Energy Spent, Energy Saved: Habitat for Humanity Goes Green
By Paige Perry
Photos courtesy of Habitat for Humanity Desert Foothills
The idea of going green has been the focus of lead stories on everything from Good Morning America to CNN, as well as paper publications like Vanity Fair magazine. Energy-efficient low-cost housing, however, has not been part of the green blitz—until now.
With Brad Pitt working on Global Green USA in New Orleans and Leonardo DiCaprio hosting the television show Eco-Town , more nonprofits are looking to jump on the green bandwagon and find ways to build energy- and cost-efficient housing. Habitat for Humanity Desert Foothills caught on quickly and is well on the way to incorporating these features.
Habitat for Humanity, based out of Atlanta, has affiliates all over the world, and each one is privately run. The Desert Foothills location has already built twelve homes in the Cave Creek area. They are currently working on the next twelve, all of which will be eco-friendly.
Volunteer coordinator Adrienne Hamilton is hoping that, by the end of the project, they will be 100 percent energy efficient and will be recycling 100 percent of their construction materials. Bashas grocery stores of Carefree got involved right away. Their management team came out and built recycling bins, which are used for plastics and lumber. Even the bins were made out of used lumber.
Desert Foothills Habitat for Humanity has partnered with many corporations nationwide and has purchased EnergyStar appliances for all the homes. AbbottTB has donated bins for recycling paper, which they empty weekly. Abbott makes a donation to Habitat for Humanity based on the amount of paper recycled. Newspaper donations can be made on the construction site, and are open to the public.
As anticipated, Habitat volunteers and the city have responded well to the Desert Foothills location. As Linda Raish, executive director for the Desert Foothills Habitat for Humanity, said, “I think we all understand that building green helps the families in the long term, as well as the short-term, to have the benefit of a safe, decent, affordable house.”
The homeowners for the twelve homes that will complete the Desert Foothills Habitat for Humanity project have already been selected. Habitat for Humanity advertises their new projects in churches, synagogues, and schools. Potential homeowners must be working full-time and go through an approval process. Once a homeowner is approved, they receive an interest-free loan, but retain “sweat equity.” Sweat equity consists of the time they spend helping to build their home (400 hours for a two-parent household, and 200 hours for a one-parent household), classes they must attend—which consist of “Opening the Door to Home Ownership” and “Financial Fitness Workshop,”—as well as informative programs that inform them of the benefits of their energy-efficient appliances and homes. In addition to the classes listed above, the residents of this particular Habitat for Humanity will take courses to educate them on their energy efficient homes. They will be made aware of how much they are saving by using energy-efficient appliances and having a home that was designed by environmentally friendly architects.
Most importantly, they will be able to rest easy knowing that they are homeowners in our beautiful community, and that they are key players in helping the Arizona desert go green.