Green Home Award

Greetings! After a nearly three-month hiatus from this blog, I finally decided an update was entirely overdo. First, I'd like to welcome any Dickinson Magazine readers who have stumbled upon this site. Dickinson Magazine, the college's quarterly alumni publication, published a wonderful story on our house in the latest issue. Titled "Green on the Inside," the article gives some insight into how we plan to connect with students via the college's sustainability initiative.

Click image to read Dickinson Magazine article.

Patriot News Earth Week Article

On Sunday, April 17, the Harrisburg Patriot News kicked off Earth Week with an article on our house titled "Our Green Home."  It's a little strange--and fun--to open the paper and see a large color picture of yourselves staring back out at you.  The article was written by Diana Fishlock and overall I think she did a good job.  However, there are a few places where the point we were trying to make didn't quite come across in the article.  Thus, I thought it would be reasonable to try to clarify a few points made in the article and to provide additional information for those who are interested.  If you didn't have a chance to read the article, you can read the online version at PennLive.com.

Photo from Patriot News Article (Click image for more photos.)

Visiting Hours are 1:00-5:00

The March 26 open house was a big success. We had a steady stream of people from 1:00 until 5:00 and probably had 60-70 total visitors. And the weather cooperated perfectly. A few days before the open house we got a cold spell. This allowed us to fire up the masonry heater so it would be good and warm when the visitors were here. To top it off, we set a solar record by generating 35 kWh of energy on Saturday (and then set a new record the very next day!). All in all, we were quite busy talking with everyone and had a really good time. It seemed like everyone who visited thought the event was worthwhile. I certainly hope so.

March 26 Open House

March is here and it has certainly come in like a lion in terms of sunshine.  The first four days of March saw the sun shining brightly with not a cloud in the sky.  It's still cold but spring is definitely on the way.  March is also the month of the Pennsylvania Home Show in Harrisburg.  It runs from March 5 through March 13 and as usual, Bridlewood Builders will have a booth.  Following the home show, on Saturday, March 26 from 1:00-5:00 we will have an open house to give potential clients an opportunity to see their work.  Of course, anyone who has been following this blog is certainly welcome to attend.  Brian Klipfel, the mason responsible for our masonry heater should be here as well.  So if you're interested in masonry heaters, are thinking about building an energy efficient house, or even if you're just curious, feel free to stop by.

A Net Zero Energy Day

When we first starting thinking about building a house, our plan was not to build the most efficient house in the world.  But as we got started with the design phase, we decided that we would let energy efficiency be the driving force behind many of our decisions.  Of course, we also decided that we were not prepared to live uncomfortably; what's the point of designing and building a house if you're not going to be able to enjoy it a little?  But as the process continued, we were able to include so many energy efficient features that we began to think that the house might actually end up "net zero energy."  We started monitoring our usage and production pretty closely starting on Jan. 1, 2011 and on February 15, we had our first net zero energy day!

The Sun Lights, Warms, and Powers our Home (Click image for more photos.)

Winter Performance

For the past month or so, Carlisle PA has been pretty darn cold. High temperatures have been averaging in the upper 20s and low 30s and lows have been in the low 20s and into the teens. I'm not complaining - I know there are places that are far colder. But now that we've gotten into a routine with the masonry heater, this past month has given us an opportunity to get a feel for the winter performance of this house. In short, I'd have to say that the house performs as good as, and perhaps even better than, we were hoping.