Gontina goes for platinum LEED certification with Bloomfield home
By Jon Zemke
metromode
June 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.