This year the Compact’s Building Outside the Box Program has come of
age! Pursuing the goal of sustainable building to enhance water quality,
the BOB Program blossomed from an EPA-funded, three home project
into a well-established program with seven model sites and over 100
residential units. Together with our BOB Partners, we have implemented
numerous high performance residential building and farming practices
that are making a real difference to the health of our watersheds.
The water and energy efficiency practices of the 100 BOB high performance
homes have resulted in saving an estimated 16 million gallons of
water and 576,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
The work of BOB program partners has been honored with the TN
Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Building Green for three
consecutive years, the Compact in 2006, Morgan Park Place in 2007, and
Metro Parks Nature Centers in 2008.
Over 30 BOB educational programs in 2008 have informed hundreds
of building professionals concerning cost-effective sustainable building
practices.
We were highlighted in the national media with a feature story in Progressive
Farmer magazine about our work at the Campbell Farm site and a
feature television segment by HGTVpro.com about our Quiet Creek
Affordable Housing site.
As the year draws to a close, we are busy planning new demonstration sites
including:
Working with the Fort Campbell military base to help “green” their administrative
buildings and manage karst issues.
Planning a “green” urban retrofit project at the site of the TN Concrete
Association, beginning by replacing asphalt with pervious concrete in
the parking areas.
Installing a pervious walkway using the Stabiligrid system in a Mt. Juliet
development.
Holding open houses to follow the progress of an Energy Star, green
residential remodeling project in north Nashville with Darrell Crawford.
We salute our partners and supporters who worked with us to achieve these milestones this year. We look
forward to continuing to work with our partners in 2009 to hold training workshops, highlight demonstration
site achievements, bring new sustainable technologies to light, and assist businesses, farms, and individuals
in meeting their sustainability goals. With the completion of the BOB Training Manual, we will offer
assistance to watershed groups in the Cumberland River Basin that want to create similar programs with
their own local partners. Early next year, we will start with workshops on green infrastructure and gray water
and water reuse opportunities. We will also focus on the water and energy conservation nexus, green home
purchasing for real estate professionals and home buyers, and organizing a quarterly sustainable building
roundtable to pull organizations together for coordination and synergy toward our common goals.
Know what the major Cumberland River pollutant is? Well, it is the DIRT and
the other "stuff" from our yards, our roofs and our driveways that runs off
every time we have a good rain.
If we all kept our dirt in our own yards, the river would be a lot healthier
and safer for everyone.
Visit the Sediment page to learn more about Muddy Waters and what YOU can do
to keep your dirt at home.
