Rebuilding New Orleans
Holy Cross Project
Holy Cross Project Blog
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009: Real Estate Flyers
Here are the real estate flyers for our two new homes! Our first open house is on Saturday, October 10th.
-- Mike Lopez
AUGUST 20, 2009: DONOR VISIT
In August, Matt gave a tour of the progress at the Holy Cross Project to some of our amazing sponsors and donors.
July 2009: Door Blower Test
Air leakage can increase heating and cooling costs over 30% and contribute to comfort, health and safety problems. Finding hidden air leakage sites, called bypasses, can be difficult without the use of a blower door. This diagnostic equipment uses a fan to pressurize (force air into) or de-pressurize (force air out of) a building. When the fan operates, it is easy to feel the effects of infiltration – air leaking through cracks in the building envelope. Blower doors have gauges which can measure the relative leakiness of a building.
With the Blower Door tarp in place (red colored fabric) the house is depressurized by 50 pascals - a pascal is a unit of pressure. The equipment will then tell us how "leaky" the building envelope is. We determined that the house was tight enough to gain the maximum allowable LEED points (3 each). Only 2 air changes per hour (ACH) occurred!
-- Mike Lopez
July 2009: Duct Blaster Test
A duct blaster combines a small fan and a pressure gauge to pressurize a house’s duct system and accurately measure air leakage of the ductwork. This test is similiar to a pressure test of a plumbing system. Duct leakage can increase heating and cooling costs over 30% and contribute to comfort, health and safety problems. With the Duct Blaster fan fastened to the HVAC's return air register, the house's duct system is depressurized by 25 pascals. We determined that we met the Energy Star standards with a result of 11 CFM25 leakage to outside.
-- Mike Lopez
June 25, 2009: Installation of Purebond Cabinets
This picture shows the Purebond cabinets in the kitchen of 413 Andry. These cabinets are a healthy alternative to typical cabinetry because they don't off-gas urea formaldyhde, which is usually hidden in the adhesives. The manufacturer, Columbia Forest Products, has initiated a new effort in sustainability by shipping the cabinets flat. This helps in two ways: the carbon footprint is reduced because you're not shipping air within the preassembled units, and local workers are put to work because the cabinets aren't preassembled in some far away place.
-- Mike Lopez
June 24, 2009: Entergy Installs Natural Gas Line
Local energy provider, Entergy, installing the natural gas line for 413 Andry. We utilize natural gas for 3 appliances: stove, clothes dryer and tankless water heater.
-- Mike Lopez
June 20, 2009: Building Dashboard Monitors Energy Consumption
The Holy Cross Project uses Building Dashboard(R) to monitor and display energy consumption by end use, water use and rainwater reuse, natural gas use, and solar electricity production - all in real-time. There is a dasboard in the living room of the Global Green House, and you can also view the dashboard online here.
June 6, 2009: Visitor Comment on the Holy Cross Project
"Matt, just toured the Holy Cross project. Fantastic design and application of sustainability. Inspiring. Congrats."
-- Dwight Holing, writer & editor
May 29, 2009: Color Scheme for the New Homes
This photo shows the three houses and their color schemes - a cheery sight on a sunny day!
-- Mike Lopez
May 27, 2009: Solar Installation
On Wednesday, Global Green was joined by New Orleans’ citizens and green energy leaders at a special event highlighting the progress of the Holy Cross Project as two solar panel systems were installed on the 2nd and 3rd of 5 planned single-family houses under construction at the site. The installations were performed by local renewable energy installer, South Coast Solar, and students of a solar installation training course presented by Louisiana CleanTech Network, a local organization providing green jobs training programs at college campuses throughout the state.
Attendees were invited to view local trainees assisting the South Coast Solar staff with the installation of the solar panels as part of their training to achieve certification as solar installers. Global Green has made development of a green workforce a top priority of its green building programs in New Orleans and around the country.
Read the press release for the event here.
May 26, 2009: Front Porches Complete
This photo shows the new front porches completed with the healthy borate treated wood.
-- Mike Lopez
May 10, 2009: Siding Installation Continues
The first two sides of 413 Andry are completely sided. A final coat of paint still needs to be applied, therefore, the scaffolding may still be up for a number of days.
-- Mike Lopez
May 7, 2009: Siding Installation Begins
The siding installation was begun today. This photo shows the crew fastening the prepainted James Hardie siding to the Bluwood furring strips (vertical deeper blue colored items).
-- Mike Lopez
April 22, 2009: Spray Installation Installed
The spray foam insulation is now completely installed on 413 Andry. These photos show the walls and ceilings filled in. For those of us who enjoy building science, it's a great view of how to tighten your building envelope.
-- Mike Lopez
April 4, 2009: Visit to Site from Matt Petersen
Global Green President Matt Petersen was in town to speak at the Tulane Law School Summit on Environmental Law & Policy.
-- Mike Lopez
March 30, 2009: Interior Showing Air Ducts
This photo shows the borate treated lumber - a healthy alternative to traditionally treated lumber. This natural salt makes the wood resistant to three things: mildew, mold and termites. You can aldo see the air ducts here which are within the conditioned airspace, making an ideal situation due to possible air leaks.
-- Mike Lopez
March 19, 2009: Exterior Porches
Here's an exterior photo taken yesterday evening which shows more of the porches constructed. Interior work continues.
