R-Value Concrete Structures LLC has been awarded the Exemplary Project award from the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association for its “foundational participation” in the Onekama Hybrid Home.

The home features Build Block ICF walls from footings to trusses, stained concrete floors, and incorporates Lite-Deck floors with radiant heat/snow melt for the garage, porch and a unique second-story deck, all installed by R-Value. Many challenges had to be overcome during construction including very narrow window spacing, the second story concrete deck, and high winds throughout the building process.

According to Jake Vierzen of R-Value: "I am excited to see ICFs being recognized as an excellent complement to renewable energy technologies, and very pleased to work as part of Team Hybrid on this and other innovative homes. The Team concept incorporates many of the trades, starting with the architect, in order to deliver the absolute highest performance home possible.”

In addition to the highly efficient building, the Onekama Hybrid Home discreetly incorporates both a wind generator and solar hot water. It is expected to earn the highest rating possible under the new LEED for Homes program.

It’s hard to sell much of anything in Michigan these days, let alone $500,000 homes, but green building with insulating concrete forms helped make it possible for one building group to have its best year ever in 2007.

Battle Creek-based Summit Investment Group recently had success with a development it called The Ridge at Cedar Creek, which featured energy-efficient homes in the half-million-dollar range.

Summit mainly uses Polysteel forms. Owner Daniel Kiefer says he prefers Polysteel forms – although he is willing to try others – because they come in bigger components and he likes how they are put together structurally.

While Michigan’s economy has been the worst in the nation for several years, Kiefer said quality building and competitive prices – helped by a recent reduction in the prices of green building supplies – have made it possible for Summit to buck the state’s economic trend.

“We are bucking it because we’re building in a price range that’s not nearly as economically labored as some others,” Kiefer said. “Our houses in this particular development start in a half-million range. We also do a lot of commercial construction, and I find that if we work hard and we’re a quality builder, and we associate with customers that are of the same mind – if you do a good product, there’s always a market for that. Even in the worst of times.”

A Port St. Lucie, Florida home built with insulating concrete forms will be sold for $10 as part of a fundraiser for the YMCA of the Treasure Coast, which serves Martin and St. Lucie counties.

The winner of the raffle, for which tickets are $10, will take possession of the home.

The home, which is being built on Escobar Lane in Port St. Lucie, is being donated by Homecrete Homes, and is valued at $349,800. It will feature thick, insulated concrete walls and a closed-soffit roof system aimed at making the house more energy-efficient, said Bob Cenk, vice president of Stuart-based Homecrete Homes.

Workers have finished putting plywood on the home's roof and plan to put up interior walls this week, Cenk said. The home is expected to be finished March 1. It will have four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-car garage.

The drawing will be March 20.

Habitat for Humanity of New York City is using Insulating Concrete Forms in the construction of nine Brooklyn homes.

Habitat is building the homes in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, using ICFs in an effort to make the homes energy-efficient.

The nine families who will own the homes have contributed 300 hours of "sweat equity" per adult to the construction of the homes on Halsey Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard.

The homes are expected to be move-in ready by 2008.

USGBC unveiled LEED for Homes at its annual conference in Chicago last week.

Of special interest to concrete home builders will be the points available for energy efficiency and reduced energy use during construction. Steel-reinforced, insulated concrete has been shown to increase efficiency in a home’s energy usage. Likewise, the prefabricated nature of ICF walls reduces construction traffic and other uses of energy on the job site.

The LEED for Homes certification covers production houses, custom-built residences and low-rise multi-family buildings.

Instead of using traditional wood studs and sheet rock for construction, Ellsworth decided to employ the use of insulated concrete forms (ICFs) from Arxx Walls and Foundations.

According to Ellsworth, the building can resist termites, wind damage and, as just proven, fire. The land around the building was charred, but his building wasn't touched.

Ellsworth also touted environmental benefits deriving from the use of ICFs. "It takes about 40 percent less electricity to air-condition a concrete form building – about a 30 to 40 percent reduction over a wood structure," Ellsworth said.

Quad-Lock officials hailed the results on the six-inch wall because the tests were conducted on what he called an “ordinary” wall without fibers in the concrete mix.

“Our results, by the leading fire testing agency in the world, fly in the face of other studies that have been conducted,” said Douglas Bennion, Quad-Lock’s Training & Technical Services Manager. “This may suggest that those studies need to be revisited.”

Quad-Lock Building Systems Ltd. manufactures and distributes Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) systems for walls, floors and roofs. Quad-Lock ICFs are made with high density, fire retardant expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads. They contain no formaldehyde, CFCs or HCFCs. Quad-Lock’s wall systems have four panel types, two panel sizes, 10 wall configurations and virtually limitless wall thicknesses, resulting in R-values ranging from R-22 to R-40.

The Vermont home will house the Vitale family, who were chosen by the show’s producers as the latest example of a special-needs family who will live in a home reconstructed on the program.

“We did it in 14 hours,” said Jason Fisher, territory sales manager for BuildBlock. “I believe it was the fastest ICF installation ever.”

The team worked through the night, in a heavily lighted work site, to complete the installation by morning. The installation was led by volunteer tradesmen from New Form Building Systems of Maine, including owners Erica Libby and Michelle Atherton.