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Setting New Standards of Efficiency

Two members of the Grow team, Dylan Sievertson (PHC) and Greg Lotakis (Asani), recently joined other builders within NEEA’s (Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance) Phase 1 of the Next Step Homes Program to discuss the future of our residential built environment. For the past year NEEA has been monitoring 12 pre-selected homes (including the Everett at Grow) from builders across the Northwest with the goal to determine new methods and specifications for high performing homes. Each of these high performing homes focused on energy efficiency, better indoor air quality, and (for some) the pursuit of Net Zero energy use.

The half day roundtable was used to share data, lessons learned, and open dialogue amongst the group of builders. The Everett was featured as a top performer and much was learned about the systems that were incorporated to make this home a leading example in home efficiency.

NEEA is getting set to begin Phase 2 of the program and Grow will again likely have another home monitored.

Click here to learn more about the Next Step Homes Program and Grows involvement.

Grow Community Ice Cream! It doesn’t get better than that.

Available at Mora Iced Creamery in Downtown Winslow, just a 5 minute walk from Grow Community.   For a limited time only.

Click here to learn more about the “Mora Index.”

GROWmit, the One Planet Frog

Hi my name is GROWmit, I’m a One Planet frog representing the one earth we all share, and I live at Grow Community.  I was painted by local artist Pierr Mogan and I’m part of the ‘Frogs on the Rock‘ community art project here on Bainbridge Island.

Did you know frogs like me are what scientists call an indicator species: we are particularly sensitive to changes in our environment.  Toxic chemicals in the water and small changes in climate can make us very unhealthy.  Many of us are disappearing because our homes have been polluted or because our habitat is getting warmer.

What if frogs didn’t have unlimited clean water and air?  What if WE didn’t have unlimited clean water and air?  What if there were just ONE planet for all of us to share?

The One Planet Living® program at Grow Community envisions a world in which it is easy, attractive, and affordable for all of us to lead happy, healthy lives with fewer of the earth’s resources.

Aria and Ocean meet GROWmit!

If you live with me at Grow Community, you don’t have to make big sacrifices, learn a bunch of new stuff, or completely turn your life around to live here. But you can live in a way that helps both frogs and people to enjoy healthy habitats.

Come visit me and learn all about the 10 One Planet Principles that provide a framework for building healthy, vital communities.

What’s Coming Next? – Join the Conversation

Grow Community Public Participation Meeting
July 29th 2013, 6-8pm
Bainbridge Performing Arts

Join us to provide feedback on our site plan, home designs and floorplans for the next phase while enjoying some tasty treats and local wines.All are invited. We look forward to seeing you there!

 SCHEDULE

6pm – Arrive and connect with friends and residents of Grow Community. Learn whats coming next.

6.30pm – Grow team member and sustainability expert, Greg Lotakis will discuss One Planet Living.

6.45pm – Local, internationally acclaimed, Architect and the newest member of the Grow Team, Jim Cutler, will present our new concept in the context of livable communities.

7.15pm – Connect and provide feedback on home designs, floor plans and the community concept as a whole.

the Everett Becomes Part of NEEA’s Pilot Project: Next Step Homes

The Everett model home was selected to be part of NEEA‘s (Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance) pilot project: Next Step Homes.  We at Grow Community are excited to have a home that will help set this new standard of efficiency. The purpose of this pilot – partnering with a select group of builders across the Northwest – is to determine the most cost-effective ways to build homes that will achieve the greatest energy savings.

NEEA plans to use the findings from the pilot to set the next level of high performance home efficiency standards for the Northwest region.  The Everett has been selected as one of ten homes in the four-state region, including Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and will be monitored for efficiency performance for 13 months to determine if the home operates as designed once occupied.

NEEA works in collaboration with its stakeholders and strategic market partners to accelerate the sustained market adoption of energy efficient products, technologies and practices. Its mission is to mobilize the Northwest to become increasingly energy efficient for a sustainable future.  Grow Community is proud to partner with NEEA, leading the way towards a more sustainable future of home-building.

