Martha Rose Construction

by, Martha Rose

When selecting windows for Fish Singer Place our goal was to find the windows that would provide the highest levels of comfort and energy efficiency and were manufactured in the United States.  Selecting Serious Windows was relatively easy after comparing performance data from the all of the top manufactures.

We decided to go with the Serious 925 model for many reasons. The environmental friendly fiberglass frame is very strong, and expands and contracts at the same rate as the panes of glass since it’s made out of the same material. Because the frame is hollow, it can be insulated. With these particular windows, foam is injected into all of the hollow parts of the frame to help eliminate thermal bridging. Fiberglass windows last longer than wood and require little or no maintenance. The color is integral and painting them is unnecessary, however, fiberglass is fully paintable. Finally, the expected lifespan greatly exceeds vinyl and most wood.
Features:

• Up to R-9.1 insulation 3x ENERGY STAR® rating
• 99.5% UV Protection (reduced fading)
• Reduced condensation
• Increased comfort with less draft in winter and reduced solar heat in summer
• Lower energy bills
• Over 28 years experience in both residential and commercial windows
• Can contribute to LEED credits
• Decrease the size of your HVAC system

“Choosing to use better materials and designs to increase our energy efficiencies and indoor comfort in our homes is one of our highest priorities” -Martha Rose

Mike Lubliner, ME Building America and Tom Baledrson, Building Performance Constant at Conservation Services Group

Pictured in photo: Mike Lubliner ME Building America and Tom Balerson Building Performance Consutlant at Conservation Services Group

By, Martha Rose

In the mid-1970’s I had the pleasure to be living in a rural area of Grays Harbor County and simultaneously learned that a twin nuclear power plant was to be built 15 miles away as the crow flies. This turned into an opportunity to really learn about alternative energy sources.

Then as well as now, it turns out, conservation is THE lowest hanging fruit of the energy tree. Simply put, insulating more and better can eliminate the need to build more nukes or to drill for more oil.

In the 70’s, I didn’t know that our housing stock was responsible for the greatest amount of energy consumption (40%). I thought the biggest culprit was industry (15%+/-) followed by vehicles (25%). What an aha!  Moment it was when I learned the truth about energy consumption.

So even if lifestyle changes are made by riding the bus, walking more, and eating local food, there still remains the opportunity to make the biggest impact on our own personal energy consumption. By achieving personal peak efficiency (PPE), we can become part of the solution of cleaning up our environment.

Consider this: The passive solar homes being built by Martha Rose Construction use less than ½ the energy and water resources as other new homes built today. These same homes’ efficiencies look even more impressive if they are set beside older homes.

Now, add active solar systems for hot water heating and electricity and the home’s energy consumption becomes very close to the magic zero number.

We are at the forefront of energy efficient homes in the Seattle market, setting new standards for other builders to follow. Three homes are available now.

By, Staff Eco-Redux

While the economy is struggling to find even footing green home builder Martha Rose continues to raise the green home building bar.  “We have seen a tremendous amount of interest in our new high-performance homes,” mentions Rose, “we are seeing a much greater consumer interest in energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes.”  

In 2008 Martha Rose Construction joined U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to announce a new national energy-saving initiative-the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge.  The program encourages U.S. home builders to adopt the E-Scale on a voluntary basis.  The idea is to accelerate integrated design and building practices that have been developed and verified through DOE research in its Building America program.

The U.S. Department of Energy has posed a challenge to the homebuilding industry – to build 220,000 high performance homes by 2012.  Homes that qualify for the Builders Challenge must achieve a 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale), meaning that they will use at least 30% less energy than a typical new home built to code.

“Building high-performance homes makes us part of the solution when it comes to our world’s energy challenges. Working with the Building America Team insures that we will accomplish this goal with clarity and efficiency,” says Rose. 

For more information: MarthaRoseConstruction.com or buildingamerica.gov/challenge 

By,  Adrian Willanger Eco-Redux 

Martha Rose after exhausting hours of research has selected to go, with an industry leader, A.O. Smith’s newest hot water heater the “Vertex 100” for installation in her latest high-performance homes.  

The Vertex is the result of a 3 year project between the United States Department of Energy and A.O. Smith to accelerate development of a higher efficiency hot water heating solution.  The Vertex 100 operating at 96% thermal efficiency provides a higher output with more efficient combustion to produce hot water at a lower operating cost.  

Understanding thermal efficiency, think of thermal efficiency percentage as a dollar spent operating your water heater. Standard water heaters operate at 78% or less thermal efficiency meaning that 22 cents of every dollar used to heat hot water is wasted.  Compared to the 96% efficiency of a Vertex this can add up to a substantial difference in lost energy and money over the life of a water heater. 

One of televisions’ first green genre stars Ed Bagley Jr. has selected the Vertex 100 for his own  use as well as talk host Jay Leno for his green update of his car museum style garage.  You may not be able to afford any of his cars but you can use the same “celebrity” hot water heating system.   

by, Staff Eco-Redux

Green Builder Martha Rose Chooses the high-efficiency Mantis freestanding gas fireplace for her new homes at Fish Singer Place in Shoreline, Washington.

The Mantis is the first and only vented 28,000 BTU fireplace that is certified to exceed 93% efficiency AFUE.  The   AFUE is the most widely used measure of a furnace’s heating efficiency.  It measures the amount of heat actually delivered to your house compared to the amount of fuel you supply to the furnace.

Humidify While You Heat

Capturing the condensed water, a byproduct of its clean combustion and efficient heat exchanger and then evaporates it adding humidity back into the room.  

Just one of the many energy saving features that can be found in the 5-Star Built Green homes at Fish Singer Pace.