New Hampshire residents have the opportunity to go on an unusual type of house tour this weekend. More than 30-homes and buildings are taking part in the �Green Buildings Open House.� It�s sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. There are 5-tours in 5-different areas of the state. New Hampshire Public Radio�s Doug MacPherson got a preview of two of the homes on the Seacoast portion of the tour.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about the 2003 Green Buildings Open House, click here:
Green Buildings Tour
He filed this report.
ALL OF THE HOMES ON THE GREEN HOUSE TOUR ARE DESIGNED TO USE FAR LESS ENERGY THAN A CONVENTIONAL HOME. THE TOUR IS DESIGNED TO GIVE PEOPLE IDEAS HOW TO REDUCE THEIR ENERGY CONSUMPTION.
THE OLDEST HOUSE ON THE TOUR WAS BUILT IN 1799. IT�S THE SOUTH
HAMPTON HOME OF JAMES AND JOCELYN VANBOKKELEN.
THE ORIGINAL CENTER-CHIMNEY COLONIAL HAS CHANGED LITTLE. BUT JAMES HAS ADDED SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS. INCLUDING A BARN WITH SOLAR PANELS ON TOP. THE BARN HOUSES WHAT JAMES CALLS HIS �BATTERY BANK�.
TAPE JAMES 168 Here I have 48 2-volt lead acid batteries. ///this is in fact the second battery bank I�ve had. //a battery bank is usually good for 10 years. And then they go off to be recycled in the same stream as car batteries, and I get new ones.
TAPE DOUG 179 and lead cell batteries are essentially the same kind of batteries as car batteries.
TAPE 180JAMES yup. Sulfuric acid, lead plates.
TAPE 197 DOUG they make a little hum. [SFX � HUMMING]
TAPE JAMES 198 the hum is from the inverter//// the inverter is what converts the direct current from the solar cells and the batteries to alternating current suitable for your regular household appliances.
TAPE 185 DOUG so if they are fully charged, how much electricity is that? For how many days can you use it to light your home, say?
TAPE JAMES 187 with a typical load, I can go about 4 days in the darkest part of the winter without any grid power. :53
JAMES HAS BACK-UP POWER FROM UNITIL. HE ESTIMATES HE BUYS LESS THAN A HUNDRED DOLLARS WORTH OF ELECTRICITY A YEAR. JAMES BUYS THE LOWEST ENERGY APPLIANCES AVAILABLE, INCLUDING HIS �SUN-FROST� REFRIGERATOR.
TAPE JAMES /// 370 The sunfrost has several differences from your regular refrigerator. One of them is the amount of insulation and the quality of the door seals. These doors are about four inches thick. /// the second is that the refrigerator/freezer unit has two compressors. Because one of the reasons that your conventional refrigerator has to be defrosted is that there�s one compressor, and it operates at the temperature of the freezer. And so you get ice on the coils. And then what you have to do is pump some heat back into your refrigerator and blow air through it to melt this ice and carry the water vapor out of the refrigerator. But this one, because it has two compressors � one runs at the temperature of the freezer, and one at the temperature of the refrigerator. :52
MANY ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCES COST LESS THAN CONVENTIONAL APPLIANCES. A SUN-FROST REFRIGERATOR ISN�T ONE OF THEM. IT COSTS ABOUT 25-HUNDRED DOLLARS. COMPANY OFFICIALS SAY IN 10-TO-15-YEARS THE ENERGY SAVINGS WILL BRING THE COST DOWN TO THAT OF AN AVERAGE REFRIGERATOR.
PAUL PANISH AND TESS HALL BUILT THEIR HOME IN BARRINGTON IN 1997. SINCE THEN THEY�VE BEEN TRYING TO DESCRIBE WHAT THEY BUILT.
