These greenhouses grow from friends of the earth
By
EVE SAMPLES
Palm Beach Post
Staff Writer
Monday, March 17, 2008
OKEECHOBEE — John Eriksen admits it. He's
obsessed with energy consumption. When he
flips on the eight-bulb light fixture in the
bathroom of his Okeechobee home, the hand-held
tracking device in his grip shows his costs per
kilowatt hour spike from 2 cents to 10 cents.
Eriksen cringes. He flips the incandescent bulbs
back off.
David
Spencer/The Post
enlarge
John Eriksen,
behind his solar-powered Okeechobee
home, grew up on a ranch where his
family generated its own electricity
with wind turbines. 'America's a
country of power hogs because
electricity's been cheap,' he said.
'But that day's going to end.'
Paul J.
Milette/The Post
enlarge
John Eriksen,
behind his solar-powered Okeechobee
home, grew up on a ranch where his
family generated its own electricity
with wind turbines. 'America's a
country of power hogs because
electricity's been cheap,' he said.
'But that day's going to end.'
Paul J.
Milette/The Post
enlarge
Rufus and Melynda
Wakeman designed part of their
Martin County home to preserve this
oak tree, one of seven that was
saved on the property. They also
used native and drought-tolerant
plants and trees.
Paul J.
Milette/The Post
enlarge
The Wakemans used
energy-efficient windows and
insulation as well as wood from a
managed Indonesian forest in their
home.
Paul J.
Milette/The Post
enlarge
Green appeals to
Rufus and Melynda Wakeman.
David
Spencer/The Post
enlarge
A device shows
the energy that solar cells on
Eriksen's roof are creating.
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On the metal roof of his house, ultra-thin
laminated strips of photovoltaic cells collect power
from the sun. Eriksen gets a kick out of watching
the watts stream in. And he gets a credit on his
monthly Florida Power & Light Co. bill for the 10
kilowatts or so he generates daily, a little less
than what he uses.
But as consumption-conscious as he is, he didn't
think it was possible to take his home-building
business green - until recently.
State, federal and private-business incentives
for solar power and other green features are finally
making it a little more affordable to build
energy-efficient homes for the everyman, the veteran
builder said.
Eriksen expects rebates and incentives to cover
$12,000 of the $17,000 to $18,000 costs of the solar
system and other green elements he built into his
1,600-square-foot home. Since the solar power will
shave roughly $30 to $35 a month from his power
bill, he estimates the remainder will pay for itself
in about a decade.
"I've been a firm believer in solar for years and
years, but up until just recently it hasn't been
cost-effective," Eriksen said.
The 2-month-old house in Okeechobee was his first
solar-powered home, and he hopes to build more for
environmentally conscious buyers. Green is Eriksen's
passion - and it also happens to be good marketing.
"I've got to find a niche in this crazy market,"
said Eriksen, owner of Okeechobee-based JDL Builders
LLC.
At an increasing rate, more builders are choosing
the same route. By 2010, up to 10 percent of new
homes in the country are expected to be green homes,
the National Association of Homebuilders reports.
That's up from a little under 2 percent in 2007.
"Because the supply chain is opening up and
because there's more product availability, it does
of course make it easier and less expensive to go
green," said Calli Schmidt, director of
environmental communications for the
Washington-based association. She pointed to the
increasing availability of products such as paints
with lower levels of volatile organic compounds.
About 40 miles east of Eriksen's Okeechobee home,
in Martin County, Rufus and Melynda Wakeman are
living green in larger manner: in a nearly
24,000-square-foot house on the St. Lucie River.
The couple, who own the River Palm Cottages and
Fish Camp in Jensen Beach, isn't religious about
tracking their hourly power costs, and they don't
generate their own solar electricity like Eriksen -
but they designed their home to preserve seven old
oak trees on their 2.3-acre lot in the Rio
neighborhood. And they used energy-conserving
insulation, doors and windows throughout the house.
Those factors and a long list of others helped
their builder, Stuart-based Buford Construction Co.,
get the house certified as green by the Florida
Green Building Coalition in December. Since it
started certifying homes in 2001, the coalition has
approved more than 1,600 in Florida, including more
than 60 in January and early February.
"We always liked the green idea, but it sort of
just happened," Melynda Wakeman said.
With multiple shower heads in each shower and two
sets of laundry machines, it's hard to imagine that
a home as luxurious as the Wakemans' is ecologically
sound. But every year big homes in the state are
getting certified, said Suzanne Cook, executive
director of the Tallahassee-based Florida Green
Building Coalition.
"A large home can still be environmentally
friendly," Cook said.
In a big house, key features usually are windows
and insulation - both of which counted toward the
Wakemans' certification. The couple also placed
special emphasis on landscaping the property with
native and drought-tolerant plants and trees. And
they used wood, called merbau, from a managed
Indonesian forest on trim and doors throughout the
house.
"It's like saying, 'How can the Hummer be green?'"
said Dennis Buford, president of Buford
Construction. "How can you possibly have a mansion
of this size that's green? The point (is) that it
could certainly use a lot more power, it
could certainly use a lot more water."
About $200,000 to $250,000 of the $6 million in
construction costs at the Wakeman house went toward
environmentally friendly features, Buford estimated.
Unlike Eriksen, Buford doesn't think going green
is within economic reach for most buyers -
especially since the administrative part of earning
green certification can cost $500 to $2,000. Eriksen
has not certified his Okeechobee home with the
Florida Green Building Coalition or any other group,
though he said he probably will pursue the
designation.
His solar technology - which is connected to
FPL's grid through the utility's "net metering"
program - would help get him certified, Cook said.
The coalition uses a special rating system called
the HERS index to evaluate the energy efficiency of
houses, and solar power generation is a factor.
The thin-film Uni-Solar solar system he used,
manufactured by Auburn Hills, Mich.-based United
Solar Ovonic, is less than a quarter-inch thick and
less obtrusive than large solar panels, said Eriksen,
who laminated them to the roof himself. He bought
the material from Advanced Green Technology in Fort
Lauderdale.
He wants to make environmentally friendly homes
affordable. He hopes to sell three-bedroom
solar-powered homes for as low as $110,000, not
including the lot.
The big question is: How many buyers will be
willing to pad their monthly mortgage payments for
the sake of the environment? Eriksen concedes that
some buyers may not be willing to wait a decade to
recoup their upfront investment.
For him, green building is a passion. He grew up
on a cattle ranch in Nebraska, where his family was
off the power grid, generating its own electricity
with wind turbines.
His first home was an energy-efficient geodesic
dome he built in Northern California in 1964. He
lived there for 10 years.
"America's a country of power hogs because
electricity's been cheap ... but that day's going to
end," Eriksen said.
For now, he's just trying to tread lightly on the
Earth - and make a business of it.
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