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Eno Commons Cohousing Neighborhood
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Passive solar, geothermal subdivision emphasizing ecological patterns in site plan, healthy home features, as well as universal design/accessibility elements.
Address:
Indigo Creek Trail
Durham, NC 27712
Durham County
http://www.enocommons.org
Click here for detailed contact information
22 home neighborhood with community building
- Owner: various
- Occupant: various
- Use/Occupancy: Residential
- Construction: New
- Completed: 2000
- Size: Under 5K sq. ft.
Over 10 acres
Site Conditions: Agricultural land, Sensitive habitat, Stream or other running water, Suburban residential, Previously undeveloped land, Limited site disturbance, Limited building size
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Eno Commons housing
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| (Photo: Triangle J Council of Governments) |
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Green building techniques, strategies, and technologies
(Click on the paperclip to view attached Power Point presentations, documents, and images.)
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Quality management
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Technology |
Description |
Docs |
| 1 |
Post occupancy evaluation |
Infrared photography used to check heat flows.
Resulted in insulation anomalies being added to punch list, and one major change to insulation in ceilings of 3 BR design. Very effective.
Follow-up with residents to hear their experiences. Helped focus attention on areas for improvement/correction. |
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Design team integration |
Developer wove together the landscape architect, energy consultant, civil engineer, geothermal contractor, builder with architect to integrate the strategies. Sometimes this involved team meetings, though never with all of the above at once. |
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| 3 |
Residential blower door/ductblaster testing |
Every home shell and its duct work was blower door and ductblaster tested, with initial homes tested by Advanced Energy and remainder tested by Duke Power as part of Energy Allies contractual relationship. |
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Site
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Technology |
Description |
Docs |
| 1 |
Site environmental assessment |
Landscape architect and initial group of potential buyers met for participatory workshop. Map of site showing predominant winds, vegetation, views, surrounding conditions and other features of note served as touchstone during site design process. |
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| 2 |
Wildlife corridor |
East and west boundaries are corridors left wild. This land is about 250 feet from the Eno River Park, and the eastern boundary includes an intermittant creek that is a tributary to the Eno. Our hope is to contribute a small bit to alleviation of the “islanding” of wildlife in sites too small to sustain them. |
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Reflective roofing |
Used Galvalume (metal) roofing with an initial total solar reflectance (TSR) of .78 which ages to .58. Energy Star requires (for a Low Slope roof (2:12 or less)) an initial TSR > .65 and an aged TSR > .50. Higher slope roofs have a reduced requirement. |
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South facing orientation |
Passive solar strategies used.
Site plan created to naturally provide clear solar access, with minimal control needed by covenants.
Two “standard” architect-designed home plans developed for this project were built on site, both using passive heating and cooling strategies. |
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Light pollution reduction |
No street lights or central lights on the pedestrian way. Buyers/residents were engaged in conversations about light pollution to increase awareness and sensitivity to issue. |
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Water
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Technology |
Description |
Docs |
| 1 |
Native plants |
Landscape Team of residents helps individuals with plant choices, if asked, and distributed lists of native plants and the sites to which they were suited.
Natives are encouraged, but not required. Most common area landscaping is with natives. |
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Drought tolerant plants |
Landscape Team of residents helps individuals with plant choices, if asked, and distributed lists of native plants and the sites to which they were suited.
Natives are encouraged, but not required. Most common area landscaping is with natives. |
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Low-flow fixtures |
Homes were approached as “whole systems.” All fixtures were low-flow from beginning. |
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Energy
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Technology |
Description |
Docs |
| 1 |
Energy modeling software used |
Energy-10 |
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| 2 |
Passive solar heating strategies |
South-facing glass (between 11 and 12% of first floor area), integrally-colored concrete floor (first floor), 4” slab bearing on foundation wall (filled below with tamped stone), overhangs, minimized (but did not eliminate) east, west and north windows.
