Tag Archives: green building

Net-Zero Home Wins With RainBank Design

Photo credit: greenbuildermedia.com

If you think you can’t afford to build a sustainable, net-zero home in greater Seattle, we encourage you to read on.

“I still talk to people who don’t even know it’s possible to build a net-zero home for the same price as a conventional home,” says Ted Clifton, designer, builder and owner at TC Legend. Clifton is quoted in an article, posted by Juliet Grable in Green Builder Media, announcing that his company constructed the home that is a recipient of the 10th Annual Green Home of the Year Award.

RainBank is excited to be part of this project, which used RainBank’s rainwater collection system design consisting of four 2,500-gallon cisterns located below the first-floor deck, for a total storage capacity of 10,000 gallons. The system supplies all of the water used in the three-story home, including irrigation.

According to the TC Legend website, “When a net-zero-energy home can be built at a cost on par with traditional construction, everyone wins. TC Legend Homes is helping to usher in a new era of green construction in which homeowners don’t have to choose between cutting-edge efficiency and staying on budget. Our customers expect to save money owning their home, not spend more.”

RainBank Rainwater Systems is the leading, go-to company for green building architects and construction firms that seek modern rainwater collection systems, designs and builds.

Benchmark for Future Generations – Heron Hall

Heron Hall - A Living Building HomeWe first announced RainBank’s involvement in Heron Hall almost two years ago. Project founder and homeowner Jason McLennan is considered one of the most influential individuals in the green building movement today.

Heron Hall is a Benchmark for Future Generations

Planning has come to fruition and the challenge of building Heron Hall, Jason McLennan’s leading edge green project and Living Building home on Bainbridge Island, WA is in full swing.

Read more about Jason and the project below:

RainBank Rainwater Collection Systems principal Ken Blair is pleased to be a member of the Engineering and Consultant Team for Jason McLennan’s Heron Hall, a living building home McLennan is the CEO of the International Living Future Institute, a non profit organization behind the world’s most progressive and stringent green building guidance system.  He is the creator of the Living Building Challenge and heads Cascadia Green Building Council, the Pacific Northwest chapter for the US Green Building Council and the Canada Green Building Council.

Jason speaks about the living building challenge:

McLennan states, “it’s not enough for architects, construction companies, and real estate management companies to focus on reducing their environmental impact.  The  time is right to be far more ambitious, think instead about recharging and replenishing our planet“, explains Jason.

Click here to read about Heron Hall.

As the world seeks workable answers to sustainable building practices, Heron Hall will be a benchmark for this and future generations to follow.

Heron Hall and Bullitt Center Take on Living Building Challenge

Bullitt CenterChances are if you’re from Seattle you have heard of the Bullitt Center.  According to its website, “The Bullitt Center was designed to show what’s possible today, changing the way people think about high performance green building.”

One of the most ambitious aspects of the Bullitt Center was to achieve the goals of the Living Building Challenge,  created by CEO Jason McLennan in 2006 and encourages eco-centric design. The Living Building Challenge carries the strictest green building requirements in the industry. 

HeronHall bulidNow McLennan is building his own home, Heron Hall, incorporating the same design challenges as the Bullitt Center. Heron Hall’s whole house water system is sole source, meaning that rainwater is the only source of water. The water system was designed by 2020 Engineering with RainBank Rainwater Systems as a consultant to the design team. RainBank was contracted to construct the 15,000 Gallon Contain Water Systems tank cistern and now is looking forward to building the filtration and pumping system.

McLennan recently published a blog post about the cistern build, which was completed last week. RainBank’s Engineer, Chad Lindsly, along with president Ken Blair are working on the final details of the system’s components and will be installing that portion of the system soon.

Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project.