The story below is excerpted from our Sept./Oct. 2014 issue. For the full story download our FREE iOS app or view our FREE web-based digital edition today!
Two families looking to make energy efficiency a way of life in their new homes found an environmentally friendly haven in Mount Tabor Meadows, a Blacksburg community comprised of all EarthCraft-certified homes. Though different in size, both homes are equipped with green features suitable for any space.
For at least two months this past spring and summer, Joan and Howard Smith did not pay an electric bill.
There wasn’t a monthly balance to pay, except for an $8 service fee to American Electric Power.
The Smiths Craftsman-style Blacksburg home, which sits on a corner, atop a neat manicured lawn surrounded by sidewalks in the quaint Mount Tabor Meadows community, appears relatively standard from the outside.
Look a little closer. Most every feature of the house is energy efficient. There are rooftop solar panels, disguised in black to match the top of the house. The bottom half of the home is built mostly underground, atop a sloping lot.
Inside, hardly a sound can be heard from the outside, despite the roar of construction vehicles and crews building several new houses a few doors away.
EarthCraft Virginia ranked this 3,200-square-foot house No. 2 in the state in 2013 for energy efficiency, based on its low Home Energy Rating Score, or HERS, a rating system that measures energy efficiency.
The Smiths, both engineers, relocated from Atlanta to Blacksburg and moved into the house in August 2013. They hired Green Valley Builders of Blacksburg to design and construct their green home.
“We wanted to build a home that would be inexpensive to own in respect to utilities,” says Joan Smith. “We’ve seen how quickly houses age and what they cost.”
Green Valley is building the Mount Tabor Meadows community with an energy-conservation vision. All of the homes are certified by EarthCraft, a green building certification program for homes in Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. So far, there are 30 homes in this community off North Main Street, and 50 total lots.
The Smiths’ three-bedroom abode uses very little energy. That’s largely because of the home’s tight insulation, a feature of Green Valley houses, says Justin Boyle, co-owner of the company.
The key is to create a “tight envelope” that allows air flow to be controlled, he says.
Solar tubes in the Smiths’ ceiling shine light into the living room. These tubes are more energy efficient than skylights because they extend higher, keeping air from traveling into the house, Joan Smith says. The Smiths’ living room opens up into an eat-in kitchen with gray-green colored cabinets and high end energy efficient Mueller appliances.
A laundry room and a spacious master bedroom and bathroom complete the main floor.
The rest of the house is downstairs. The Smiths opted to have half of the house built underground, which keeps the lower rooms 50 percent cooler than the rest of the home and reduces cooling costs.
“We have central air conditioning, but it doesn’t have to kick on very much,” says Joan Smith.
She works from home, out of an office in the main room downstairs, while her husband’s office is located in a smaller room. There are two additional bedrooms and bathrooms, a storage room and a basement downstairs.
Green building, from a cost perspective, already has saved the Smith’s significant monthly expenses.
“We’re at an age, we want to minimize the amount of maintenance it will take for us to live in this house,” says Joan Smith. “It’s maybe not this year that we will see the value, but I know that in several years, we will see the value.”
