USGBC-Maine Hosts Private Tour of Two WR homes

Yesterday the Maine chapter of the USGBC hosted a private tour of three environmentally significant homes in the Freeport area.  Attendees included representatives from the Maine State Housing Authority, Department of Environmental Protection, area architects, realtors and builders.

The first home, called the Harmony Opus II, is currently awaiting LEED certified status and submitted for gold level.  The home features bamboo flooring, paperstone countertops, dual pressure flushing toilets, balloon framing, ICF and a geothermal system.  Chris Briley of Green Design Studios and Joshua Fedorka of Symphony Construction led the informative tour.

The second home on the tour was the Cranberry Ridge project on Wolfs Neck Road.  It was designed by Richard Renner Architects and is being built by us (Wright-Ryan).  This project is still under construction, will be submitting for gold certification and is currently for sale.  The tour, led by Ian Parlin of Richard Renner Architects, and Ben MacDonald of Wright-Ryan Construction, concentrated on the passive solar design + pv panels, advanced framing techniques, radiant heating system and cellulose insulation.  There will be other tours when the project is further along.

Lastly, the tour stopped by the Ridge House in South Freeport.  This home, designed by Winton Scott Architects has been featured on New England Cable News in their Dream House show, The Boston Globe, Portland Magazine and Maine Boats, Homes + Harbors.  It was the 2003 recipient of the Maine AIA Award.

LEED Project Focuses on Zero Energy

Things are really shaping up on site now, all framing is nearly complete so it is possible to get a feel for the building mass as well as the interior spaces.

Early in the design process we discussed options for renewable energy sources but were concerned about the initial cost. Recently Wright-Ryan contacted Energyworks of Liberty, Maine to develop a system for solar generated electricity and hot water that is affordable, efficient and works well with our design. Solar systems in this climate are more complicated that in southern climates because of the extremes between winter and summer. In the summer the increased exposure to sun leads to the generation of more electricity and hot water than the house can use, so systems are in place to deal with the excess.

Because the solar water heating system is designed for the cold winter conditions in Maine, there is the problem of too much hot water being generated in the summer. To deal with this excess the garage floor slab is designed to function as a heat dump. Whenever there is too much hot water in the system it will get diverted into a secondary loop of pipes cast into the concrete garage slab. There is no insulation under the slab, and the ground temperature is cooler than the air temperature in the summer, so heat will be transferred into the ground rather than making the garage too hot.

The solar electricity system has a grid-tied inverter so any time the home is generating more electricity than it uses it will send power back into the Central Maine Power grid for others to use. The home's electric meter will measure both incoming and outgoing electricity and the owner is only billed for the balance. The homeowner will see reduced electric bills in the winter and possible no bills at all in the summer. This system has the benefit of allowing your neighbors to benefit from the clean energy created on site!

How about the foundation?

We placed a lot of time and attention selecting environmentally preferable products for this project.  Here's a couple of note from Ben, the project manager:
-ICF forms were used.  These are made from EPS (expanded polystyrene) insulation that does not use CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) in its manufacturing (believed to harm the ozone layer).  The product also creates a very tight building envelope as well as a highly insulated basement.
-We replaced cement with slag in our concrete mix.  We did this because slag is a recycled product, being a byproduct from the manufacture of steel.