TAPE PAUL 061 we�ve never been able to come up with a good description of the house/// we actually saw the design we based this off of when we were exhausted in the library, when we were in ktchikam or something waiting for a ferry or something like that? /// 068 no one knows what to call it ///
TAPE TESS 072 it�s kind of a mix between a more traditional style home and a more contemporary house, particularly with the high peak in the front. :26
THE HIGH PEAK DOMINATES THE HOUSE, WHICH FACES SOUTH. THE FIRST FLOOR IS COVERED BY CEDAR SHINGLES, THE SECOND BY CLAPBOARDS. A CLUSTER OF 10-WINDOWS ASCEND TOWARD THE PEAK, PROVIDING LIGHT AND PASSIVE SOLAR HEAT FOR THE GREAT ROOM.
TAPE TESS 140 in the wintertime the sunlight really warms the room dramatically, almost to the point of being a little too warm. //// 143 in the summer, we do have overhangs/// because of the height of the sun it doesn�t really penetrate in the windows in the summer. ///
TAPE DOUG 147 so the windows are partially shaded to protect you from the high summer sun, but aren�t so shaded that they don�t capture all of the low winter sun.
TESS that�s exactly right.
PAUL and actually for a classic solar design you would always do that. :31
THE HOUSE IS HEATED BY AN IN-FLOOR, RADIANT HEATING SYSTEM.
TAPE PAUL 174 basically, it�s a series of loops of tubing either in the floor, in our case, or under the floor. //// 178 we have in on top of the subflooring and then a thin, one and a half inch layer of concrete that was poured on top of that, and then tile on top of that. And you circulate moderately hot water through that. Ours is usually around 130 degrees and you end up with a wonderful warm floor and extremely even heat. :30
PAUL DESCRIBES THE HOUSE AS �SEMI-SUPER INSULATED.� BECAUSE IT DOESN�T BREATH AS MUCH AS A CONVENTIONALLY BUILT HOME, THE HOUSE HAS A HEAT RECOVERY VENTILATOR TO BRING IN FRESH AIR. IT�S CALLED A HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEM BECAUSE THE INCOMING AIR IS PRE-HEATED BY THE WARM, OUTGOING AIR.
TAPE PAUL 207 and what we�ve found that does is, it actually keeps the heat from coming on very much at all. And basically, on cold days in the winter it comes on in the morning for about a half an hour. And that�s about it on a sunny day. On a sunny day in mid winter the house will come up to the mid 70�s and it will pretty much hold that, it may have dropped down to 70 or so by the time we go to sleep. Then it usually drops down to about 67, 68 and the heat kicks on just before we get up. So it�s worked very well.
TAPE TESS 218 and the heat is only on the first floor. We don�t have heat on the second floor. We did pipe for some runtal radiators. But we�ve never put them in b/c the bedrooms are a little bit cooler than downstairs, but they�re a nice temperature for sleeping. :48
THE HOT WATER IS HEATED BY A PROPANE BURNER. ELECTRICITY COMES FROM TWELVE SOLAR PANELS THAT PRODUCE 900-WATTS. THAT�S ENOUGH TO MEET 95-PERCENT OF THE HOME�S ELECTRICAL DEMAND.
TAPE PAUL 234 we do have a generator for recharging the batteries, which comes on in the winter after a few days of cloudy periods � occasionally. /// but usually it pretty much goes from april to October without starting. ///
TAPE DOUG do you have power from PSNH if you need it? ///
TAPE PAUL no, no. as I�m sure you noticed, we have a long driveway. And the cost of running poles or a buried service would have been equivalent to what we paid for the solar system. And I wanted this anyway.
TAPE DOUG if the batteries are running low in winter, does the generator kick on automatically?
TAPE PAUL yeah. The whole system is very self sufficient. The one thing you do have to do is water the batteries every couple of months. //// 251 that�s really about as much as it takes. /// :48
PAUL AND TESS EMPHASIZE THAT LIVING IN A SOLAR HOME DOESN�T HAVE TO MEAN SACRIFICE. PAUL HAS A FULL-SIZED, POWER-HUNGRY WOOD SHOP IN THE BASEMENT. THE HOUSE LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE A CONVENTIONAL HOME.
BUT IF YOU DO STOP BY DURING THE GREEN HOUSE TOUR TOMORROW, BE SURE TO ASK TO SEE THE PROPANE POWERED IRON. THERE�S A STORY BEHIND THAT. FOR N-H-P-R NEWS, I�M DOUG MACPHERSON.
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