Vinyl Windows Used in 1st Iowa Habitat for Humanity 'Green' Home
DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 22, 2008 – The first environmentally friendly Habitat for Humanity home in Iowa will feature vinyl windows supplied by Pella.
The Greater Des Moines Chapter of the non-profit housing provider planned the home in conjunction with this year's Leadership Iowa class. The team is building a three-bedroom ranch-style home at the intersection of Dubuque and East 33rd St. in Des Moines near the entrance to the Iowa State Fairgrounds, one of the area's most heavily-traveled neighborhoods.
Construction began August 7, the first day of Iowa's annual State Fair, as nearly a million visitors make their annual trek to the fair during the 11-day event. Completion is planned for later this month.
Leadership Iowa, an issues-awareness group made up of Iowa business people, initiated the idea for a "green" environmentally-friendly home as a class project.
"The Leadership Iowa team met with the Center on Sustainable Communities and discussed how we could build a green home on a budget," said Sid Juwarker, Leadership Iowa spokesperson and engineer for Barker Lemar Engineering Consultants. "This is the first green Habitat home in the state so we set out to create the baseline model. We wanted to make it easy and practical, giving Habitat something to build on in the future."
The revolutionary "green home" features the ENERGY STAR®-qualified low maintenance line of Encompass by Pella™ vinyl windows, along with a durable Pella smooth grain fiberglass entry door with decorative glass accents.
"Pella Corporation is pleased to help create a new home for a family in need in one of Iowa's most visible neighborhoods during one of Iowa's most revered events," said Kathy Krafka Harkema, Pella Windows & Doors spokesperson. "Helping make Habitat for Humanity's projects greener and more energy-efficient for homeowners is a great way to support environmentally-friendly practices."
"Part of being environmentally-friendly is choosing energy-efficient solutions from Iowa-based companies," said Angela Kelly, director of product management for Greater Des Moines' Habitat for Humanity. "Pella Windows and Doors really fit the bill. They have a strong focus on energy efficiency."
Along with energy-efficient windows and doors, Leadership Iowa and Habitat for Humanity are using spray-on insulation and low volatile organic compound (VOC) paints to help improve air quality and planting a rain garden to act as a filtering system for excess precipitation.
"We want to create an awareness that these things are easy to do and possibly a trend for further builds," said Juwarker.
Pella Corporation, headquartered in Pella, Iowa, is a leader in designing, testing, manufacturing and installing quality windows and doors for new construction, remodeling and replacement applications. Pella earned the U.S. Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for windows in 2007 and 2008 for its leadership in manufacturing energy-efficient windows and educating consumers about them.
For more information about vinyl Pella products, go to www.pella.com.
The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC vinyl in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC and vinyl products to society.
For more information, contact:
Jeffrey B. Palmer
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Vinyl Institute
(703) 741-5669
jeff_palmer@plastics.org
Also go to: www.vinylindesign.com and www.vinylinfo.org.