Palo Santo Designs Achieves Its 8th LEED Certified Home in Santa Fe

Posted on October 11, 2019August 11, 2023 by Mark

We’re proud to announce our team received its 8th LEED certification for a another new home build, and the 5th at the Platinum level which is the highest level for LEED.

What is LEED?

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is a cornerstone here at Palo Santo Designs. We are committed to green building and sustainability in everything we do.

LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and provides a framework for us to design and build highly efficient, green homes.

To achieve a LEED certification requires close adherence to efficiency in multiple categories—location, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials, indoor environmental quality, innovation, sustainable sites, and more.

To receive the minimum LEED certification, a project must score at least 40 points within those efficiency categories.

Not only did we score enough to become certified, we scored more than 80 points for this home build putting us at the Platinum level—the highest level of certification awarded.

Our team is unmatched in the Santa Fe area in LEED certified home builds. We pride ourselves in being leaders in energy efficient and sustainable design and builds.

We’re honored to achieve another Platinum certification, but beyond that we’re proud to be committed to such high levels of energy efficiency and sustainability in our projects.

What is the LEED Program for Home Building?

Posted on August 4, 2016August 11, 2023 by palosanto

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is creating a whole new generation of homes across America. Discover how LEED is inspiring homebuilders – and benefiting homeowners – across Santa Fe, New Mexico.

What is LEED?

The LEED program is a third-party verification system for green homes. When a building is LEED-certified, it means the building has met a strict set of environmentally-friendly standards.

Meanwhile, environmentally-conscious homeowners can shop among houses based on their LEED rating levels.

The goal is to encourage our world to grow in a more sustainable way. There are four levels of LEED certification, including Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

When a building is LEED-certified, it means it uses resources more efficiently than other similarly-sized buildings. It uses less water and energy, for example, and produces less greenhouse gas. LEED-certified buildings also save money.

One of the best things about LEED is that it can be applied to all different types of projects – including everything from downtown hotels to homes in residential neighborhoods.

Palo Santo Creates LEED-Certified Homes in Santa Fe

Palo Santo Designs is a design-build firm based here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We’re proud to be among a few homebuilders devoted to sustainable residential development in our region.

We are proud to say that many of our Santa Fe home projects have passed the rigorous scrutiny of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program.

That means our homes are not only aesthetically beautiful, but they also have minimum impact on the environment. They use less energy and water, for example, while still being stylistically stunning.

How Do We Build LEED Homes in Santa Fe?

Palo Santo Designs has recently finished a home in Santa Fe’s Museum Hill neighborhood. The 2,100 square foot, three bedroom, two bath Pueblo Revival-style home is outfitted with contemporary accents, extensive outdoor space, and beautiful views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

It’s also pending LEED certification at the Platinum level, which is the highest level of certification available. Here are a few of the this environmentally-friendly home’s key sustainability achievements.

Solar Panels and Home Orientation

The home is nestled onto a single-acre lot. While creating the home, our designers had to carefully consider the orientation in order to maximize views as well as solar gain.

The roof of the home features a photovoltaic system capable of generating 4.5 kilowatts of electricity, which covers virtually all of the electrical needs for the home. Other electric features in the home include an electric vehicle charging station, a high efficiency air-to-water heat pump for in-floor heating and cooling, and efficient LED lighting throughout the home.

Water Conservation and Indoor Reuse of Rainwater

Water conservation also played a crucial role in gaining LEED certification. The home’s roof is specially designed not just for solar panels, but also to maximize rainfall capture. This rainwater is used for outdoor landscape irrigation as well as to flush indoor toilets. Re-using collected rainwater indoors is a cutting edge innovation in Santa Fe.

Meanwhile, gray water beds reclaim wastewater from showers, laundry, and bathroom sinks to ensure the landscaping always looks stunning without using excessive water.

Insulation, Adobe Walls, and Air Ventilation

One final piece of the puzzle is insulation. To create an environmentally-efficient home, Palo Santo Designs had to create a very well-insulated home outfitted with R-30 walls and R-50 ceilings.

Adobe walls within the home provide thermal mass, which then captures and retains heat energy from passive solar-oriented clerestory windows.

Of course, homes with good insulation can often suffer ventilation problems. That’s why we incorporated an energy recovery ventilation system that facilitates the proper exchange of fresh air into the home via an air-to-air heat exchanger.

Fresh air is brought into the home, passed through a filter to remove contaminants like dust and pollen, and then refreshes the home. This is especially valuable during allergy season or during the winter and wildfire months when the home is closed off to the outdoor air.

LEED Platinum-Certified Homes Now Available in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Ultimately, the home mentioned above will achieve LEED Platinum-certification, which is the highest level of certification available through the program. This is one of many successful LEED certified projects by Palo Santo Designs.

We have another home pending LEED certification available for sale:

Green Home Building in Santa Fe

Posted on July 5, 2016August 11, 2023 by palosanto

As a design-build firm in Santa Fe, we are proud to be among a progressive community of conscientious builders devoted to the most sustainable residential development possible.

Many of our projects in Santa Fe have passed the rigorous scrutiny of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program, the nation’s most recognized brand in green building. With its multifaceted approach to design and building, the LEED program takes into account a variety of methods, materials and other considerations to rank projects into different categories of certification, from basic to Silver to Gold and, ranking highest, Platinum.

Our LEED Platinum Home in the Works:

Currently, we are nearly complete with a home that is expected to be certified as LEED Platinum. Located in Santa Fe’s Museum Hill neighborhood, the Gonzales-Scott residence is a 2,100 square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath Pueblo Revival style home with contemporary accents, ample outdoor living areas and stunning views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Nestled into a uniquely shaped single-acre lot, the floor plan required careful consideration to capture the views and be oriented for passive solar gain.

As much as we are proud of the home’s aesthetic beauty, we are proud as well to have produced a superior model of sustainable living.

This Santa Fe home features a roof-mounted photovoltaic system that generates 4.5 kilowatts of electricity, helping the building produce nearly all of its electrical needs. The all electric home, with an electric vehicle charging station, includes a high-efficiency air-to-water heat pump that provides for radiant in-floor heating and cooling. Throughout the home are efficient LED lighting and non-toxic finishes.

Building In Water Conservation:

As for its water conservation features, the home is topped with a roof designed to capture and utilize all rainfall for the outdoor landscape irrigation as well as for toilet flushing indoors. Indoor re-use of collected rainwater is a cutting edge innovation for Santa Fe, and a pilot project in keeping with Santa Fe’s newly adopted 2012 Uniform Plumbing Code. Also, gray water beds reclaim wastewater from showers, laundry and bathroom sinks to nourish permanent landscape features.

Paying Attention to Home Insulation & Air Quality:

Additionally, the home is very well insulated, with R-30 walls and R-50 ceilings. The incorporation of an interior adobe wall provides thermal mass, which captures and retains heat energy from passive solar-oriented clerestory windows. As with all well-insulated buildings, air quality is a major consideration because air can become trapped without proper ventilation. That’s why we’ve included an energy recovery ventilation system, which ensures the proper exchange of fresh air into the home.

The system employs an air-to-air heat exchanger that brings fresh air in the home, filtering it from dust, pollen or other contaminants, while exchanging the latent heat and moisture of the indoor air being exhausted. This stabilizes indoor ambient air temperature and humidity with continuous fresh air intake. This is especially important during winter months when the home is mostly closed to the outdoors and during allergy or wildfire season.

Altogether, this Santa Fe home features many of the best available residential market design-build considerations for both comfort and sustainability. We’re confident our clients will be happy in their new LEED Platinum-certified home for years to come; and we look forward to creating more such projects for others.