Olde Wood Limited Article

Check out coverage from our new friends at Olde Wood Limited below!

http://www.oldewoodltd.com/wide-plank-flooring-blog/green-spotlight-a-dam-a-city-and-the-new-norris-house/

Greywater and Rain Water Systems Tour for State and Local Officials

Last month a group of state and local environmental officials visited the New Norris House to learn about the results of our ongoing data collection. Members of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the Norris Water Commission (NWC) attended the tour led by Profs. Tricia Stuth, Dr. John Buchanan, and Valerie Friedmann.

During the tour we highlighted several of the water quality and quantity benchmarks we have been able to achieve such as a 61% reduction in city water use compared to the average US home and the on-site infiltration of almost 24,000 gallons of greywater in one year. The members of TDEC and the NWC were particularly interested in the implications of the greywater infiltration bed. Dr. Buchanan of UT's College of Biosystems Engineering summarized the impacts of such on-site greywater treatment:

"We want to separate people from their waste water, and we've been doing a good job of that. But if we can be more sustainable by putting water back in the landscape so it can recharge the ground water and not focus so much water at a point discharge or waste water treatment plant, then it's much more sustainable. Much more doable over the long term."

Members from TDEC and the NWC were quick to point out that many communities in the region are experiencing strain on their waste water infrastructure due to aging pipes. Practices such as on-site infiltration at the individual or neighborhood scale could help alleviate these strains. However, there are many challenges to implementing distributed treatment facilities. One challenge is the region's topography. Many of our developed areas, including the site of the New Norris House, are located on hilly terrain. We used a terraced bed approach to provide a level area for infiltration.

Terraces were constructed to provide level areas on the existing 25% slope

Another challenge is the regulatory process. We worked with both State and City of Norris officials through the entire process of designing, building, and monitoring the greywater bed. At the state level we have a permit for an experimental greywater treatment bed that expires when we sell the home. To be permissible in the City of Norris, the NWC revised the water and sewer code to allow for greywater treatment for a trial period.

Groups involved in permitting and building the rainwater and greywater systems

Pages from the City of Norris Codes with revisions for the New Norris House experimental greywater bed

It will be interesting to see what happens to both the rainwater harvesting and greywater infiltration systems with the auction of the home in the coming months. Stay tuned for updates!

One year in Norris

This month marks one year for me as a resident at the New Norris House. As a previous resident of various apartments near the center of Knoxville, one of the most interesting aspects of living in Norris has been the increase in time I’ve spent outdoors and the animals I’ve happily encountered along the way.

One frequent visitor is the brown snake. I’ve seen several of these (or maybe it is the same one?) around the landscape this summer. They are friendly snakes and don’t mind to be picked up and relocated away from the main walkways to the terraced gardens.

Brown snake, Storeia dekayi

While weeding the perennial bed this nest of small eggs was discovered. I had noticed several dozen juvenile five-lined skinks in the area. A little online research indicates that these are five-lined skink eggs.

Five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) nest

A juvenile skink found nearby sunning on top of the retaining wall.

Everyday, hundreds of bees, flies, dragonflies, and butterflies visit the rainwater and greywater beds and the meadows and perennial beds. The black-eyed susan’s and purple coneflowers are a favorite as well as the nodding onions and the passionflower vines, which are frequented by big, buzzing bumblebees.

The animals seen on a regular basis in the New Norris House landscape are not rare or threatened in East Tennessee, but every time I see one of them it brings a sense of joy and wonder to my day. However, it seems that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find these animals in many urban and suburban residential yards. Additionally, there is a growing body of research indicating that humans, especially young people, are not spending enough time outside engaged with plants and animals.

Fortunately, landscape methods, such as pesticide-free gardening with native plants and establishing small patches of native grass meadows as a lawn alternative, can create habitat for these and other species in urban and suburban yards. Native plantings are easier to care for than many non-natives because natives have evolved defenses against local predators and adaptations to thrive under local weather patterns. The reason native plants attract so many beneficial species of wildlife is also because they evolved together – with the plants providing food and shelter in return for species-specific relationships with the animals that pollinate or spread their seeds.

The New Norris House landscape is an example of how alive a suburban residential yard can feel.

A New Norris House and Brooks+Scarpa

The New Norris House team is in Denver this week to receive the Committee on the Environment's Top-10 Green Award.

Saturday morning fellow Top-10 winners Brooks + Scarpa will sit down with the NNH team and representatives from the AIA to discuss their two winning residential projects. A part of this discussion, a brief article was published today giving a short background on both projects.

Check it out!

http://www.aia.org/practicing/AIAB099153

(image by Ken McCown)

AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top-10 Green Award

We are very excited to share that the New Norris House Project has been named by the AIA's Committee on the Environment (COTE) as one of the Top-10 Green projects of 2013! This award is one of the most prestigious in architecture in the US, and recognizes “exemplary and innovative built projects that establish a standard of  excellence in sustainable design, demonstrate its benefits, and educate both the profession and the public.”

This is enormous honor would not be possible without the tireless efforts all those involved!

