BEHIND THE DRYWALL: What goes into the making of truly “green” home? Baxter Construction and DEC Architect David Cohen provide the details with tours of this house being built on Linden Lane. The home is a duplex, attached to the client’s existing dwelling. (Photo by A. Levin)

With two LEED-certified houses located on the same side of Linden Lane, Princeton’s “tree streets” neighborhood is taking the lead, no pun intended, in the town’s efforts toward sustainability.

Architect Kirsten Thoft’s home at number 45 earned the coveted LEED platinum certification this past fall. Just down the street at number 85, a home designed by David Cohen of DEC Architect is being built by Baxter Construction, and platinum designation is anticipated.

“This neighborhood will become the hub of green building in Princeton by virtue of having these two projects,” said Mr. Cohen, who led several “Behind the Drywall” tours of the house under construction earlier this month. More tours are planned for this Saturday, December 6.

The house is being built as a duplex attached to the client’s existing home because the site is too small to subdivide and is zoned as a two-family dwelling. The project is participating in both the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification process and New Jersey’s Climate Choice Homes program, to make it so energy efficient that “you can heat it with a toaster,” said James E. Baxter of the construction company.

“The idea of the tours is to educate the public about green building,” he added. “I probably had four or five people who came up and thanked me for providing this to the folks in Princeton. They weren’t necessarily interested in a job, but just in learning about what is green, what is LEED, what is platinum, and so on. So it was a lot of fun.”

Mr. Cohen wasn’t surprised by the enthusiasm for the tours. “I had been involved a number of years ago when the Princeton Environmental Commission sponsored green home tours,” he said. “The turnout at that time was really amazing. My own home was on it. I know the level of interest in Princeton is really high.”

The tours of the Linden Lane home are more structured and specific than the earlier ones to which Mr. Cohen referred. On the November 22 tours, many people expressed interest in the basement system, a waste water heat recovery unit that reduces the piping diameters and conserves the energy used to heat water. “I had people coming up and asking if they could put one of these in their houses that were already built,” he said.

Another attention-getter has been the windows, which are triple-glazed Energy Star that maximize daylight on the north and south, and minimize heat gain on the east and west.

The goals of the project are to improve energy use, make use of recycled resources, and have a healthy impact on the building’s users and the larger environment by reducing pollution and the use of toxic materials. While the site had its challenges, its orientation was actually favorable, according to Mr. Cohen. “The existing trees were fine for solar considerations. And the location is considered desirable because it can support and encourage walking, mass transit, and biking.”

“Other advantages are that you’re using existing infrastructure rather than building new, which leads to resource efficiency,” said Mr. Cohen. “And then there is open space preservation, because you’re on a site that is already being used. There are points for all of these things.” The U.S. Green Buildings Council requires 80 or more points for platinum status.

Additional features of the house include a sleeping porch for the master bedroom, allowing outdoor sleeping during warm months; walls with more than twice the conventional insulation; a photovoltaic array for on-site energy production; and the use of LED bulbs in nearly all of the light fixtures.

“I love talking to people who are interested in this,” said Mr. Baxter, who added that his company’s project for the Whole Earth Center was the first commercial project in Princeton to get LEED silver designation. “It just makes sense.”

To register for this Saturday’s tours, call (609) 466-3655 or email fcarpenter@baxterconstruction.com.