News
Lucid partner LivingHomes® receives first LEED® for Homes Platinum
August 16, 2006
Santa Monica, CA - LivingHomes®, Lucid Design Group's partner and a leading developer of modern prefab homes designed by world-class architects, has received the highest rating possible for its model home from the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) new pilot, the LEED® for Homes rating system, making it the first residential project in the country to attain a Platinum rating and setting a new national standard in sustainable construction. The LivingHomes® model home is a Zero Energy, Zero Water, Zero Waste, Zero Carbon, Zero Emissions residence, and will feature a unique monitoring and display system provided by Lucid.
"While the residential market is a new area for LEED and USGBC, the LEED for Homes pilot program moves us closer towards our ultimate goal of transforming the built environment on all levels," said Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, CEO & Founding Chair. "The LivingHomes' model home is expected to demonstrate that incorporating sustainable design into the construction process will help to lower operating costs, increase home value, reduce maintenance issues and improve indoor environmental quality in the long-term. With fewer than 20 LEED Platinum-certified commercial buildings nationwide, achieving Platinum certification is by no means a simple endeavor. LivingHomes® demonstrates an unwavering commitment to sustainable design and will be pivotal in building awareness for the program."
Since the LEED program's inception in 2000, 550 buildings have been certified and only 20 have achieved Platinum. In Los Angeles County, three projects have achieved a Platinum rating, including the NRDC Robert Redford Building in Santa Monica, the Lakeview Terrace Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, and the Audobon Center in Northeast Los Angeles. No residences have received a Platinum rating to date, making LivingHomes® the first homebuilder in the United States to reach such a level of environmental achievement. Through careful design, rigorous testing and thorough integration of comprehensive environmental systems, LivingHomes® has set the benchmark high for sustainable residential design.
Lucid Design Group's display will enhance homeowner awareness of the benefits of green building by displaying energy consumption, solar electricity production from rooftop photovoltaic (PV) modules, water heated from solar thermal panels, and carbon monoxide concentrations, all in real time.
LivingHomes® is the first company to make LEED certified, prefab homes available to consumers nationwide. The first line of homes, designed by Ray Kappe, is available for purchase right now. The second line of homes, designed by David Hertz, is currently under development.
About Lucid
Founded in 2004, Lucid Design Group, Inc. ("Lucid") is a privately held cleantech software company and a pioneer in providing real-time information feedback to teach, inspire behavior change and save energy and water resources in buildings. Over the past seven years, Lucid's team has endeavored to make resource use visible, accessible and engaging so that building occupants have the data visualization and communication tools to manage and reduce their consumption.
Today, tens of thousands of people live and work in schools, companies, community and commercial buildings and homes enhanced by Lucid's web-based Building Dashboard® technology. Now in its fourth generation, the intuitive Building Dashboard® user interface allows occupants to connect personal electricity, water and natural gas consumption with the actions and events that take place within buildings.
