About AES
The Alliance for Environmental Sustainability Who are we and what do we do?
(AES) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission of “Working collaboratively to provide awareness, education, and access to sustainable building resources for individuals, experts, and leaders to encourage sustainable choices.” AES was founded in 2000 by a dedicated group of community members who saw the need to help our community create a sustainable city; to ensure that our children and our community would have a healthy, safe and affordable environment within which to live and grow. They felt the best way to contribute to the sustainability and growth of our community was to bring expertise in green building practices and green products by training homeowners, architects, designers, builders and other stakeholders in the construction industry sustainable building principles. In working towards achieving this goal, AES has helped bring the Midwest into 21st century of residential construction, partnering with other non-profits, homeowners, and our local government in the endeavor to secure the future for our families and communities. AES does this by providing training, education, seminars, and consulting to anyone who is interested in investing in their homes, communities, and environments by implementing sustainable building practices. AES trains and educates on topics such as green products, green building, LEED, energy efficiency, Indoor Air Quality, Energy Star V3, Green Communities and sustainable residential design.
As of 2005 AES was selected to be the Midwest’s regional LEED for Homes Provider and now has grown to server projects in the U.S and is taking part in the International Green Rater Pilot Program. In 2011, AES was selected to serve as the Enterprise Green Communities Foundation Technical Assistance Provider. AES helps builders, architects and developers to move from “Here to There”. Those who accomplished building to Energy Star or above code standards are invited to take the next step to LEED for Homes certification and/or Green Communities on Single Family Gut Rehabs all the way up to 6 Story Midrise projects.
Board of Directors
Michael Holcomb, President Home Inspector General 2753 108th Street SW Byron Center, MI 49315 t. 616.878.7200 mike@homeinspectorgeneral.com
Eric Hughes, Vice President Image Design, LLC & Sustainable Home Consultants, LLC 6812 Old 28th St. SE Suite D Grand Rapids, Mi. 49546 f. 616-957-5333 Web: http://www.imagedesignarch.com Email:eric.idarch@gmail.com
Andrea Poma, Treasurer Technology Transfer Associate, Business Development/Technology Transfer Office Van Andel Institute 333 Bostwick Ave. NE. Grand Rapids, MI 49503. Telephone: 616-234-5523 Mobile: 616-819-9537
Lee Purches, Secretary LEED Certified Green Rater & HLP Professional Contracting. 5089 Creekview Drive SE. Grand Rapids, Michigan 49508. Phone: 616.889.3702 Email: leedcertifiedgreenrater@gmail.com
Tammy Stone, Tammy Stone, EcoBroker & Real Estate Consultant for ERA Network Real Estate. Office: (616) 301-7385 www.seegrhomes.com
Gayle DeBruyn, Lake Affect Design Studio 1302 Lake Drive Grand Rapids, MI 49506 t. 616.459.5764lakeaffectdesignstudio@worldnet.att.net
Alison Waske, Sustainable Business Officer, Metro Health 5900 Byron Center Ave Wyoming, MI 49519 Office: 616.252.7153 Fax: 616.252.0226 Email: Alison.Waske@metrogr.org. http://www.metrohealth.net
Open positions available – Skill sets needed and applications can be found here
Accomplishments
-Trained over 5,500 builders, Architects, Designers and construction trades personnel in sustainable building practices throughout the Great Lakes region.
-Educated over 3,000 private citizens in West Michigan at free “Libraries and Lumberyard” seminars.
-Established a network of over 25 accomplished Green Raters in Great Lakes region t0 oversee LEED for Homes project certifications.
- Registered over 4311 LEED Units & Certified over 800 Units to date
- Of the Units Certified there is over 600,000 Square Feet – Average HERS Score of 62 (reducing Gas & Electric Use by 38%)
-Provided numerous college internships to students from multiple local institutions of higher education. Educating young adults on green building and smart living principals
-Created a fulltime Administrative Director position.
-Established satellite offices in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Chicago as collaborative ventures with LEED for Homes Facilitators.
-Ranked fifth in project registrations as of 2010.
-Ranked fourth in project certifications nationally as of 2010.
-Protected the Great Lakes by achieving a reduction in average interior water use of 30%, reducing by 15 gallons per day per unit of water usage.
-Achieved an average of 92% regionally appropriate/native vegetation on our projects.
-Eliminated invasive species vegetation on all of our projects.
-Retained roof runoff on 50% of our projects through permeable features, vegetative swales, or rain gardens.
-Reintroduced 100% of site rain runoff to the water aquifer on 20% of our projects. -Prevented 4,354 + Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emissions annually.
-Prevented 23,636 + pounds of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions annually.
-Prevented 17,416 + pounds of Nitrous Oxide Emissions annually.
-As a not for profit 501(c)3 LEED for Homes Provider, reduced fees on 40% of our projects developed by affordable housing developers. Locally, this includes 9 Michigan Habitat for Humanity chapters, Genesis Non-Profit Housing, Dwelling Place and West Town Jubilee.
Special Thanks To the Wege Foundation for encouraging us to pursue the LEED for Homes provider position and who gave us a $33,850 seed grant to make this a reality. We are forever grateful
2011 Donor(s) Raquel Rosas of Zeeland Michigan contributed $500.00 to AES. We appreciate this greatly
