Q+A with Maine Huts and Trails about Going off the Grid

From the May 2011 Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Design:

Maine Huts and Trails’ three off-the-grid wilderness lodges in Western Maine provide year-round accommodations and meals to hikers and skiers by using a combination of solar, hydro, and wood-generated energy to power the radiant floor heating, lights, water pumps, refrigeration, and fans for the kitchen and composting toilet.

How is power generated at each hut?

The Poplar Stream Falls Hut has a wood-fired boiler for heat and hot water, a 2.7 kWh solar array tied to 24-volt battery storage, and a 5 kWh low-head hydro also linked to the batteries. As long as there’s water, the hydro can produce up to 120 kWhs a day, while the solar produces a quarter of that due to size and dependence on sun. The Flagstaff Lake Hut and Grand Falls Hut also have wood boilers, and 5.2 kWh and 5.9 kWh solar systems, respectively, tied to 48-volt battery storage. Both average 25 kWh per sunny day. All huts use propane generators for back up, but if there’s sun and water the generators can go days without use.

How would you compare your electricity producing systems, and what’s next?

Hydro is the hare, solar is the tortoise. While the low-head hydro produces a quicker pay back (assuming a reliable water source), there are fewer variables and maintenance issues with a solar array. We plan to build another hut in a year or so using the systems above, plus a solar thermal system for domestic hot water. 

See mainehuts.org for more information, and share your thoughts here.

Tips from the Conservationists of Art

From the April 2011 Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Design:

Fine art is as worthy of conservation as are natural resources, so I asked some art conservators and the director of a photography gallery for tips on keeping photographs and paintings in good shape for the long haul.

Photographs  

• Direct sunlight is any photograph’s biggest enemy. To protect the photograph from fading/discoloring in any light, invest in conservation glass or museum glass (non-glare, very clear conservation glass). The photograph should never touch the glass, so a mat or spacer must be used.
• All framing materials and anything that touches the photograph must be archival, meaning the materials will retain their original properties over time and not leach harmful chemicals into the photograph, causing spots (foxing)

Art

• Watercolors, drawings, and paintings should never be hung in areas with high moisture content. A constant humidity of around 50 to 60 percent is best. Changes in humidity can be even more detrimental than variations in temperature.
• If the canvas is buckling, get it keyed out. Most framers and all conservators can do this quickly, and a taut canvas will minimize environmental damage.
• Attach foam core or card to the back of a painting to prevent the collection of dust behind the stretcher bars. Dust attracts moisture, which in turn swells the canvas, which loosens the paint, causing it to flake.
• Flaking paint should be remedied as quickly as possible, and if the painting is punctured or torn don’t wait to fix it as the canvas threads will distort over time, making what might have been a simple repair into a costly procedure.

What are your thoughts or questions on art conservation for our experts?

Heather Frederick/VoxPhotographs | Portland and Belfast | 207.323.1214
voxphotographs.com

B.D. Mattozzi Fine Arts Conservation and Restoration | Portland | 207.871.1678
bdmattozzi.com

Anthony Moore Painting Conservation | York | 207.363.1794
anthonymooreconservation.com

Q+A with Rick Renner About His Retrofitted LEED Loft in Portland, Maine

From the March 2011 Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Design:

One of the big uncertainties about green building is how well the new practices will perform over time. To find out which systems and techniques are proving smartest, I’ve been asking owners of notable projects around the state what they’ve learned.

Architect Rick Renner's Pleasant Street Loft

Rick Renner

Rick Renner is the principal of Richard Renner Architects, a Portland firm with a focus on environmentally responsible design. Renner lives and works in a late-1800s brick building on Pleasant Street that he retrofitted to LEED Platinum standards in 2007, with architectural offices on the ground floor and personal living quarters upstairs.

Rick Renner

 What’s been the most successful component of the building?

The effort we put into creating as tight a building envelope as possible from an existing structure was critical and very effective. We used closed cell and cellulose super insulation and Accurate Dorwin triple pane fiberglass windows. As a result, the 1,400 square foot loft apartment costs only $320 a year to heat . 

What’s been the least useful?

We were surprised to find that appraisers didn’t give as much value as we expected to a building’s efficient features. This is something that will change as the market, and therefore, appraisers become more familiar with green buildings. 

What’s new on the horizon?

Using a theater fog machine, we’ve started testing the integrity (air tightness) of building envelopes earlier in the construction process, before the final blower door test. Instead of pulling the air out and noting weak areas with a thermal camera, you push fog into the building to see where the fog is escaping, then tighten up those areas.

Let us know what you think about this project and please suggest others you think we should look at.

Your Two Cents

You might have noticed this blog is a new venture. As we get up and running, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on any of the following:

• What would you like to know about healthy and efficient homes?
• Who would you like to hear from on this topic?
• Any homes we should check out?
• What types of technologies and systems are you curious about?
• Are you interested in solar PV and solar thermal?
• Energy monitoring and blower door tests?
• Passive houses?
• LEED certified homes?
• Natural landscaping?
• Eco-interior design and art?
• Little things you can do to keep your home warmer, healthier, and more cost efficient?
• Are there other blogs on these topics you'd like to recommend?
• Have a story to share?
• Suggestions on a good story to cover?

Any and all thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Thank you!

Q+A with Keith Collins About His Net Zero BrightBuilt Barn

From the Bright-Minded Home column in Maine Home + Design:

Keith Collins is the owner of the BrightBuilt Barn in Rockport, Maine, a super-insulated, highly weather-tight structure that is “net zero,” meaning it creates more energy than it uses and over time will, in fact, erase its own carbon footprint. Designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects, the barn was featured in Maine Home + Design magazine almost two years ago. I checked in with Collins to see how it’s performing.

Q: What’s been the most successful component of the building?
A: Some people imagine you need a PhD to live in an energy-efficient, solar home. In fact, we’ve had zero problems with the solar photovoltaic (PV) and thermal hot water systems, and are putting about 5,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity back into the grid each year.

Q: What’s been the least useful?
A: We got famous for the light skirt around the outside of the building that turns green when the solar PV system is putting energy back into the grid and red when we’re using more energy than we’re generating. The thinking was that if you’re aware of how much energy you’re using you tend to use less. However, the house is so efficient that if the sun is out, we’re green, and if the sun isn’t out, we’re red. We don’t need a light skirt to tell us that, all we need to do is look at the sky.

Q: What’s new on the horizon?
A: We’ve tallied the votes, and Community Partners, Inc., of Biddeford, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that has been providing direct support to individuals with disabilities since 1967, has won the BrightBuilt Retrofit. They will receive $10,000 in seed money and access to up to $90,000 in interest-free loans to retrofit their building with the goal of reducing energy consumption by at least 50 percent. The retrofit should be completed by summer 2011.

Check brightbuiltbarn.com for more information and share your thoughts here.