Q+A with sustainability coordinator Jesse Pyles about Unity College's TerraHaus

Designed by Matt O'Malia and G•O Logic, TerraHaus is a 2,100-square-foot dormitory for 10 Unity College students. Completed in 2011, it boasts a certified Passive House designation and a 2012 EcoHome Design Award for architectural excellence and sustainable performance.

Photo courtesy of Unity College

Q: What makes TerraHaus unique compared to the other dorms?
A: TerraHaus is the first certified Passive House student residence in the country, relying primarily on superior insulation and air sealing as well as solar orientation for space heating, and solar thermal hot water. All active heating systems are run on electricity instead of oil. We have small electric baseboard heaters in individual bedrooms and a cold-climate heat pump for heating and cooling the larger common area, but we rely very little on these units to heat the house. In zero-degree weather, the heating load could be met with a standard hair dryer.

Courtesy Unity College

Q: What are the energy costs?
A: During the 2012 spring semester, space-heating costs for TerraHaus averaged $21.59 per month, and $86.35 total for January through April. During that time, domestic hot water costs were $96.98 for electric backup water heating and circulation. So that's $183 for space and water heating for four months. Pretty amazing, considering TerraHaus replaces two smaller cottages that costed us $4,364.58 for 1,307 gallons of fuel oil a year.

Photo courtesy Unity College

Q: What do students seem to appreciate most about TerraHaus?
A: In addition to a beautiful design that "feels like home," our students enjoyed being part of a "Passive House" class that used their study of building energy concepts to connect local residents with home weatherization incentives through the Town of Unity Energy Committee. The public is welcome to visit the building for the NESEA Green Buildings Open House tour on Saturday, October 13, 2012.

Q+A with Meredeth Winter about her solar array on the South Freeport waterfront

Meredeth Winter, a philanthropy adviser at the Nature Conservancy, recently updated her 1984 South Freeport waterfront home with a 4.8 kW grid-tied photovoltaic array that generates 6,602 kWh annually and a Chromagen flat-plate solar hot-water collector that produces 19,000,000 BTUs of renewable heat energy annually—together offsetting more than 14,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Photo courtesy ReVision Energy

Q: What inspired you to add a solar array to your home?
A: As a long-time employee of a conservation-minded organization, it was largely about walking the talk at first, but because our house is optimally sited for solar it was a natural progression. We called ReVision Energy and they quoted us the options and installed the system in four days, not to mention fixing a faulty snowmelt heater that was running overtime and helping us with the tax rebate. I can't say enough good things about them.

    South Freeport Harbor by Dave Cleaveland/Maine Aerials

Q: What have been the benefits of this addition?
A: I love feeling like a power station. Since I dislike opening bills, it's great to get one that that says they owe me money. We make more kWh than we use from March to October, and the extra goes back to the grid to offset the months of November to February when there's less sun. For example, last June we produced 475 kWh but only used 415 kWh.

Q: What's next?
A: If I could do something better, it would be to sit down with my kids more often and look online at the TED Dashboard that shows in real time what we're producing. We're also interested in connecting the solar hot-water system to more radiant floor heating.

Q+A with Jesse Thompson on his Deep Energy Retrofit

Architect Jesse Thompson and his wife searched for two years for the perfect beat up and inexpensive house within walking/biking distance to schools, work, and restaurants that they could retrofit and expand for their primary residence. The resulting home won an AIA Merit Award in 2012.

Photo courtesy Jesse Thompson.

Q: As an architect, why did you want to retrofit an old ranch instead of building new?
A: In greater Portland, if you want to walk the kids to school and ride your bike to work you need to be flexible in your land search. We sought an inexpensive house that needed new siding, and didn’t have historic character or significant toxicity issues. The resulting “building lot” came with a free foundation, garage, utility connections, and a first floor.

