Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Astros play Green

Starting on Earth Day, April 22nd, The Houston Astros are encouraging green practices, including building a Habitat for Humanity home with the following Green features.

  • Exterior walls have a bottom seal layered between the wall unit and the foundation to prevent water and air leakage.
  • The entire home is wrapped in 7/16" OSB sheathing then covered with a 3/4" sheet of Dow High Performance Energy Star Rated Underlayment. The exterior is then covered with a durable vinyl siding requiring little maintenance.
  • Roof consists of 30-year architectural shingles (versus 20-year used by most builders) in a light color to reflect sun and reduce the amount of heat entering the attic.
  • Roofing structure has a two inch roof overhang to reduce the amount of sunlight entering the windows and the underside of the overhang consists of 12" vented soffit for additional ventilation to the attic reducing heat entry to the home.
  • The windows are Low E, double bane with a sunglass tint.
  • Air conditioning unit is a high rating Tempstar 14.5+ seer, 2.5 ton cooling system with 80% annual fuel utilization efficiency for gas heating.
  • The home is painted with Valspar low volatile organic compounds and is non-toxic as certified with the Green Seal Certification (Standard GS-11).
  • Houston Habitat homes exceed the energy efficiency requirements for designations as an EPA Energy Star qualified home.
  • Houston Habitat for Humanity is the recipient of the 2007 Energy Star, Excellence in Affordable Housing
Right Fielder Hunter Pence (an All-Star! Congrats Hunter) and 3rd Baseman Geoff Blum are the club's official "Green Ambassadors."

Click here for more, including videos of Pence working on the house and Blum visiting a Houston area elementary school while they were conducting a recycling drive for the school.

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