THE SEVEN PETALS

WATER

Net-zero water. Water balance equation. Water usage on site must not be more than rainwater/groundwater recharge in that area. We have permeable parking surfaces – gravel instead of paved. Rainwater collection containers that are built and ready but not currently in use. WHY NOT? The State of Indiana requires all water used in a home/facility to be potable, even toilet water. Rainwater would need treated. See the bathroom description for details. We have temporary exemption.

ENERGY

Net-zero energy. We must produce all of the energy we consume. Every building has an EUI score, or Energy Use Intensity score. EPA relies on source EUI as the basis for the ENERGY STAR score. Our score was 4 in 2017-2018 with solar and 17 without. We haven’t gotten our numbers yet since we added more solar panels. (A typical office building will use approximately 100 to 150 kBtu/SF/Yr). We do this through solar panels (from Rectify Solar; made in USA), geothermal, extra insulation, and controlling the heating/cooling in the building. We have automated lights and heating/cooling system that shuts off when we aren’t here to help save energy. Passive solar, explained in the Nature Hall section below, also helps us reach this goal.

MATERIALS

Non-toxic materials were used to construct this building. We had to vet (research and provide list of chemicals and where material came from – most sourced locally/within US) almost every product in the building to keep out the “Red List Chemicals”, a list of 19 (was 14) toxic chemicals that are found frequently in building products. We have documentation of 100% of the ingredients of all of our products, as well as information regarding how far the product travelled to get here. All of this building is free of PVC and added formaldehyde, and a good majority of it was made in America. Any lumber/timber used must be Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified – basically organic wood.

SITE

Any amount of land we took to build on, we have to add new land to our property and restore it to natural vegetation and place it under a conservation easement – For the 5 acres that was modified for construction of newer property, a separate 5 acres must be placed under a conservation easement – currently in the process of an easement with the Red Tail Land Conservancy. The Children of Indiana Nature Park is already under easement with the Red Tail Land Conservancy.

BEAUTY

We have been giving out surveys to measure this one, but it’s pretty subjective. We wanted the beauty of this building to be the natural objects found inside and all around it. Sustainable and Earth Friendly can be beautiful.

EQUITY

ADA compliance and equal access to nature for all.

HEALTH

This refers to the health of the occupants of the building. Part of this petal has to do with operable windows/access to fresh air for all its inhabitants.