Q: What were the most successful aspects of the project?
A: We were able to add 800 square feet and update the insulation and siding of the original building to improve the envelope by 90 percent, which helped reduce heating costs from approximately $3,000 a year to $400. All this at $85 per square foot.

Architect Jesse Thompson. Photo by Winky Lewis.

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges?
A: The salvaged foam insulation wasn’t flat product and the framers had to shim the strapping to make it work. However, we paid only $2,500 to cover the house in 6” of insulation (see insulationdepot.com).

Q: What’s next?
A: We’re adding solar photovoltaic panels this year. PV electricity has come down in price and is now only $0.14 per kWh if you spread the cost of buying the panels over 25 years, which is their minimum lifespan. That’s cheaper than Central Maine Power, and that’s BEFORE the 30 percent Federal Tax Credit for Energy Efficiency.

Learn more at kaplanthompson.com and share your thoughts here.

Q+A with Brian Haddock, founder and owner of Furniturea

Furniturea (pronounced fur-ni-chur-ah) began in 1974 as a carpentry company but eventually transitioned to furniture and, in 2006, opened a Portland showroom. Furniturea's colorful, modern designs are inspired by the shapes in rural Maine architecture and made in Portland from regionally harvested wood.

Furniturea's Portland showroom at 75 Market Street

 Q: What is Furniturea's mission in terms of sustainability?
A: My goal when I created Furniturea was to build a company that appealed to me as a designer, a worker, and a consumer. I'd never heard the term "slow design," but that was, in hindsight, what I was after. Our mantra is "artful, functional, and affordable," and our goal is to create original furniture with a local workforce, using sustainable regional materials. The wood components are designed so they can be cut from stock panels with minimal waste, our smaller products are built from material left over from larger products, and any remainder after that is utilized as biofuel.

Local inspiration for furniture designs.

Q: How does custom furniture factor into this mission?
A: If a customer has furniture built especially for them, I think they're more likely to take better care of it and keep it longer. As well, customers who purchased furniture in the past bring it back and have it painted different colors to match a new home or makeover. It's like taking old shoes to a cobbler to replace the soles.

Furniturea Crate Storage Series

Q: Anything new and exciting?
A: We've expanded our customizable Crate Storage Series to more than 150,000 choices in sizes, styles, and functions, and recently incorporated Maine Cottage's 40-color palette with our own 24, for 64 eco-friendly paint choices.

Learn more at furniturea.com.

Q+A with Unity College’s Michele Leavitt and sustainability coordinator Jesse Pyles about Unity House

Unity House is Unity College's on-campus residence of English professor, Michele Leavitt, and her husband, President Stephen Mulkey. Completed in 2008 by Bensonwood, the 1,937 square-foot LEED Platinum home features a 5.4 KW solar photovoltaic array, solar thermal hot water, a Hallowell cold-climate air-source heat pump, high-efficiency insulation, recycled and locally sourced materials, and passive solar design.

Photo by Mark Tardif

What have been the most impressive features of Unity House?
The passive solar layout, with tight envelope and large triple-paned windows, allows the sun to reach in and warm the air and concrete slab floors to 70 degrees on a sunny winter day, with no additional heating needed. As well, in one year the solar PV panels produced 6,441 kWh of electricity and the house used 6,430 kWh, which means we met the net zero goal, with 11 kWh to spare. The open and welcoming common space feels connected to the outdoors and is great for entertaining.

Photo by Mark Tardif

Would you do anything differently?
Nothing, except add more closet space. It has all the comfort of a normal middle-class home, but one that, amazingly, uses less energy than it produces.

Photo by Mark Tardif

What’s next?
TerraHaus, the first student residence in the country built to Passive House Institute US standards by GO Logic, just completed its first school year of use. It houses 10 students and features many of the same elements as Unity House. Both projects are part of the college’s 2020 Master Plan for a fully sustainable campus.

Learn more at livinggreenatunityhouse.blogspot.com and bensonwood.com.