Local builders learn Earth-friendly technique
Kevin and Stacy Finch Drake took training in environmentally friendly building methods.
“We’re all about living naturally, and EarthCraft is a very natural approach — very holistic,” Stacy Drake said.
According to the program’s Web site, the certification “serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes that reduces utility bills and protects the environment.” The EarthCraft House Technical Guidelines state that the criteria “often exceed the minimum requirements of a product manufacturer, installer, or building code.”
The nonprofit EarthCraft program was developed by the Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta and spread throughout the nation’s Southeast. It’s similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, but the criteria are less stringent and less costly to meet, according to the Drakes. EarthCraft is also tailored more to the Southeast’s climate. It has support from the National Home Builders Association, local building associations, and other nonprofits and businesses.
According to Andrew Grigsby, a local green-building expert who contracts as a regional technical adviser to EarthCraft Virginia, builders in the commonwealth were slow to incorporate sustainable practices. The Virginia Sustainable Building Network thought EarthCraft would “jump start” green building here and worked with the Home Builders Association of Virginia, the Virginia Community Development Corporation, and Southface to get the program up and running here in 2005.
