June 15, 2009 Reported By: Keith Shortall
What's the use of building an air-tight, energy-efficient home with state-of-the-art solar heating systems that very few Mainers can actually afford? This question is on the minds of a growing number of developers, including those behind a new home that's now on the market in Portland. The asking price of more than $400,000 is steeper than other conventional homes in the same neighborhood, but the developers are hoping that this prototype will help open the doors to green housing design in Maine's largest city.
At first glance, the house on Victor Street near Payson Park in Portland looks like any other two-story modern home. It's clean, nicely landscaped, and features a detached two-car garage. But once inside, it's clear that there are some standard features that are missing.
"In this house for example, there's no basement," says Pat Coon of Revision Energy, the contractor that designed the home's heating system. "The basement is the least expensive place you'll never use."
Coon says by forgoing a basement, the developers saved excavation costs, which could instead be spent on making the walls more airtight. "Because the walls are airtight, and they let so little heat out, we don't need any distribution on the second floor. So that saves money," Coon says. "Because we don't have a huge heat load we don't need an oil boiler in the basement, we don't need an oil tank, we don't even need a chimney. In good design, you subtract a lot before you add."
But the house does have features that most conventional homes don't have. There's radiant floor heating, a solar heat and hot water system, supported by a small electric water heater that Coon says will kick in when needed. And there's a device called a converter.
"It’s taking direct current from the photovoltaic panels on the roof and converting it to alternating current and feeding the utility grid with it," Coon says. "If you're producing more energy than you're consuming it goes back to the grid. If you're producing the same amount you use it right here, and at night time when the sun's not shining, it goes the other way and you use energy from the grid."
Keith Shortall: "Now the warnings are in German. Does that tell us something about where the technology comes from?"
Pat Coon: "Yes, absolutely. The Europeans, about twenty years ago at the time of the first energy crisis, they kept going and they developed the technology. They are at least a decade ahead of us. Of the high-tech pieces of equipment in this room, one of them is made in the U.S., and the rest are made overseas, which is a shame."
This home, which has been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Homes program with a Gold rating, is also designed to be healthy. Because it's airtight, steps must be taken to protect against mold, and against a phenomenon called "offgassing."
"So you want to avoid glues, etcetera, and another aspect is formaldehyde-free cabinetry," says developer Catherine Culley. Culley says the challenge in building this spec home was in keeping the costs down, while staying true to the goals of energy efficiency, durability and a toxic free enviroment.
"One of the challanges I found was finding affordable formaldehyde-free cabinetry, so I didn't use it," Culley says.
Keith Shortall: "If this works and there's a next house and you want to cut the sale price and make it more affordable, what could you do?"
Catherine Culley: "I would say alternate ways of doing the solar shades. I love the solar shades but there might be a more affordable way of doing that."
KS: "Let's take a look at the shades."
We step out the side door into a gravel patio. This side of the house, which faces south, is lined with windows, which, architect Chris Briley explains, are designed to let in light and heat, except when they are not wanted. And that's where the sliding shades come in.
Chris Briley: "It's designed so that for three seasons of the year, they're stored off to the side and they have this cut-off opening so they don't block that window to the south. But when you pull the shades over like this, then the shades are now deflecting the sunlight that's hitting the windows, and it's coming in directly keeping the heat out. So basically it keeps the house cool.
KS: "So it's like a giant blind?"
CB: "It's like 'Venetian blind' meets 'barn door.' And, as Catherine mentioned, it does represent a bit of a premium; you can shade your windows with a good overhang, but this is a fun feature."
KS: "Can I ask how much we're talking about?"
CC: "I"ll need to crunch those numbers. I couldn't tell you right now but I do feel that if we get creative there may be a better, more affordable way, to do that."
CB: "That's the spirit of green, there's always a better way."
KS: "I notice also that the house is actually green."
CC: "It is green. I wanted to do red originally, but the house next door is red, so I couldn't take away from their splendor."
But besides color, the house is also different from other houses in this neighborhood when it comes to price. Culley is asking for $430,000, much more than the $160,000 median home sale price for Maine, and higher than the $215,000 median price for Cumberland County. It's also more than the going price for older, conventional homes in this part of town, estimated at around $350,000.
"Here in the Back Cove neighborhood, many of the homes were built between the turn of the century and 1950, so many of those homes may need updating -- new furnace, new plumbing, new kitchens," says realtor David Marsden, the seller's broker for this house, which he says is hard to compare with others in the area. Marsden says the National Association of Realtors says consumers are willing to pay at least 10 to 20 percent more for these types of green homes.
But he says it may be a challenge to convince appraisers and lenders to accept the higher sales price, in exchange for savings down the road. "Welcome to the fun! Yeah, absolutely. Becuase I don't have another one of these around the corner to convince the appraiser, or the bank or an underwriter sitting in a cubicle somewhere, saying 'This does not compute.' The price-per-square-footage is higher, so you have to look at the long-term value, the systems, and the quality. And at the end of the day you'll get what you pay for."
Marsden's sales pitch will no doubt try to make the case that because of lower maintenance and energy bills, the monthly cost of owning this more expensive home will actually be less than that of a conventional home in the same neighborhood. For more information on the so-called Redfern House, go to www.theredfernhouse.com.