5IVE: Diary of a LEED Platinum Home
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 06. 6.07
Jeff Gallo of Minneapolis is trying to build a green house. The zoning bylaws were no help, but after a quick redesign by John Dwyer of Shelter Architecture he is on his way and intermittently blogs it for our viewing pleasure.
The walls are Thermomass , a form of Structural Insulated Panel developed by Dow Chemical; it is a sandwich two layers of concrete with a styrofoam filling. Yum.
I have not seen this system before but it looks interesting. Neither styrofoam nor concrete are particularly green materials, but this is an R30 wall with no thermal bridging and very little waste that looks to be a very efficient use of material.
The house is built with FSC lumber and they have tried to deal with the issues of PVC, Radon, and green heating systems. They have tried to go formaldehyde free, but I suspect those manufactured joists in the roof are the usual particle board. I wish there was more on the blog and look forward to seeing the finished product. 5IVE- Diary of a LEED Platinum Home via ::Future House Now
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Dockside Green in Victoria, BC Canada is developing a new phase and aiming LEED platinum for their development. The have a self imposed penalty of 1$/sq.ft payable to the city if the project doesn't achieve platinum status (1 million dollars). The design includes solar water heating, photovoltaics, and small-building wind turbines. I was at the sales center on the weekend and it looks spectacular...
LEED is the planting process. Will it stay green after it is built ? The waste and carbon footprint of the dwellers will tell.
Good Afternon.
Canada already has a platinum LEED house. It was unvieled in Guelph on July 5th. It has the highest score of any Platinum house in North America. There are only about 7,
Here is the CMHC announcement on the Platinum LEED house
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2007/05/c4060.html
We're proud to finally say that 5ive, the little house that could, has finally received its official LEED Platinum certification from the USGBC. It is the first new home in Minnesota to receive Platinum Certification, the second overall, and the 27th in the country. Thanks to all who have followed along in its development. It's been an honor to have been a part of it.