ISUS trade skills students working on green project
By Steve Bennish
Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
DAYTON — Nick Burns is getting more than a carpenter's apron full of technical know-how as part of a team of 150 construction trade skills students embarking on an unusual quest in the city's historic Wright Dunbar neighborhood.
Their goal is to make 19th century style homes hum with 21st century green technology. The project promises to make Burns, 18, more competitive in a tougher-than-nails job market.
It won't be easy, but their plan is to build residences designed in the spirit of the family homes of five of America's leading aviation pioneers and one resembling inventor Thomas Edison's Menlo Park lab office.
The Edison structure will be particularly novel because it will generate all of its energy needs.
Each of the homes will be super energy efficient. Each will highlight a specific facet of green technology and design — such as water conservation, solar energy generation and/or solar heating.
This ambitious effort will merge traditional architecture with the latest environmentally progressive home building technologies, said Ann Higdon, president of ISUS Inc., the trade skills charter school that is deploying the students on the $2 million project.
The effort coincides with Gov. Strickland's plan to develop a master inventory of green energy projects throughout the Buckeye State as a new era in American industry begins.
State, regional and local officials are hosting a meeting on the topic Thursday, March 5, at Wright State University.
In a housing market as rough as anyone can remember, Higdon said she is confident the homes will draw buyers, because each will pack curb appeal with the prospect of very low energy and heating costs.
And just as important, the project will train a new generation in green energy housing construction while redeveloping the neighborhood where the Wright brothers got their start.
Family homes that will be re-created
The ISUS project has the blueprint designs from the family homes of:
- Dayton's Wilbur and Orville Wright.
- Ohio astronauts John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.
- Pilots Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman.
140 N Keowee St
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 223-2323
