Gontina goes for platinum LEED certification with Bloomfield home

metromode, 6/26/2008

There's the kind of green accreditation corporations use to "wash" their identities ...and then there's platinum green – rare environmental credentials that don't come cheaply.

Gontina Building & Design is going for the latter. The Clawson-based company recently broke ground on a house in Bloomfield Township that is going for platinum LEED certification, the highest certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The 3,700-square-foot building utilizes a number of environmentally friendly features that would make just about any tree hugger smile. Among them are structural insulated panels, insulating concrete forms, a geothermal heating and cooling system, recycled glass countertops, bamboo flooring, natural wool carpeting and low volatile organic compound paint.

A LEED home is typically use 30 to 50 percent less energy than conventional homes. This house, and others built by Gontina, ranks in the top 1 percent of homes in southeastern Michigan for energy performance. Gontina focuses on designing and building environmentally sustainable projects.

Source: Gontina Building & Design
Writer: Jon Zemke