Our Green Building

In June 2009, the APPLE Center received a grant that included funds to lease the building at 412 Commercial Street in Nevada City. Before moving in, APPLE had an energy audit performed on the building by Balance Point Home Performance with assistance from DeMaranville Construction.

What the Audit Showed:

Bower door test: 1.2 air changes per HOUR.  This means that with the doors and windows closed, this building leaked the entire volume of air inside 1.2 times per hour under normal conditions.

This means: Very inefficient heating, air conditioning, poor air quality

Instead of moving in right away as we had planned, we decided to gut the building and make it a model of energy efficiency.  Our grant funding did not cover this type of expense, so we hit the streets of Grass Valley and Nevada City, and asked for help.

Dozens of volunteers and local businesses donated their time, materials, expertise, and services to our cause.

See our fantastic donor list here!

The Results:

Come take a tour to see all our energy efficiency and green features.  Twenty plaques are installed around the Center explaining what, why and who we chose for our flooring, wall covering, lumber, insulation, furniture, lighting, windows, doors.

Now you can tour our green building without even leaving home! Watch the video below to get a feel for what we did to make the Center a model of energy efficiency and green building practices.

There are links embedded into the video (look for the prompts) that will allow you to hear directly from our donors and supporters – check ‘em out!

APPLE would like to thank

Ray Bryars | Clean Power Co-Op
Tom DeMaranville | DeMaranville Construction
Gavin Healy | Balance Point Home Performance
Monica Hughes | Naked Tree Woodworking
Michael Melas | Melas Engineering
Brittany Young | Young’s Carpet One