Program Development
SK Collaborative team members are actively involved in professional education and training throughout the country. We have contributed to several national and regional green programs, as well as customized programs for individual projects.
LEED for Homes Version 4 Reference Guide
The firm’s cofounders, Abe Kruger and Carl Seville, were lead writers on the LEED for Homes Version 4 Reference Guide. The reference guides walk project teams through all of the information they need to successfully achieve credits under this nationally-recognized certification program.
EarthCraft Renovation
This program grew out of the EarthCraft House new home certification program created by Southface Energy Institute and the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders. EarthCraft Renovation became one of the first residential green renovation programs in the country. Carl was involved in the development of the program requirements and worksheet, and SawHorse, his construction firm at the time, completed the initial pilot projects for the program.
EarthCraft House
The 2017 revision of the EarthCraft House single family new home certification program is based on the Pinewood Forrest green building program developed by SK Collaborative. This simplified program provides clear guidance for builders to create high performance homes without having to navigate an extended list of options and point counting.
2020 National Green Building Standard
Three of our staff were involved in 2024 Task Groups for the next version of Home Innovation’s NGBS Green. We also served on several task groups for the current 2020 version of NGBS, which was released in late 2019.
Trilith
Trilith is a new community, under construction adjacent to Pinewood Studios in Fayetteville Georgia, sought out SK Collaborative to determine the best path to sustainability. Following a full day charrette in which several existing certification programs were reviewed, the team elected to create their own simple and effective system to ensure that their builders would create high-performance homes throughout the development. SK Collaborative created the worksheet and specifications for this program, which is now required for all single family homes in Trilith.
SK Collaborative’s Abe Kruger has worked with utilities since 2005 to implement energy efficiency programs throughout the country, including ENERGY STAR New Homes, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, Energy Audit and Retrofit, and Low-Income Weatherization programs. Specific programs and their results include:
- Dominion East Ohio Home Performance Program, expected to save over 90,000 MCF through 10,000 first year audits
- Appalachian Power Company HomeSMART Energy Audit/Retrofit Program realized 75 Million kWh first year savings
- Dominion Virginia Power ENERGY STAR New Homes program saved an average of over 7,500 kWh on each home and a total of over 650,000 kWh first year savings
- Dominion Virginia Power Low-Income Weatherization program achieved 9.5 Million kWh first year savings
City of Decatur High Performance Building Ordinance
Decatur, Georgia, a progressive small city adjacent to Atlanta, developed a high-performance building ordinance for all new construction and most major renovation projects within the city limits, including both residential and commercial construction. SK Collaborative was part of the team developing the standard, which requires complying with one of several green certification programs as well as meeting additional ventilation, duct and envelope leakage tightness requirements in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy. There are currently over 100 single family homes and over 750 multifamily units in process under this ordinance.