Green Living at Lake of the Ozarks

What might apply to puppet frogs also applies to the mind-set in building homes at the Lake of the Ozarks. Throughout the home-building boom earlier in the 2000s, palatial homes were build with little thought to green technologies that, while certainly environmentally friendly, could go a long way to reducing the homeowner’s electric bill by hundreds of dollars a year.

Now, a cooperative effort that includes Co-Mo Electric will result in a Dream Green Home in The Villages, one of the original luxury communities at the Lake. The home will feature state-of-the-art technologies guaranteed to reduce the eventual buyer’s heating and cooling bills and is being constructed with energy-friendly techniques aimed at making the home a lake leader in energy efficiency.

And perhaps the most attractive part of this project is that it will benefit charity — the Tri-County YMCA of the Ozarks in Osage Beach.

The project is the brainchild of Dave Leathers, publisher and president of Showcase Publishing Inc. Having seen similar green homes become commonplace in other areas around the country, Leathers decided in early 2009 that he wanted to bring the concept to the Lake of the Ozarks.

“This is no longer about political correctness,” Leathers said in early December as he surveyed the construction’s progress. “This is going to be a part of the way we’re going to live.”

Leathers gathered a group that included Tom Biggs, the developer of The Villages, and Doug Ross of Ross Custom Homes to find a perfect lot for the project. After scouring The Villages property, they selected a second-tier lot with a great view of the lake.

“Second-tier lots are a big part of the future of the Lake of the Ozarks,” Leathers said. “The Lake of the Ozarks is changing from a resort community to a retirement area, and second-tier lots with a lake view allow potential retirees to enjoy all the amenities of the lake without the higher cost of the property.”

In addition to the view, the lot boasts an end-of-the-cul-de-sac location and is within an easy five-minute walk from a marina, should the homeowner have a boat.

With the lot selected, Leathers approached Co-Mo to see if it would be interested in the project.

“This is something we’ve been hoping to see for a long time,” said Co-Mo CEO/General Manager Ken Johnson. “To have the opportunity to build a home that is truly energy efficient and different from the other homes built at the lake allows us to get our message out about the money homeowners can save.” It also affords Co-Mo the opportunity to have a showcase example for contractors who can benefit from more energy-friendly building techniques to set their work apart.

“Contractor education is definitely a part of this,” Johnson said. “The more we can get contractors to see the advantages of these building options, the more we’ll be able to reduce the load on our system, and that helps keep rates down in the long run.”

But before Co-Mo would commit to the project, Johnson wanted cooperative energy-efficiency specialist Doug Rye to review the building plans. Rye is a licensed architect who hosts the popular “Home Remedies” radio talk program and has helped hundreds of thousands of people, schools and military bases greatly reduce their heating and cooling bills.

“If we were going to be involved with this, we wanted to make sure we could say to our members that this is truly something different, that this is truly a green home that is going to save the homeowner money because of the way it’s built,” Johnson said. “Doug (Rye) is the man who can make sure that’s the case.”

Rye made numerous recommendations to Ross, including the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system. Other “green” features of the home include the use of recycled material for insulation, a special way of constructing the corners connecting exterior walls that allow for greater insulation and a permeable concrete for the driveway that allows water to soak back into the aquifer instead of becoming runoff that causes erosion.

Once Ross accepted Rye’s recommendations, Co-Mo agreed to be a part of the project, and Rye gave a guaranteed amount that the homeowner’s heating and cooling costs will not exceed.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve never had to pay out on one of those guarantees,” said Rye, who is responsible for the construction of more than 50,000 geothermal cooled homes.

The home is schedule to be completed this summer and will cost in the neighborhood of $525,000. Leathers and Ross said the goal is to have the home sold well before that.

Profits from the sale of the home, as well as money from tickets sold to a patron’s party after the home is completed, will be given to the Tri-County YMCA to be put in its general fund.

Leathers and Ross said their goal is to have similarly built homes be built all around the lake.

“This is the wave of the future,” Leathers said. “We want to see everyone get on board.”