Saving energy – Longtime designer builds efficient homes

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:40:00 GMT

Despite misconceptions about what it means to be “green,” energy-efficient homes don’t have to cost a lot of greenbacks, according to a Weare home designer and builder.

In fact, building a new, energy-efficient home can be cheaper than building a new code-built home, and not just in the long run, said George Malette, a longtime designer and builder of energy-efficient houses.

He points to a Deerfield house he designed in 1992 that was recently on the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s Green Buildings Open House tour.

The three-story, 2,500- square-foot home has an energy bill of $60 per month, compared to about $150 per month in a similarly sized, code-built home. The house cost $230,000 to build, or about $100 per square foot, compared to about $110 per square foot in a regular custom-built house.

The key, he said, is incorporating energy efficiency in the design from the beginning instead of adding it as an afterthought.

“I’m a true believer in in energy efficiency by passive design,” said Malette. He tries to take maximum advantage of natural phenomenon like convection currents, the heating and cooling of materials and microclimates found in different rooms to regulate the house environment before turning to methods that require additional energy.

Mallette’s passion for sustainable living began while growing up on a farm. By the age of 4, he was learning building trades under his father, grandfather and uncles, questioning why things were done the way they were. He served as president of the New Hampshire Solar Energy Association for 13 years and started a design and building firm specializing in energy efficiency renovations.

His current project is his own home, a historic Weare property also on the Green Home tour, that he and his wife Meg moved into seven years ago and began renovating three years ago to improve energy efficiency while preserving its historic nature.

To do this, the Malettes packed the walls with dense insulation made of foam and material from recycled newspaper, sealed off the living quarters from the attic and cellar to elimnate drafts, installed storm windows to insulate their historic windows, recovered 85 percent of the wood and other materials they took down while renovating, and plan to cover the barn roof with solar panels.

Though the house is only half finished, they’ve already reduced their heating oil consumption from 1,500 gallons to 340 gallons.

For home owners interested in making their own residences more energy efficient, Malette recommends starting with an energy efficiency analysis to find the problem areas.

People who want to live more sustainably can also follow a list of five Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim – or buy materials with recycled content – and rot, allowing items to break down and become raw materials for other things.

When asked about home building and makeover shows on television, Malette said he was not a fan.

“Those shows scare me,” he said. “First, they make people think you can do major projects in one day. And they throw away 50 percent of their stuff.”

Malette encourages people to take a bigger picture view when calculating the environmental, social and historical costs of a lifestyle choice.

“All these things are interconnected,” he said. “Not just environmentally, but economically, historically. It’s about making it all make sense.”

Weare News : housing

Saving energy – Longtime designer builds efficient homes