Green Me Now

Better weather may have yielded a greater turnout for this year’s Green Buildings Open House event held October 3, but it would be wrong to call the event anything but successful. The annual event involves the owners of homes that use sustainable energy technology and techniques opening their doors for a day so that interested homeowners may come in, look around, and ask questions.

“When you have homeowners speaking to homeowners, they’re more likely to consider adopting these practices,” in contrast to when manufacturers are trying to sell them products, says Mary Biddle, director of professional development at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. The NESEA, in collaboration with about 60 local groups, organized the 10-state Green Buildings Open House event that took place October 3. The event is part of the nearly two-decade-old National Solar Tour.

This year’s open house comprised 501 sustainable energy sites across the 10-state NESEA region (see map).  Despite the gray, rainy weather, Biddle estimates that about 30 people on average visited the sites, according to reports from the sustainable home hosts.

And although the event has now passed, NESEA maintains a listing of the homes, including the specifics of what was done to them. Following is a sampling.

First, as reported earlier, a 1973 garrison-style house in Gloucester, MA, has undergone a retrofit that included a Larsen truss built over the home’s existing exterior to allow for a super-retrofit-level of insulation (see “Deep-energy Retrofit uses Truss System,” from the September 30, 2009, GreenRetros).

Another home on the tour is a 3,600-square-foot home in Concord, MA, dating from 1900, which received a $300,000 green retrofit. Among the enhancements: stripping the siding and building out over it to accommodate additional insulation. Insulation types throughout the house are blown cellulose, blown two-pound foam, and rigid foam sheathing. This house is also noteworthy due to its photovoltaic system, which has generated some 450 kilowatt-hours per month since its installation last May.

A retrofitted 1899 Victorian home in Avon, NY, includes both cellulose and Icynene insulation. Photovoltaic and solar hot water systems, daylighting, heat recovery ventilation, and an instantaneous hot water system are elements of the retrofit to this grid-tied home.

In Montpelier, VT, a neglected 1900 Victorian now benefits from $80,000 in energy-efficiency upgrades. Blown-in cellulose and sprayed foam were added to the grid-tied house, which boasts a two-year-old photovoltaic system. This house has the only residential photovoltaic system in Vermont’s capital city, according to the owner. And like the case with the Concord, MA, home, the homeowner has performed a balancing act between preserving the home’s original character and improving its comfort and energy efficiency.

And in Coventry, RI, a combination of cellulose and straw bale insulation are features of a 3,600-square-foot home that uses propane, wood, and electricity as its heating sources. This house is a bit of a ringer: it belongs to the Aperion Institute for Environmental Living, which is a community resource for sustainability. The grid-tied building features solar domestic hot water, daylighting, sunspace, a masonry stove, composting toilet, photovoltaics and passive solar technology, and radiant floor heating.