Ontario Green …

By Marika Motiwalla

Household hand-me-downs are going far in London.

Habitat for Humanity in London, Ontario is finding new ways to be affordable and green. And the idea of green building may be catching on.

“The more you can reuse the more money you save,” said Robert Middleton, director of the North American Trade Schools branch in London.

The local Habitat for Humanity branch agrees with this. Habitat is a non-profit organization, it is self described on its website as an organization that seeks to build simple, decent, affordable homes for low-income families.

This branch of the established organization just finished building a home in Ingersoll, Ont., and renovating a London home on Springbank Drive. Its officials say that they are hoping to build 10 homes in 2010 in London. And, they will be trying to do this as a part of their green initiative.

For a non-profit organization like Habitat, making the environment a priority has its challenges. The homes that Habitat renovates or builds are generally for lower income families. So high-end products and materials are not part of the plan.

“The challenge for Habitat is that we have to build and renovate homes that are affordable and basic for families and we can’t put the most expensive kind of systems in…we can’t expect (a) family to maintain that downstream…so we’ve got to be really smart about how we do things,” said Jeff Duncan, chief executive officer for Habitat for Humanity London.

Since its inception in 1993 Habitat for Humanity London has delivered 26 homes. It operates with two sides to it. The first being the building side and the second being the ReStore, which is also located in London’s east end. The ReStore is an important part of Habitat taking a step in the green direction.

“The ReStore is well before the time (we are) recycling and repurposing instead of just throwing it in the landfill” said Duncan, “the beauty with it is that it generates sales and the profits go into paying…our costs.”

Gerry Pieroni, the ReStore manager, sees firsthand how many different household items can be reused or repurposed. On the shelves at the ReStore you can find: doors, windows, flooring, wood, carpeting, vinyl, bath, storage, lighting, electric, plumbing, toilets, sinks, furnishings, appliances and many other things. All of these items are donated.

“Lots of useable items are generally disposed off and would go into a landfill…we take these items and give them to customers with a need to replace items,” said Pieroni.

In terms of building there are two options for the items in the ReStore. Either they are reused, – Pieroni like’s to see this as “100% recycling” – or they can be broken down into parts which are more easily recyclable. For example, they separate metal from wood so it is more likely to be recycled and not end up in a landfill in mixed form.

The ReStore is innovative because it is an environmentally friendly answer to green building and home renovations. And it generates income for Habitat London while spreading the philosophy of do-it-yourself and green home maintenance, said Pieroni.

As progressive as the ReStore seems – there are limits to what they do.

Finding a balance is important for Habitat. Balancing affordability and environmental awareness requires participation from all people involved in Habitat projects, from future homeowners, to volunteers to the staff at Habitat.”

What Habitat officials are finding is that being environmentally friendly can be more cost efficient. Middleton at the trade school has found the same thing.

Being cost efficient and being green absolutely go hand-in-hand, said Middleton.

Reusing wood especially both to teach and to build is common practice at the trade school here in London.

The trade school is a sponsor of Habitat for Humanity and its London branch is highly involved with all of the local Habitat’s undertakings. They give support to Habitat’s building projects and also are aware of the benefits of green building, even if their priority is to make cost efficient homes.

“We participate strongly at the school with recycling building materials like cardboard, paper, it’s the right thing to do and it saves us money…if you have a recycling program (with waste management) they will give you better rates on the pickup of the stuff they can recycle,” said Middleton.

The school makes sure that it reuses everything possible when it comes to building materials, said Middleton. And the same credo is followed at Habitat London.

Doing what they can for the environment but always being aware of what their overall aim is, Habitat seems to be forging the way for changes in green building.

“We decided we needed a little more of a proactive approach to dealing with environment and not to be and didn’t want to be perceived as green washers,” said Duncan

This is where reusing and recycling household products come into play.

“We’ll be using more recycled materials in homes…everything from high efficiency lighting to looking into solar heat recovery in our offices…we want to have impact on heating and cooling,” said Duncan

For a non-profit organization like Habitat, making the environment a priority has its challenges. The homes that Habitat renovates or builds are generally for lower income families, and Habitat London is not different. Choices have to be made when picking materials, and Habitat strives to make decisions that are both environmentally friendly and cost efficient.

According to the Handbook of Sustainable Building: An environmental preference for selection of materials for use in construction and refurbishment by David Anink, Chiel Boonstra and John Mak – designers and builders regularly choose between materials that could either greatly, moderately, or not at all have an impact on the environment. This book was written in 1996 and revised in 1998. The authors try and create a way for people who design and build to make an informed choice.

That is like what officials at Habitat London aim to do as well through their ReStore.

Green building is not necessarily a new phenomenon but Habitat is attempting to make it an important factor in their plans in the next few years, said Duncan. There are many green building initiatives taking place in North America.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which was started by David Gottfried, is one of them. This council is dedicated to achieving cost-efficient and energy saving buildings, according to their website. Its followers include builders, environmentalists, corporation, nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, teachers and students. There projects are far-reaching across the U.S. and include summits and sustainable design contests. Larger initiatives like USGBC show that Habitat London is making steps in the right direction to uphold green building.

As long as builders who work with Habitat are meeting building code requirements and making environmentally friendly decisions at the same time Habitat’s green direction will be seen as on the right track, said Duncan.

“You can’t just throw things in the Thames River, you have to dispose of them properly … we participate strongly at the school with recycling building materials,” said Middleton. The trade school will be very involved in helping Habitat build all the houses in 2010. Together they aim to build homes as well as etch out a greener future.

“This may not be the end solution…but we’re part of a solution.” said Pieroni.