The other side of the drawing board

I came across this great radio show that was aired a couple of months ago.  They talk a lot about renovating existing structures for energy efficiency.  And talks about some of the strategies as well as future projects for Symbiotic Home.

Boston’s Greenest Houses

Posted by Adam Ragusea, Associate Producer, Monday, February 23rd, 2009

There’s particular interest in green housing in our city, but also particular challenges. Harsh New England winters drive up heating bills, and our beloved antique housing stock is hardly energy efficient. With federal stimulus dollars possibly going to retrofit all Massachusetts houses with “smart” energy meters, what are YOU doing to keep your home’s energy use in check?

Peter Thomson, environment editor for PRI’s The World, hosts our live web chat.

Listen to the entire show if the embedded link does not work at wbur.org – Radio Boston

Our home as it was purchased in 2005

Back in 2005 my wife and I purchased this ranch with a walk out basement.  It is/was your typical 1960’s stick built home.  Very low levels of insulation, single pane aluminum windows, with an unfinished basement and a huge backyard for the area, with lots of old growth trees.  The view out of the dinning room window was the selling point.  Some other nice amenities is that it is in a developed neighborhood with schools that are within walking distance, grocery within a mile.  The town also has a very active year round farmers market.  Plus the home was the mid point between both of our jobs and is relatively close to a bus route.

The back of our home as it was purchased in 2005

However during the home inspection we found some troubling things.  There was little to no insulation in the attic, the basement walls were uninsulated.  And what makes that even worse is the fact that half of the house foundation is above ground.  Not to mention the aging heating and cooling equipment.  So we looked at this house as a blank slate, giving us the opportunity to not only renovate the home to fit our needs, but to do everything in an environmentally friendly way and to do it within our limited budget.

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On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed a stimulus bill (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that made some significant changes to the tax credits available to homeowners for energy efficient improvements for improvements made between 1/1/09 – 12/31/10 . Among the changes:

The tax credit has been raised from 10% to 30%.

The tax credits that were for a specific dollar amount have been converted to 30% of the cost.

The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1500, although improvements such as geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, and solar panels are not subject to the $1,500 maximum.

Visit Energy Star’s website for further explanation of the new Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.24.09 via Treehugger.com

Now that the stimulus bill has passed and the word about tax credits and weatherizing incentives is out, you can bet that the tin men selling “insulating” siding and new “energy efficient” vinyl windows will be out in force to sell you stuff that “pays for itself in three years” and that “the government will pay most of the cost anyways”. Except these are two of the least cost-effective measures that you can take, and can significantly decrease the value of a house if they destroy its character and charm.

To view full article, click here.

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.23.09 via Treehugger.com

In response to our post Crossway Zero Carbon Home Brings Back the Timbrel Vault, commenter rayn wrote: “I don’t see how this house could be anywhere near zero carbon even if all the bricks were sun baked. The windows had to be created in a furnace somewhere.”

He has a point. “Zero Carbon Home” is a term with specific meaning in the UK:

A zero carbon home is one that generates as much power as it uses over the course of a year and therefore has net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

To view full article, click here.