BrightBuilt Barn: a Super Green, Prefab, LEED Platinum Net-Zero Building

This article talks about a model I have heard about being used in Berkely.  A person borrows money to make energy improvements to their property and the loan is attached to their property mortgage, not the individual, so the cost of the loan gets passed on with the property.  If the property is sold before the loan is repaid, the loan goes on to the next owner.  This way, the up front costs of energy upgrades are not such a deterrent to people who may not stay in their homes long enough to see the payback.

Robin Tannenbaum

NESEA has extended the deadline for this award to January 31.  Information can still be found at:  http://www.nesea.org/inspirationawards/zeroenergy/

Robin Tannenbaum

NESEA is accepting entries for the 2009 Zero Net Energy Building Award. A $10,000 cash prize goes to the winning building which demonstrates net-zero energy usage while offering a high level of comfort, afforability and reliability.  (Hmmm…. sounds familiar….)

Entries due January 15.  Go for it!

Robin Tannenbaum

Phil, Keith and Tedd with the award.

Going to Greenbuild in Phoenix this year was a blast. The parties in Boston 2008 may have been a little better, but the content in 2009 was superb. And Gore was actually funny! Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, was an incredible cheerleader, orchestrating an impressive opening night event which featured USGBC Presidents from about 10 other countries who are now in on it – all live from Chase Field, the Arizona Diamonbacks’ stadium. The night finished off with a bunch of us inspired stragglers circling the bases, post-Sheryl Crow.

And getting a couple minutes to chat with Ed Mazria at the special dinner given in his honor was great fun.He’s a very large guy. I guess he was a basketball player in the NY Knicks system before becoming an architect. His family used own a place in Old Orchard Beach, Maine years ago, apparently. He was quite pleased that our Portland is using the 2030 Challenge as a direct guide for their sustainability guidelines.

It didn’t hurt that Keith Collins, Tedd Benson and I were there to accept BrightBuilt Barn’s Innovative Project Award, but even without it, I’m sure I would’ve left flying high. Chicago 2010!

Phil Kaplan

So, it’s November, and here in Maine, the temperature is dropping, but inside our new house, it’s no business as usual. By that I mean I haven’t touched the thermostat, which is set at 68 degrees F, and shows a temperature between 69 and 71 degrees F consistently, unless I’m baking, which might push the inside temp. up to 73. I don’t pace around looking for warm spots near radiators or a fireplace. I haven’t had to don two pair of socks, two sweaters and a fleece jacket every morning.

As a born-and-bred New Englander, this is all very foreign to me. But here, our heat source is solar-powered radiant hot water, built into the concrete slab on the first floor of the house. It’s invisible, and I’m starting to think it’s magic. It’s nowhere, and it’s everywhere. There are no cold rooms, even two floors away from the heat source; there are no hot spots, even on the slab. I don’t hear it working; it’s just silently moving solar-powered water through flexible piping, creating the constant comfort of a temperate atmosphere no matter what’s going on outside.

The radiant heat gets only part of the credit for our comfort. Our double-thick walls (http://www.kaplanthompson.com/project.php?id=25), filled with dense- pack cellulose insulation (www.jlconline.com) do a lot of the heavy lifting here. The walls buffer us from outside elements (including noises) like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and they keep the heat inside where it should be. That’s the real magic, yet it’s a simple building method that can improve new home building efficiencies significantly. I hope more people do it.

Here’s a picture of our son, Calvin, measuring the wall depth, which is just over 9 inches, or the thickness of his head, from bed-head-sprout to chin.

P/S: Our house earned LEED Platinum certification! Congrats to Phil Kaplan, Kaplan Thompson Architects, Dan Kolbert and his crew. Best team ever!

Kathy Hayden