-- Mike Lopez
March 12, 2009: Interior work on the houses continues
Today, the columns on one of the two-story houses were installed. Not much else looks different on the exterior due to the fact that most of the work recently has been inside (plumbing, electrical, framing items).
-- Mike Lopez
March 3, 2009: Framing of new houses continues
This photo shows the framing of the two new houses at substantial completion.
-- Mike Lopez
February 25, 2009: Two new houses framed
This photo shows the house wrap being applied to the framing of the houses.
-- Mike Lopez
February 20, 2009: New house framing complete
Here's today's photo. The framers have now framed out the whole house, and framed the roof today. They should begin the next house next week.
February 18, 2009: First wall being framed
Here's a photo showing the first wall being framed.
-- Mike Lopez
February 10, 2009: Trenching for Utilities
This photo shows the plumbers trenching for the underground utilities (sanitary sewer and water supply).
-- Mike Lopez
February 9, 2009: Concrete pour
This photo shows today's concrete pour. The forms will be "wrecked" within the next several days and then the wood framing will begin next week, with the plumbing tie-ins starting tomorrow or Wednesday.
-- Mike Lopez
February 3, 2009: Forming of the concrete walls
This photo shows the forming of the concrete walls which should be poured this Thursday. The contractor hopes to start the framing of the subfloor on Monday of next week.
-- Mike Lopez
January 29, 2009: Curing concrete footings
This photo shows the curing of the concrete footings for one of the two-story houses.
-- Mike Lopez
January 26, 2009: Continuation of reinforcement steel
This photo shwos the concrete subcontractor's work readying the grade beams with reinforcement steel and forms.
-- Mike Lopez
January 22, 2009: Reinforcement Steel
This week's activity is the reinforcement steel's placement and the forming of the concrete foundation for the 2 two-story houses.
-- Mike Lopez
January 12, 2009: Concrete Subcontractor
We have activity out here on the site today. This photo shows the concrete subcontractor hand excavating the earthen concrete beams for one of the two story homes.
-- Mile Lopez
May 15, 2008: Visitor Center Now Open
The Global Green Holy Cross Project Visitor Center is now open. There are four docents, provided by the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association (HCNA), along with Global Green staff, who will lead tours of the completed home.
The Visitor Center hours are as follows:
Monday, Wed, Friday 11-4
Saturday 10-1
Tours include explanations of all the green materials and systems included in the home, such as reclaimed wood floors, Energy Star appliances, green roof, solar power, geo-thermal, and more. Global Green anticipates the visitor’s center will educate thousands of visitors, residents, developers and elected officials on ways to create greener, more affordable homes.
Come by during Visitor Center hours and receive your informational tour.
-- Mike Lopez, New Orleans Program Associate
April 17, 2008: Domino installs interior design for the first home
The installation and the photo shoot went very well. We were able to scour some used stores to find some local antiques and repurposed furniture. We were able to place a local artists sculpture for a photo, Rashida's ( from down the street) and all of Zack Smiths artwork. A local woman-Leticia- made the curtains and dust skirts ( over night!) And we fell in love with her.
Thanks to Domino we were able to fill the house with antiques, mattresses etc. at the last minute... I owe them a big thanks for coming through when the donated items did not arrive. We hope everyone is as happy as we were with the final result. We received a big applaud from some of the neighbors that popped their heads in.
PHOTO GALLERY
-- Ruthie Sommers, Interior Designer
April 12, 2008: Solar Installation on Holy Cross Project Employs Locals
This month Global Green installed solar panels on the the first Holy Cross Site home, in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. This installation marked a new milestone for the project, which is set to achieve LEED Platinum certification under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.
Global Green partnered with solar installers Meridian Energy Systems and green advocacy group Louisiana Clean Tech Network to seek out and hire residents of the Holy Cross neighborhood to assist in installation. Allan Jones, owner of Gal Can Electric was chosen to take part in this installation. The hope is that this will be the beginning of a larger solar training initiative for residents of New Orleans, in preparation for many solar projects projected to take place this year.
-- Mike Lopez, New Orleans Program Associate
November 28, 2007: Charles Allen Speaks
The Holy Cross Project symbolizes renewal and rebirth of the Holy Cross/Lower 9th ward community. Given the fact that this community housing/multi-use project is very modern and state of the art in its appearance and technological design/features, it sends a strong message to the world that the people of this community have fully embraced sustainable redevelopment and wish to serve as a model community in this regard. We in this community wish to no longer be seen as being relegated to substandard conditions for living and working in this community. We want nothing but the best. And, we wish to proclaim commitment to helping preserve the global environment.
-- Charles Allen, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association
October 16, 2007: Holy Cross Project Update
The Holy Cross project is a true touchstone of hope for a better future for New Orleans and this country. Having lived in New Orleans for most of my life, I fiercely love this city and its singular magic, and carry the pain of knowing that so many people and pieces of this incredible tapestry are now lost forever. From this brutal tragedy, though, a renewed city is slowly beginning to unfold, nurtured by its citizens, its government, and, now, its buildings.
The Holy Cross Project is a visionary example of dreams made reality, of the collective passion and dedication of many talented people to provide something that people can see and touch and learn from and aspire to make a part of their lives. The people of New Orleans need this to help illuminate their struggle to save their home. But the peoples of the world need it just as much, to show that, from the ashes of tragedy can grow the seeds of a sustainable future for our planet.
-- Beth Galante, New Orleans Director
