Going green while blending in

Meredith home participating in energy efficiency open house

Steve Reddy is embarrassed at times to tell other home builders how busy he and his company Zetland Homes have been for the past few years. The housing collapse and ensuing global recession have been a tough time for most people in the home construction industry, but Reddy's business took off when fuel oil prices spiked a few years ago and it hasn't slowed down since.

One of the company's recently completed homes is located in Meredith and will be open today as part of the statewide Green Building Open House organized by the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association. There are more than 80 buildings open for tours, including about 20 in the Lakes Region. For more about the event, including locations of homes across the state, visit www.nhsea.org.

Prior to last year's event, The Daily Sun featured a home in Sanbornton that was unconventional in nearly every sense of the word. That home had a botanical roof with photovoltaic solar arrays and was built with straw bales. The home in Meredith that Zetland Homes constructed is also notable for its construction practices, but one of the most notable things about it is how "normal" it appears to be. The property is located on Arbutus Hill Road, off of Upper New Hampton Road, and like every other home in the event it will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"The house doesn't look any different, it's really what's inside the walls," said Reddy. The home has the usual amenities, such as computers, appliances, a television and even a hot tub on the back porch.

One thing it doesn't have, though, is an oil burner or natural gas furnace. The 22,000 square-foot house is heated exclusively with a geothermal system that captures heat from groundwater and uses it to heat domestic water and water for the home's radiant heat system. It doesn't burn any oil, gas or propane, the only running cost associated with the system is electricity.

"I'd be surprised if they paid more than seven hundred dollars a year for heating in this home," said Reddy.

While the geothermal system has the "sex appeal," according to Reddy, the real reason the home is so cheap to heat has to do with some of the less-interesting details of the building. "Where the rubber meets the road is in the windows and insulation."

Zetland Homes utilizes a building philosophy that results in homes that are easier on the environment as well as the home's occupants. When building, contractors sort and recycle waste materials instead of throwing everything in a big dumpster. They use recycled materials, too, such as the bricks that were recovered from the chimney of an old house and used as the hearth for the new home.

Of course, the philosophy includes the use of appliances and fixtures that use little water or electricity and top-grade insulation stuffed into every nook. The insulation and windows makes the home more comfortable in both winter and summer, keeping the heat in or out depending on the season.

A final advantage to the green building philosophy is the quality of air in the building. "There's no combustion," noted Reddy. Furnaces and boilers inevitably leak some exhaust into the living space, a problem avoided by the use of the geothermal system. Even the wood stove has an air duct that draws air from outside and air-tight exhaust ducts.

For all the energy-saving features in the home, with the exception of the geothermal system, the homeowners only spent about 5-percent more on the construction of the home. The heating system was about another $12,000, half of which will be paid for with a grant from the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative.

Within about five years, the homeowners will have saved enough to break even with their initial outlay; every year after that they'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

"It's a lot of little things," said Reddy. "When you get to the end you end up with something that's very energy-efficient and very tight."