by Will Kessler, ReVision Energy

About a mile from the latte and brick of downtown, sits a house that is easy to miss. It’s a stucco building in a sunny field, and it seems to have walked directly out of Rex Roberts’ Your Engineered House (the new testament of green home building). This is Heather Parker’s passive solar house -- one of many Seacoast homes on display this Saturday for the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association’s Green Buildings Open House tour.

A garage on the north side blocks wind. A sunroom on the south features heat mirror window technology for potted plants and vegetables. There is no basement. A great stained-concrete floor accompanies the south-facing, triple-pained windows as a thermal mass. Sun tubes on the northern roofs collect daylight and send it to the far reaches of the hallways and rooms.

This new house at 101 Mill Pond Way, Portsmouth NH, was designed to be as energy efficient as possible, as well as use sustainable materials and processes. Insulation levels are tremendous at R70 for ceiling and R42 for walls. The expectation is that the 1937 sq-ft house’s annual heating bill will be a few hundred dollars, about a tenth of a new conventionally well-built house. The only use of fossil fuel and sole space-heater is the sealed-combustion propane fireplace on the first floor. Flat-plate solar thermal collectors provide the domestic hot water, which is backed by an electric element, which is in turn powered by a 3.4 kilowatt solar PV array (black panels pictured above, right). On sunny days, the solar meter registers the renewable power generation, while the utility meter spins in reverse.

Energy collaborators on the project included Marc Rosenbaum, one of the country's leading energy experts, and mechanical contractor ReVision Energy; master carpenter Steve Henson and advisor Chris Yaun were also indispensable to the success of the project. For more information, see the property listing on New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association’s Green Buildings Open House page, clicking www.nhsea.org/resource/gboh_detail.php?h_id=111. The open house runs from 10-4PM on Saturday, October 3.

Directions to Property

Address: 101 Mill Pond Way, Portsmouth, NH. From the center of Portsmouth, at the intersection of Congress St, Middle St, Islingston St and Maplewood Ave, head north on Maplewood for .4 miles. Take a left onto Dennett Street and go .2 miles to Mill Pond Way. 101 is the third house on the right. Park along the street please. From Maine, get on the Rte 1 Bypass south to NH, cross the Sarah Lawrence Bridge (middle bridge): Take the first exit after the bridge in NH, take a right, off the ramp onto Maplewood Ave, then take the third right onto Dennett St., go .2 mile to Mill Pond Way. 101 is the third house on the right. Park along the street please.