniture in the homes when these photos were taken, so Stephanie used photos of the empty homes, some software and her designer's eye to digitally stage these spaces.

On Thursday 5/31 Centre County Master Gardener and Clearwater Conservancy Volunteer Terry Melton and an army of enthusiastic helpers braved high temperatures and humidity to install over 200 donated native and water friendly plants in 2 rain gardens at GreenBuild. Check out their progress, and the finished product after a couple of weeks of settling in.