How "green" can a home be? Tulsan Chad Burden is finding out and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) is hosting an open house to help Burden showcase his energy efficient masterpiece.
 
A student in Oklahoma State University’s Environmental Science graduate program, Burden has taken on the major remodeling of a dilapidated home in mid-town Tulsa as the focus of his master’s degree project.
Presented by Sustainable Green Country, and in association with the U.S. Green Building Council, the open house is part of the Tulsa Green Drinks series of monthly programs.
 
About Burden’s Green Home
Standards for rating a building’s "greenness" have been established by several organizations, using point systems to rate energy, water use, materials, design and more. The three most-recognized green building codes are the EPA’s ENERGY STAR for Homes program, the National Association of Home Builders’ National Green Building Standard, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
 
Burden’s home will be triple certified, using all three green building platforms.
 
"Since the ENERGY STAR for Homes program contains so many important facets, it is actually a prerequisite of the LEED protocol," said Burden. "An ENERGY STAR certified home is great for Tulsa – a triple certified ENERGY STAR/NAHB/LEED home is unheard of."
 
"Consumers are very interested in learning what they can do to help conserve and use energy more wisely," said Lisa Puyear, energy efficiency and consumer programs coordinator at PSO. "By helping showcase Chad´s home, we´re providing an opportunity for people to see firsthand what it means to really go green."
 
Product manufacturers and service providers who have participated in the renovation will be onsite during the open house to field questions from green building enthusiasts and Tulsans interested in learning more. Some of these include:  TAMKO; Metal, Seams and Tile; Jay Rambo Company; Womble Company; Air Solutions; Kohler; Anchor Paint; Ozark InSEALators; Pave-Stone of Oklahoma; Colburn Electric; Triple C Lighting; Broken Arrow Electric; Hahn Appliances; Colebrooks Nursery; Perk, Inc.; and Trinity Concrete Works.
 
Follow Chad Burden’s home remodeling efforts on his project blog: www.obgreen.blogspot.com
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state. News releases and other information about PSO can be found on the World Wide Web at PSOklahoma.com.