“The most amazing thing about the house was it felt better. It felt healthier and it looked natural,” said New Orleans Job Corps Center Electrical student James Morgan about The LivingHome at GreenBuild- a net-zero electricity demonstration home that was the centerpiece of the recent Greenbuild International Expo.
Following the event, the LivingHome was donated to the Make It Right Foundation who planned to locate the house in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward- an area heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly ten years ago.
Twenty-two Job Corps students attended the three day conference focused on advancing green, resilient design for buildings and communities. The GreenBuild Expo also showcased the impact of the latest green technology on climate change mitigation.
“The lastest and most innovative methods of building a house to be more eco-friendly- from having solar panels outside the house to different types of insulation outside the house,” said James Morgan. “In the future, everybody will be going green because there is no downside to this.”
New Orleans Job Corps Electrical instructor Preston Stephens said it was an opportunity for his students, some of whom choose to specialize in solar insulation studies, to get an up close look at some of the things they have been learning at Job Corps.
“Having an understanding of how the LivingHome was built and being able to see all the various green technologies that were applied at GreenBuild really gave the students a better understanding of how energy conservation plays an important role in every aspect of building a house,” said Stephens. “We study Electrical but at the GreenBuild we had a chance to study all the technologies in place.
“In the future, houses will be able to sustain themselves both day and night,” said James Morgan. “These houses are alive and at the GreenBuild Expo we got a chance to better appreciate that concept.