EnviroNews
For Immediate Release:
April 17, 2008
Media Contact:
Melanie Fish, 512-476-4368 (office) 512-293-9693 (cell)
mfish@enviromedia.com
First-Ever Austin Healthy Home Protects Families’ Health and the Environment
Public invited to tour new Healthy Child Healthy World “Healthy Home”
(AUSTIN)—For the first time, a national nonprofit organization—Healthy Child Healthy World—is bringing its crusade to create healthy home environments for children to Austin.
Situated in Rollingwood just west of Austin’s Zilker Park, a new healthy home—honored by Healthy Child Healthy World—has a luxurious, modern design, but with unique features an untrained eye might miss.
“Right from the beginning, I wanted to develop high-performance, low-maintenance, energy-efficient, ecologically designed, contemporary sanctuaries that provide the healthiest, safest living environment modern building science and technology allows,” said Stanley Lerman, owner of development company Jivaka LLC.
Lerman’s healthy home earned the 2008 Healthy Child Healthy World Award for using leading-edge technology to protect the Earth as well as a child’s health.
The Healthy Child Healthy World “Healthy Home“ is currently on the market with part of the home sale profit and all tour proceeds going to Health Child Healthy World — a national 501 c 3 nonprofit organization.
Building a Healthy Home
The Healthy Child Healthy World “Healthy Home” Tour will be offered April 20-27, and will showcase building and design features never seen before in Austin.
- Spray foam replaces traditional insulation inside the walls, helping make the house a positive outflow environment — meaning molds, dust mites and bacteria can’t get in.
- The kitchen features an induction stovetop that can boil water in a metal pan while remaining cool to the touch. Electromagnetic energy turns the pan, rather than the stovetop, into the heat source.
- Floors throughout the house include a never-before-used type of bamboo, and diamond-polished concrete floors that never need to be sealed, polished or cleaned with anything but plain water.
- A one-room-deep layout, sliding glass walls and precise positioning of the house on the property all encourage cross-ventilation and minimize the need for artificial light during the day.
- The swimming pool water is fit to drink — cleaned by ionizing and oxidizing the water instead of adding chemicals. Scientists developed the water cleaning system for the Apollo Space Program to provide drinking water in space.
The Healthy Child Healthy World “Healthy Home” also features interior design work the public can easily use in their own homes. All paints and tiles have either low or no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC); such materials are increasingly available to the public.
Austin architectural firm Barley & Pfeiffer took on the challenge of surpassing standards set with previous ‘green’ building projects. “This is a multimillion-dollar home, but there are lessons to be learned no matter what size home you live in or how much it costs,” said firm cofounder Peter Pfeiffer. “For example, we designed open carports because attached garages pollute the heck out of a home’s indoor air.”
The Healthy Child Healthy World “Healthy Home” is expected to achieve a five-star rating from the Austin Energy Green Building program, Austin’s top mark for sustainability and energy efficiency.
Healthy Child Healthy World
Today, more than 125 million people suffer from cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADHD and learning disabilities. Scientific evidence increasingly points to environmental hazards and chemicals as a cause of many of these diseases. Healthy Child Healthy World is the leading nonprofit protecting children’s health from harmful environmental exposures through educational campaigns, prevention awareness and advocating for protective policies. Founded in 1991 by Jim and Nancy Chuda after the death of their daughter Colette from a rare form of cancer believed to be caused by environmental toxins, the organization charged into the 21st century with new goals and services. The award-winning Web site (www.healthychild.org) is a continually evolving resource of practical advice, relevant news, and everyday opportunities to create healthy environments for children and families.
“Austin is a leader in green building, and we’re thrilled the city is also taking the lead on creating healthy environments for children,” said Christopher Gavigan, CEO/executive director of Healthy Child Healthy World, and author of the new book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home. “We realize everyone can’t afford a custom home like the one in Rollingwood. But parents can take control of their child’s environment, and make daily choices to keep their children and family’s home greener and safer, and ultimately more healthy.”
Healthy Home Tour Information
The Healthy Child Healthy World Home at 502 Riley Road in Rollingwood will be open for public tours April 20-27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tour tickets cost $15, with proceeds going to Healthy Child Healthy World. For online tickets and more information, the public can go to www.JIVAKALLC.com. Tickets are also available at the door. For group sales or questions, call (512) 895-9530. No pets or high heels are allowed in the home, nor does the home have handicap accessibility.