Low-e, argon-filled glass used on east, west and north. South-facing glass is clear, but argon-filled. |
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Passive cooling strategies |
North facing windows are under front porch roof, which completely shades north concrete porch, capturing “coolth” which can be brought into house by opening high second story windows and running Panasonic bath fan in second floor bathroom. See passive heating strategies for additional comments. |
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Thermal mass heat storage |
4” color integrated concrete slab floor with polystyrene insulation at slab perimeter edge (4” vertical, 18” horizontal) |
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Daylighting |
All rooms except bathrooms have light and ventilation from two different directions. Even and bright quality of light without heat gain achieved through orientation and overhangs. |
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Geothermal heating and cooling |
The first two homes used horizontal borings. Outbound trench depth was 6’, inbound was 4’. The developer learned that hitting rock or trees that the community wanted to preserve might lead to the inability to provide the amount of trench length necessary for the system. The remaining 20 houses used a vertical bore.
WaterFurnace was the manufacturer of the heat pumps used. For house type A (1450 sf) a 1.5 ton unit was used. For house type B (1980 sf) a 2 ton unit was used. The developer believes that even smaller units than these would be beneficial by providing longer cycles of conditioning for the tight house design that was built.
A 1.5 ton WaterFurnace is not a common size. The developer’s experience was that with equipment which is not commonly specified, the developer found that the manufacturer doesn’t always have the experience with those units to make them as reliable and cost-effective as the equipment it sells more of (in this case the 2 ton units). The 1.5 ton pumps had some problems that the 2 ton units did not. However, the developer feels the manufacturer has honored their warranty admirably, even extending the warranty period to ensure that all problems were resolved.
Efficiency has been quite good. Advanced Energy did a follow up energy use study which proved that homes at Eno Commons on average used 60% less energy for heating and cooling than the average for homes built in the same time period (using Duke Energy’s North Carolina database for 1998-1999). Average cost in the developer’s home for all electricity, including heating, cooling, lighting, cooking, hovered at $35 per month. |
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Pre-design for future renewables |
Roofs oriented to provide south-facing area with attic below. Water-heater is in attic for easy connection to solar hot water panel. |
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Airtight duct system |
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Materials
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Indoor environment
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Other Innovations
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Description |
Docs |
| 1 |
Production-built green homes achieving top-of-scale performance at low cost. Constructed cost of homes was under $65/sq. ft. in 1998-99.
Low-fire risk exteriors: brick-faced block foundation, hardiplank siding, metal roofing.
Site plan and individual homes designed for accessibility, particularly for wheelchairs and walkers.
Subdivision covenants protect solar access, accessibility features, trees. |
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Contact Information
| Specialty Contact Information |
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Click on the specialty technology in the table above to see contact and other information |
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| General Project Contact |
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Sherri Zann Rosenthal
Zann Developments, LLC
Phone: 919-286-9929
Email: szrcoho@mindspring.com
Relationship to the project: Developer
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| Project Team |
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Involvement |
Stage |
Name/Address |
Phone |
| 1 |
Owner/developer |
Design/Construction
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Sherri Zann Rosenthal
2205 Wilson St
Durham,
NC
27705
szrcoho@mindspring.com
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919-286-9929 |
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Architect |
Design
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Jeffrey Davis
Raleigh,
NC
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Engineer - civil |
Design/Construction
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Jim Thames
111 W. Main St.
Durham,
NC
27701
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Contractor - general |
Construction
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Craig Morrison, Cimarron Homes
Durham,
NC
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Landscape architect |
Design
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Ken Coulter, Coulter Hart Jewell Thames
111 W. Main St.
Durham,
NC
27701
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Environmental building consultant |
Design/Construction
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Arnie Katz, Advanced Energy Corp.
Centennial Campus
Raleigh,
NC
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Geothermal contractor |
Design/Construction
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Bill Evangelist, Evangelist Service Co.
Apex,
NC
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