Check out the variety of coverage below:
http://www.architectmagazine.com/awards/projects-you-should-know--the-2013-aia-cote-top-ten-green-projects.aspx

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/04/10-greenest-buildings-2013/

http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/awards/cote-top-ten-green-projects/2013-aia-cote-top-ten-green-projects.aspx

http://www.ecobuildingpulse.com/awards/2013-aia-cote-top-ten-green-project--new-norris-house.aspx

http://www.aiatopten.org/node/280

From Wired:
"These features are being seamlessly integrated into the design and not being treated like gizmos," says Hosey. "They don't jump out because they're being folded into the design." An example of that is the New Norris House which was constructed from wood reclaimed from a hundred-year-old barn and fitted out with super efficient heating systems, but just looks like a modern home, which might be the biggest win green design has enjoyed so far."

AIA COTE Jury Comments:
"One of the things we appreciate about this little house was that it was one of the few projects that really looked at the manufacturing process holistically and actually how a residence could be delivered on site in a really economical way and in a way that conserved energy. We appreciated the prefabrication dimension and also the historical references to the older Norris houses in the site that surrounds it. This type of residence could be replicable so it could have a far greater influence than just a single house."

"It’s a house that performs pretty well and is pretty affordable and solves some of the combinations of problems we are looking at with regard to affordable housing."

Thanks for your interest!

Auction of Home Approaching

The New Norris House was completed in August 2010 and since that time has been the site of a 2-year evaluation and research period. At the conclusion of this study during the Fall of 2013, the University of Tennessee will sell the New Norris House at auction. All proceeds from this process will feed directly back into the College of Architecture and Design’s Design Build Evaluate Initiative, providing seed-funding for future projects such as the New Norris House.

More information will be posted soon, but to indicate your interest in this process, please provide your contact information below, or shoot us an email at newnorrishouse@tennessee.edu. We would be happy to discuss these details further with any interested parties. Thanks for your interest!

Winter Passive Performance: The Experience

As mentioned in the previous post, the project team performed an experiment to observe the NNH's ability to resist winter temperature fluctuations with all heating and cooling systems turned off. Samuel recorded the data, and I recorded the experience of three winter days and nights with the heat turned off!

We selected a 72 hour window with relatively low winter temperatures for the East Tennessee region. According to weather.com the high and low temperatures for Norris for February 19, 20, and 21 were:

	High (°F)	Low (°F)
02/19/13	53	37
02/20/13	44	25
02/21/13	52	28

I only allowed myself to check the high and low temperatures posted for these days, and I did not use a thermometer to check the actual temperature of the home's interior. Most of my experience was during the evening, night, and morning hours as I am at work during the day.

Day one: Tuesday, Feb. 19
On day one I was ready for the challenge. I had really piled on extra blankets the night before and waking up to a chilly room was actually very refreshing. Getting ready in the morning was brisk but invigorating. I did not feel cold at all on the morning of day one.

When I got home the evening of day one, it did feel much colder in the house. I wore extra clothes and a hat, but did not feel like the cold was much of a nuisance. Also, I checked the eMonitor App on my iPhone and was please to see how little energy had been used all day with the heat off.

eMonitor app shows realtime information on electricity usage

Day two: Wednesday, Feb. 20
Wednesday morning the house felt cold but not unbearable. I used the dryer to warm up my clothes and pondered my dependance on electricity.

When I got home on Wednesday night, I really wanted to turn the heat on. Wednesday night was the coldest according to the weather forecast and my determination from day one was already wearing off! I took an extra long shower to warm up and again thought about my dependance on electric heat sources. (I should note here that our hot water is partially heated by solar hot water panels, but is also supplemented by an electric water heater.)

I used the pocket door separating the mudroom and living area to prevent
heat loss when opening and closing the exterior door

Day three: Thursday Feb. 21
According to weather.com this should have been the coldest outside temperature during the experiment, but it did not feel as bad as the night before. This might be because of other factors, like having been under blankets all night, the presence of sunlight, or knowing I could turn the heat on that evening!

When I got home Thursday night and turned the heat on I set it to 70° F and the fans to high. It took only about 5 minutes for me to feel the difference. After about 30 minutes I turned the fans to low and turned the heat down to 68°. 

I have found that since this experiment, I have been keeping the heat set to a maximum of 68° or 69°. Previously I had turned it up to 71° or 72° on cold nights. I also noticed that to make up for cooler ambient temperatures, I used the dryer more to heat up clothes and blankets and took much longer showers during the experiment.

I will be interested to see the data from this experiment and learn how cold it actually was in the house. While I imagine the NNH performs much better than average homes in terms of maintaining comfortable temperatures, human perception seems to be the real variable here. I'm thinking of my grandparents (from Maine) and how they would probably laugh at me for complaining about 25°!

Winter Passive Performance

Earlier this week the project team began a seasonal experiment to test the passive performance of the envelope to resist exterior temperatures fluctuations over the course of 72 hours (3 days). To complete this study, the heating and cooling systems are completely disabled for the duration of the period (though the ERV remains in operation to supply code required minimum ventilation).

Earlier forms of this same test have shown interesting returns, generally showing the envelope is able to maintain a steady temperature range. Observations from June remained outside of the comfort zone entirely, however, though night temperatures clearly dropped into the comfort range. Effort by the resident to purge warm interior air in the evenings could have altered this, though high humidities in the Southeast-US often negates such efforts.

We'll keep you posted as to what we find this time around!

Hello snow!

A winter storm swept across much of the southeast today leaving a blanket of snow on the New Norris House. Here are a few photos from this beautiful, snowy afternoon:

Wooden side door looking warm and welcoming

 

Aluminum bed-edging making its mark

Sunset colors

Stone path to the woods

Rainbow chard in the raised beds

Pump and watering can at rest for winter

Stay warm out there!