Jo-Anne and Bryan took Dave Edwards to the USGBC Northern California Chapter Gala Awards 2009 at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  There were more than 800 attendees at the event, where the USGBC celebrated the awarding of its ‘Super Heroes’ for 2009.

Viewing the Exhibits

Prior to the awards, we were able to walk through the California Academy of Sciences, which was closed to the public.  The Academy is a remarkable building, housing a huge collection of exhibits.  We decided that we need to bring our son and daughter to the museum as we believe they would enjoy the exhibits.

The building was certified Platinum by the USGBC on October 8, 2008.  It is a both a beautiful building and extremely ‘green’.  The building has radiant heating and cooling, and used Uponor products throughout.  Uponor has a case study on this building in YouTube.

Bryan and Jo-Anne reviewing the exhibits at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

The museum has radiant heating and cooling, which is exactly what we are putting in our home.

One end of the museum houses a number of exhibits that describe global warming, its importance and consequences, and how to we need to address it.

This exhibit shows, in very real terms, how the amount of CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere.

 2009 Super Hero Awards

The Super Hero Awards, and the recipients, were as follows

Community Award - StopWaste’s Green Building in Alameda County
Green Groundbreaker Award - Integrated Design Associates (IDeAs)
Green Team Award - The David Brower Center
David Gottfried Special Achievement Award - Anthony Bernheim

We have not been to the Integrated Design Associates building in San Jose yet.  It was the first net zero energy, zero carbon commercial building in the U.S.  The mayor of San Jose, Chuck Reed, was at the gala to present the award to David Kaneda, who is the founder and owner of IDeAs.

Dave Edwards, who owns Earth Bound Homes, is the general contractor that is building David Kaneda’s private residence in Cupertino.  Dave drove with us to the gala tonight and, after the awards, introduced us to David Kaneda and his wife, Stephania Wong Kaneda.  Also, Dave introduced us to Bill Leddy, who designed David Kaneda’s house.

After receiving his award, David Kaneda mentioned in his address that his family had moved into their new house that afternoon and would be spending their first night in the house tonight.  Also, David acknowledged that Dave Edwards had built his home, which will be LEED-H Platinum and net zero energy and zero carbon.

After the awards ceremony, John Westly gave the keynote address.  We were surprised and delighted at how elequently John spoke and how inspirational his keynote was.

The awards were presented in the center of the building, which has a stage and screens.

Chuck Reed, Mayor of the City of San Jose, presented the Green Groundbreaker award.

David Kaneda receiving his award and acknowledging and thanking his team.

The room was full for the awards ceremony.

David Gottfried, the founder of the USGBC and owner of the first LEED-H Platinum home in Northern California, describing Anthony Bernheim's accomplishments.

Steve Westly delivers an inspirational keynote at the event.

Dave Edwards (left) congratulating David Kaneda (right) after the awards.

It was a beautiful blue-sky California day today to host our first collaborative informational session.  We had more than 35 people attend, including architects and designers, home owners, contractors and students.  We were honored that Lana Malloy, a council member of the City of Monte Sereno and Barbara Allen, a long-standing commissioner and current Chair of Monte Sereno’s Site and Architecture Commission, were able to attend our event.

Preparing for the Collaborative Informational Session

Bryan’s father, John, was visiting from Edmonton, Canada, and helped us prepare the site for the event.  We had to ensure the temporary wooden railings were in place and appropriate caution signs highlighted dangerous areas.  Of course, Jo-Anne drafted a simple Site Tour Release Form for all attendees to read and sign prior to entering our active construction site.

Todd Bennett, from Teamwrkx Construction, arrived early and worked with Bill Brown, from Bill Brown Construction, to arrange a display table for the plans on the main floor.  The approved job copy of our plans were on the plan table in the lower level (basement).  Greg Wilkinson, a LEED AP from Graniterock, arrived with some information on their concrete products and quickly set up his materials.

The site was safe and we were ready for our guests.

Hosting the Collaborative Informational Session

Our first guests arrived at 12:30 sharp.  Todd was registering the guests and having them sign the waivers.  Within minutes, we had 15 people on site reviewing the features.  Bill Brown was answering questions from our guest and describing the concrete and other features.  Greg was busy explaining the key aspects of the concrete used on our site.

Shortly after Bryan was showing a small group how the ground source water loop was going through our concrete piers, a group had gathered in the kitchen area.  This was a natural time for Bryan to introduce Bill Brown, Greg Wilkinson and Dave Edwards (from Earth Bound Homes), who had just arrived.  Our guests asked a questions on various materials and the construction process.  They liked the hollow core concrete panels and were very interested in how the house was insulated.

We then moved down the interior stairs and reviewed the lower level (basement).  Given the roof in not on, we described how the trademark Eichler atrium would extend into the lower level with the finished ceiling 24 feet above the finished floor.

Our last guests left at 4:30 pm and we were cleaned up and locked up by 5:30 pm.

It was a beautiful blue-sky California day for our first of six Collaborative Informational Sessions.

Bill Brown greeting guests and answering questions.

Bryan showing photos of the construction to date.

The display table, with samples of the building materials and the house plans, was a popular spot.

Todd Bennett, from Teamwrkx, pointing out features in the hollow core concrete panels.

Greg Wilkinson, from Graniterock, answering questions on the concrete mix we used.

Reviewing the house plans. Note the SIP (structural insulated panel) at the left side of the table.

Bryan highlighting aspects of the design and materials used.

It was a great day to host our first of six Collaborative Informational Sessions.

Our SIP builder, Dave Edwards of Earth Bound Homes, invited Bryan to attend a presentation that he was giving at the Kaneda Residence, a LEED-H Platinum house in Cupertino, California.

Bryan had visited the Kaneda Residence on several occasions and attended a presentation by David Kaneda, Bill Leddy (the architect), and Dave Edwards at a Build It Green South Bay Guild meeting.  Given that our first Collaborative Informational Session was coming up on Saturday, attending this presentation would be a great opportunity to help plan for our event.

Of course, seeing a LEED-H Platinum project at any time is cool, and we’re always looking for product ideas.

Walking Around the House

Bill Leddy of Leddy Maytum Stacy is the architect of record for this house.  His firm does phenomenal work with sustainable design.  You may consider clicking through the spectacular residential projects profiled on their web site, noting the ‘INFO’ on each project.

Bryan took a quick minute to walk around the exterior of the house, noting some details.  It was a beautiful evening to take a couple photos.

Exterior facing swimming pool where trellis will be located.

Solar thermal panels profiled against the beautiful blue evening sky.

Very cool exterior light sconce.

Family area and kitchen. The concrete floors had been finished earlier in the day.

Kitchen area. Note the bamboo plywood used consistently throughout the house.

Looking back to living area, showing built in cabinets.

Thin profile light fixture above desk in the home office. Very cool.

Presentation and Tour by Dave Edwards

There were ~35 students from Jerry Kauffman’s class at San Jose City College attending the presentation and tour tonight.  After eveyone took off their shoes outside the house, Dave took them through the almost-completed project and highlighted the ‘green’ features of the house.  The heat exchange equipment in the garage was of particular interest to the students.

Dave Edwards highlighting key features in the family room.

Answering questions from the class. Note the ceiling and how the eveing light comes into the house.

Dave showing the mechanical systems in the garage, where the heat exchange units are located. The students were very interested in this equipment and asked many questions.