American Standard Bath & Kitchen Partners with Florida's Showcase Green Envirohome™
“Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne destroyed a home in 2004 displacing a single family - our family.”
- Nonnie Chrystal, vice president of Mark Baker, LLC
INDIALANTIC , FL — A Florida contracting firm is attempting to build the greenest home in the world, a 3,500-square foot “Near Zero-Energy Home” and “Near Zero-Runoff Home TM” they call “Florida’s Showcase Green Envirohome.”
They also call it Mom’s house. 
Betty Baker-Farley, 74-year-old mother of Mark Baker, lost her 2,024-square-foot home on this barrier island in 2004, after the one-two punch of hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. The home on Florida’s central Atlantic Coast suffered severe wind damage, which led to water damage, which led to massive amounts of mold.
Baker and his wife, Nonnie Chrystal, vice president of Mark Baker LLC, decided they could rebuild the home to be better, stronger…and also smarter, safer and greener for Baker-Farley, who luckily survived the storm without personal injury.
American Standard is the exclusive plumbing products sponsor, donating the FloWise ® high-efficiency toilet, FloWise1.5 gpm showerheads, aerators, sinks and bathroom furniture consoles. Other innovations in the home mechanical systems include a gray-water recycling system, solar air conditioning, wind generator and solar water heater.
Baker and Chrystal are following home construction guidelines set forth from numerous organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), and American Lung Association (ALA) Health House Builder Guidelines. The stated goal of Florida’s Showcase Green Envirohome is to be ecologically friendly and resistant to hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fire, mold, and termites.
While calculating the reduction in their carbon footprint, Baker and Chrystal are also calculating how much money they can save on everything from insurance premiums to utility bills.
“The good news is that those deciding to build ‘green’ are being rewarded by insurance companies' lowered premiums, lower energy and water costs, government tax breaks and grants, utility companies' credit offerings, etc. for improving energy and water efficiency,” Chrystal said. We want to demonstrate that safe, efficient homes can be affordable and rewardable.”
The American Standard FloWise toilet uses 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf), so it qualifies as a “high-efficiency toilet,” or an HET. Unlike many other HETs that rely on a dual-flush, FloWise has a regular lever so every flush uses less water. FloWise can deliver high-efficiency performance on a regular gravity-fed toilet because it uses American Standard’s proprietary Champion® 4 flushing technology to deliver a precise non-adjustable flush. FloWise bears the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WaterSense label, assuring customers that FloWise will conserve water and perform as intended.
American Standard FloWise showerheads have a small turbine-like mechanism that spins the water stream through the head to create a powerful, energizing spray on 1.5 gallons per minute (GPM) that feels much the same as standard showerheads that use 40 percent more water at current code requirements.
FSGE has partnered with more than three dozen public, quasi-public and private sector entities including the U.S. DOE Building America Project, EPA Energy Star, Florida Solar Energy Center, Florida Water Star, Florida Power & Light, and the Institute For Business & Home Safety. For more information, visit www.FSGE.net.
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