2014 Green Business Awards winner: Greensource Cincinnati

Paula Christian, Courier Contributor

William “Ez” Housh III always had a soft spot for neglected historic beauty.

But his renovation of an old brick townhouse in 2008 evolved into a very special type of project. He didn’t just restore the downtown home to its former grandeur; he transformed it into a showcase for green building design in Cincinnati.

• “It’s a passion of mine to pull things out of the gutter,” he said.When he bought the Eighth Street townhouse, it had sat abandoned for a decade. It had once been the home of a Cincinnati mayor, then an American Legion hall and finally, a lighting store. Housh completely renovated the building using the latest energy-efficient materials and heating and air systems. He added a green roof, high-performance insulation, a rainwater harvesting system and a gray water system to reuse waste water.

  In 2013, the project was awarded LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, the first historic downtown building to receive that honor. It also won an award for Local Preservation Excellence from the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

  “It demonstrates that even a Cincinnati row house built in 1875 can reach the highest level of sustainability,” said Chuck Lohre, who worked closely with Housh on the project. His company, Green Cincinnati Education Advocacy, a division of Lohre & Assoc. Inc., was the green building consultant and championed the LEED Platinum goal.

  Lohre has led hundreds of people on tours of the building, and it has inspired other green renovations.

  “The building is a poster child of mechanical systems,” Lohre said. “It is the Star Trek Enterprise of green buildings.”

  Housh has more than 50 project partners who use this four-story building as a place to display “green” business products – from state-of-the-art plumbing and HVAC systems to high-efficiency windows, recycled wood floors and a sustainable roof.

  “People can see the products and kick the tires,” Housh said. “It is a living, breathing display space.”

  The building also displays products from Housh’s company, Greensource Cincinnati, which designs and builds energy-saving cooling systems for data centers and computer rooms.

  Although Housh installed the newest green technology, he also preserved every historic detail: the graceful open staircase, ornate plaster ceilings and wooden shutters that fold into the wall.

  “You don’t have to start new to go green,” he said.