• Although the house has more windows than is typical, only a select few open, reducing the potential number of air leaks.
• The high, inaccessible clerestory windows are operated via remote controls. They let house air that rises in the summer escape, and the low windows provide plenty of cross ventilation.
• The house is heated with a geothermal heat pump system that captures energy from fluid-filled tubes buried in the yard to heat the house, which has in-floor heat and a supplemental forced-air system.
• For much of the summer this house doesn't need air conditioning because of the ventilation provided by the many windows and the protection against the hot sun provided by the deep roof overhangs. Utility costs, including heat, lights and natural gas, are less than $150 per month.
• The house was built with structural insulated panels -- two sheets of oriented strand board sandwiched around 10 inches or more of rigid polystyrene insulation. A crane is used at the job site to put those panels, which are precision-manufactured in a factory, in place for the walls and ceilings.
JIM BUCHTA
