EcoBuild Tops 500 Mark

EcoBUILD, MLGW's green building program, has topped the 500-mark! We have certified 514 homes since construction of the first EcoBUILD home began in October 2003. The 500th house is a 3-bedroom, 2061-square-foot home built in Midtown. This is the builder's first EcoBUILD home but may not be the last, as he is considering EcoBUILD for a 10-lot infill subdivision.

With 514 certified homes, EcoBUILD now accounts for 667,797 square feet of green housing in Shelby County. Based on average energy savings identified in the 2006 Uptown study, we estimate collective annual electricity savings of 2.3 million kWh, plus natural gas savings of 267,000 Ccf. (We plan to repeat the energy savings study, sampling a larger number of homes and using 2009 data, early next year.) The avoided electric use is enough to meet the annual power needs of 146 average Memphis households. It also represents avoided power generation emissions equal to 3.76 million pounds of carbon dioxide.