CRAFTSBURY — The Energy Committees of Craftsbury, Glover, and Greensboro will be hosting a tour of a new, energy efficient home this Saturday, May 4.
The tour will start at 10:00 a.m. at the location on 935 King Farm Road in Craftsbury.
This is the fourth in a series of six consecutive Saturday morning tours of new and weatherized homes.
Each tour focuses on energy efficient building contractors, architects, and the homes that they have built or weatherized.
Patrick Kane, from the E. Hardwick company, Kane Architecture, was the architect who designed this 1300 sq. ft., one level home.
The goals of the design and construction were to make the house easy to maintain, comfortable, affordable to build and operate, with a focus of being environmentally friendly.
Designed and built to Efficiency Vermont certified “High-Performance Home” specifications, this home has many passive solar elements in the design with R-8 Marvin triple pane operable windows, large, custom-sized insulated glass units facing south.
It also incorporates other Passive House principles such as super insulation, air tightness, and fresh air heat recovery ventilation.
With the limited southern exposure, two high-performance triple pane skylights add nicely to the light distribution inside the house.
The energy modeling for air tightness, insulation, and solar gain predict that this home will use the equivalent of ¾ of a cord of wood per year to heat while being very cool in the summer.
The electric baseboard primary heat, heat pump water heater, electric stove, and condensing dryer, combined with a 7.6 kW roof-mounted solar array, provide for a net-zero home.
Wood heat with a wood stove is the backup heat.
Part of the emphasis on low environmental impact involved sourcing lumber locally for the siding, framing, and flooring.
Other applications included using low VOC paints and stains, cellulose insulation wherever possible, and having a flat roof design that leads to a low visual impact on the hillside environment where the home sits.
Patrick Kane designs and promotes using regional materials, high energy efficiency standards and green technologies to maximize long-term affordability and aesthetic impact.
Montpelier Construction, the company that built the home, has been building energy efficient homes since 1998 and is committed to sustainable building practices and supports the use of local products and materials whenever possible.
Both will be on hand on Saturday to answer questions that you might have.
For more information, contact [email protected]