Bainbridge Island architect earns Earth-friendly accolades

By RICHARD D. OXLEY
Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer
June 8, 2013 · Updated 1:11 PM

Innovators behind one of Bainbridge’s newest communities has been recognized for its Earth-friendly efforts, helping Winslow become a more sustainable corner of the island.

Island architect Jonathan Davis and his company, Davis Studio Architecture + Design, have been awarded the Environmental Innovator award by the Association of Washington Business.

The honor is part of the association’s 2013 Environmental Excellence Awards. It’s the 21st year the association has bestowed the honor.

Davis’ company has recently been known as the architectural force behind Winslow’s Grow Community, currently emerging onto a stretch of Grow Avenue near Wyatt Way.

“Our award focused around the Grow Community and the work we’ve done to get that endorsed as a One Planet Community,” Davis said. “It’s the first community in the United States to get that endorsement.”

The One Planet Community is a global program that aims to create healthier places to live.

“The purpose of One Planet communities is to create places that are sustainable,” Davis said. “The current U.S. footprint is a five-planet footprint, which is clearly not sustainable.”

In a community like Grow, people can live on a level that the Earth can sustain, according to builders of the new neighborhood.

The community is within walking distance to major public transportation hubs. It also has a bike-share program, as well as a car-share program. Homes have one parking space and have no garages, which Davis notes is more commonly used as storage space.

Instead, the Grow development will have a fleet of community cars for residents to use.

“The first of those cars is a Nissan Leaf, which is charged at a charger that is solar-powered,” Davis said. “So it’s a zero carbon car.”

But creating sustainable transportation habits is just the beginning.

“Our food footprint really encourages local food,” Davis said. “We have a series of community gardens throughout the project that will run as an urban farm, so we will increase our yield so people can grow and get fresh food.”

“That’s extremely local food,” he added.

Davis has become so entrenched in the Grow cause that he will soon move his family into one of the new homes after it’s finished.

He isn’t alone either. Davis said that the homes at Grow have been very well-received and are selling well at market rates.

The award comes as yet another affirmation of Grow’s success, and Davis’ own.

“To me, the work we have done at Grow is an accumulation of all the work we’ve done over the past 25 years,” Davis said. “To have someone recognize that was a great validation.”

“It’s more of a privilege to get an environmental award than to get an architectural award,” he added. “It encompasses a greater purpose.”

Grow served to inspire Davis so much that he is now looking beyond Grow.

“Grow is a great first step, I look forward to finding other projects that have equally broad-minded views on development,” he said. “We certainly didn’t do everything we could at Grow, so I look forward to finding projects with people who want to create the next generation of Grow.”

Contact Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer Richard D. Oxley at roxley@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

Architect Jonathan Davis will speak at Dwell on Design – Friday June 21

Though you’d be forgiven for thinking that prefab design is little more than whatever factory-made box can fit on the back of a flatbed, poky little prefab homes tell only half the story. Thanks to hybridized construction, the endless possibilities of modular building, and an ever-mounting appetite for efficient housing, we’re seeing more and more square footage with a prefabbed roof over its head. In this session we’ll talk with architects Leo Marmol, Whitney Sander, and Jonathan Davis—who will also share images of their recent projects—about how prefab housing is scaling up.

Date:  Friday, June 21
Time:  4:00 pm
Event Type: Stage

 

Backers see $60M Grow Community as prototype for going super green

Daily Journal of Commerce
May 20th, 2013

click here to read article

Sustainable Business: Washington state’s largest solar community tests the marketplace

Puget Sound Business Journal
May 10th, 2013

click here to read article

Congratulations Jonathan!

Grow Community Architect, Jonathan Davis of Davis Studio Architecture + Design received the 2013 AWB Environmental Excellence Award for Environmental Innovation from the Association of Washington Business for his work on Grow Community.