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Southampton, Long Island, NY, July 16, 2009 – Hamptons Luxury Homes (HLXH:Pink) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Telemark, Inc. has issued the following press release:

In what is believed to be a first in the Hamptons – if not the nation – a net zero energy consumption, certified carbon neutral and LEED Platinum home is being built from the ashes of a horrific fire.

Following the December 2008 fire that destroyed the home of the David Dubin family, the members of The Hamptons Green Alliance (www.hamptonsgreenalliance) came together through the efforts of a friend, fellow environmentalist and local architect, Richard Stott , AIA, LEED AP, of Steelbone Design Company and Flynn Stott Architects, PC to help rebuild the Dubin’s home but with a unique feature – incorporating state-of-the-art materials, procedures and techniques as well as experimental building ideas to develop what they believe will be a first of its kind – a true energy conserving house and one that is expected to set the standard for constructing carbon neutral homes in the future.

Members of the HGA, which includes leading building contractors and suppliers in the Hamptons, have formed a team, led by Stott, Craig Lee of Lee Architecture, Frank Dalene and Bob Morsch, of Telemark, Inc. (co-founders of HGA), Roy Dalene and his son, Tim Dalene of Telemark, Inc. (General Contractor on the project) to carry out the rebuilding effort.

The group, working with the Long Island Chapter of the United States Green Building Council, intends to seek LEED Certified Platinum status for the house, as well as implementing a methodology developed by Frank Dalene, that can definitively calculate the carbon footprint of the actual materials, products and businesses that are used in construction, thereby establishing a true carbon-neutral status for the construction of the home. Furthermore, because the house is being rebuilt, the existing energy consumption records prior to the fire will be able to be utilized to determine the actual difference in energy consumption. “We believe this is one of the most significant aspects of the project,” said Roy Dalene, COO of Telemark. “Normally, when homes or buildings are built for LEED certification there is not the opportunity to draw an actual apples-to-apples comparison of energy usage. Because there is this specific energy history, we will be able to quantify and prove the energy savings.”

According to Bob Morsch, Director of Business Development for Telemark, after the fire, Stott discussed the benefits of building a LEED certified structure and the Dubins, with their natural inclination to be environmentally responsible, agreed. He noted that once Stott became aware that the Dubin’s 13 year old son, had taken the loss of the house and his room very hard, he began a dialog with him to describe what the LEED process for homes entailed. “This captured his imagination and he responded with a keen interest,” Morsch reported. “In turn, he shared this passion with his honors’ science class teacher and a special project has evolved in which he will report to his class on the design and recreation of what will be a very special home.”

The Project Team began meeting in the spring of 2009 to collaborate and share information with each other so that they could integrate the expertise of each member on the team to develop the plan for rebuilding. “New technologies have been discussed that impacted the design. The development of specifications and integration of technologies have evolved into a new project delivery approach known as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). According to the AIA, IPD integrates people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that “collaboratively harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction.”

Much has been written about LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This rating system was created by the United States Green Building Council to address eight major areas:

• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Materials and Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation and Design Process
• Location and Linkages
• Awareness and Education.

“The attainment of LEED Platinum certification is widely-recognized as a challenging endeavor where various levels of accomplishments are rewarded via a point system,” explained Tim Dalene who is also a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP). “The preliminary tally of points has been calculated and this project may turn out to be one of the highest scores attained in this country.”

Challenges of Building a Net-Zero Energy Home that is Carbon Neutral

While LEED certification has become a recognized standard of “green building” in the industry, the emerging area of excitement, according to Tim Dalene, is the building of net-zero energy homes. “These are homes that do not require more energy to operate than they consume,” he explained, noting that the home’s energy must be created in a sustainable way. “This would include methods such as generating electricity through the use of solar power – photovoltaic and wind generators for electricity and solar thermal for hot water.” Dalene noted that the use of geothermal (ground water source heat pump) technology will be used at the Dubin home for heating and cooling.

”In order to minimize the amount of energy required to heat or cool a home, we are designing the structure with advanced high-performance building strategies that will take advantage of passive and active heating and cooling design techniques,” Tim Dalene stressed. He added that the home will remain connected to the grid with one very nice benefit: “When the electric production from photovoltaic wind generators exceeds electricity usage the electric meter turns backward. When electricity usage exceeds production the electric meter turns forward. The goal then is that the net result will be zero,” he explained.

In order to obtain the carbon neutrality certification that is planned for the home, the HGA turned to co-founder Frank Dalene to utilize an indexing system and methodology that he has created to establish an objective and scientific way of measuring the carbon footprint associated with the production of all manufactured products. “To our knowledge no one has accurately constructed a home with a carbon neutral footprint because the science did not exist until now,” Dalene said.

The Dubin house is expected to be the pilot program in establishing a standard in the way a carbon footprint can be scientifically and accurately measured in the manufacturing of a home. “We will provide the science and certify the carbon neutral status of this home utilizing the methodology that I developed,” Frank Dalene said. He noted that this system, which has been reviewed and well received by world wide experts in the environmental field who have been at the forefront of the reduction of greenhouse gas movement. The team will further calculate the carbon footprint of the home’s operation going forward with the goal of certifying the carbon neutrality based on the home’s lifecycle. “It will be helpful that the goal of zero energy is met since energy consumption is a major factor in calculating a home’s carbon footprint,” Dalene said. He added that the intention of the team is to audit and offset the Co2e (Carbon Equivalent or Greenhouse gas) emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the established sciences surrounding the Kyoto Protocol to achieve carbon neutral certification.

By achieving the above goals, the Hamptons Green Alliance can deliver to the homeowner a certified LEED Platinum, Zero Energy and certified Carbon Neutral home. “While this project is a groundbreaking endeavor, we believe documenting this effort will create a model for others to follow or adopt as best practices in the future,” Dalene said.

Contact: Bev Jedynak
Martin E. Janis & Company, Inc.
312-943-1123
bjedynak@janispr.com