Easy, Breezy Greenies: An Energy Star Home in New York

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Easy, Breezy Greenies: An Energy Star Home in New York

_http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/Homes/Energy-Star-New-York-Home.aspx_

(http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/Homes/Energy-Star-New-York-Home.aspx)

 

Going green is sumptuous and simple in this suburban New York home that

emits almost no carbon.

 

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The Arts and Crafts-style exterior features stucco and local cedar. The

Nagins chose exterior colors to match the home’s natural surroundings. **We

literally picked up a handful of dirt and gave it to the stucco company to

match

the color,** Paul says. The green and dark brown mirror the area’s trees.

 

Four years ago, when Paul and Rabia Nagin started building their home

northwest of Manhattan, they didn*t know much about green building. **We were

all

sitting around with the architect and we got into a discussion about the

heating system,** Paul says. **I said, *I don’t want to burn fossil fuels.*

I

just kind of blurted it out without really thinking about what that meant.

Everyone looked at me and said, *So what are you going to do?* So I started

researching the alternatives.**

 

As a former computer science professor at Tufts Medical School and Hofstra

University, Paul is accustomed to research. **I concluded solar was going to

be too expensive and not practical because we*re in the Northeast and it*s a

large house. Wind was not an option because we*re at a low point

topographically,** he says. **I started looking at geothermal and talking to

people and

finding that this was something that could really work.**

 

Paul, the co-owner of textbook company Chimborazo Publishing, and Rabia, a

writer and former caterer, also hired an Energy Star consultant to help

increase efficiency and achieve Energy Star certification. Their efforts paid

off.

At the time of certification, the Nagins* home was the third most

energy-efficient home in New York state, according to Energy Star, achieving

nearly zero

net carbon emissions.

 

Can a large house be green?

 

Paul and Rabia*s house is large—6,800 square feet including the finished

portion of the basement—because they host frequent gatherings for their

intentional community, political groups, fundraisers, music events and yoga

classes.

Their three college-student sons—Chege, 22; Jesse, 20; and Avi, 17—also

often host large groups, and Paul gives lectures to high school and college

students at the house. ** I*d say at least once a month, we have in excess of

100

people over, and I wanted our house to be a vehicle for that,** he says.

 

**Literally thousands of people have come through this house. Everybody is

just amazed that the technology is here,** Paul says. **If you listen to the

politicos, it*s always focused on the year 2020 or 2050 when we*ll have these

green technologies, but here*s a house today with almost zero carbon

footprint. Getting near zero is entirely doable with stuff that*s here right

now.**

Because the home is large, it must be extremely airtight to minimize costs

and reduce the amount of power the geothermal system requires. After

researching insulation options, the Nagins installed cellulose. **We settled on

cellulose because it*s basically recycled New York Times, and I can relate to

that,** Paul says. **We’re recycling, getting a high R-value, and it*s

inexpensive

compared with foams.**

 

After installing efficient, low-emissivity (low-E) windows, Paul and Rabia

hired inspectors to identify and eliminate air leaks and potential air

infiltration, creating a home whose thermal envelope far exceeds Energy Star

standards.

 

Going geo

 

Soliciting bids for the geothermal system was a ** long and unpleasant

experience,** Paul says. **I got wildly different bids from people, off by as

much as a factor of three or four,** he says. **I finally stumbled upon someone

whose business was a few miles from my house and who had just taken a course

on geothermal. He factored in that we were going for Energy Star labeling,

whereas the others hadn*t. That meant that, although the house would be large,

it would be so tremendously thermally secure, he could engineer it so we

didn*t need as large a system.**

 

Geothermal systems operate by liquid-filled, underground tubes that harness

the earth’s near-constant 55-degree temperature to warm and cool homes. The

tubes can be laid horizontally, which requires a broader area, or vertically,

which requires wells hundreds of feet deep. **I would have greatly preferred

horizontal, and I had enough land, but I would have had to cut down trees,

and I just wasn*t willing to do it,** Paul says. **So I paid extra for

vertical.**

 

Geothermal systems cost about the same as a furnace and air conditioning

unit, so digging the wells is the only extra expense. The systems can pay for

themselves in a relatively short time. **It costs around $4 a day to heat this

house, and it*s roughly three times the volume of the average house,** he

says. The Nagins pay their local utility a premium for alternative electricity

(from wind, solar or hydro). Paul expects to recoup the geothermal system*s

costs in four or five years.

 

Healthy, inside and out

 

All the wood in the house was obtained from a lumber company less than 50

miles away. Rather than expensive, exotic woods, the Nagins chose locally

abundant and wellmanaged pine and oak. They used no carpet, avoided materials

that

may outgas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and eliminated nearly

everything that contained formaldehyde. In the basement, they laid bamboo

floors and,

because the basement is outside the geothermal system, installed a biomass

stove for efficient heat. For some of the basement walls, they used bioboards

made of sorghum, wheat and sunflower agricultural wastes and formaldehyde-free

glue.

 

They were also careful with the home*s landscape. **Most people think I*m

crazy for doing this, but before we plotted the site, we had a map made of

every tree and its size so we could minimize the trees we*d have to cut,**

Paul

says. **The trees are still very close to our house, which caused some anger

from the guy who did the excavating, but we wanted to keep it totally

natural. This is a completely maintenance-free landscape.** Their driveway

looks

like a dirt road, but is made from pulverized, recycled building materials,

such as bricks, stones, tiles and concrete, which will set over time.

 

Walking the walk

 

**Many people think you should put up a fence and a gate, but our home is

open to both the environment and the community,** Rabia says. **We go back and

forth between these worlds where one moment we have 120 people in the house

and the next moment I*m all by myself feeding the cats. If it weren*t for the

green aspects of the house, we wouldn*t have had this much impact in our

community or this much fun. It would*ve been a nice, beautiful place to host

things, but with the green aspects it*s so interconnected and so vibrant.**

Rabia

says the home has enhanced her family*s lifestyle. **When you juxtapose the

green technology with the beauty of the house, it has a lot of impact,** she

says. **Whether it*s a performance or a fundraiser, everything is connected

to the green aspects. That*s what draws people here. People are really hungry

for information about sustainability.**

 

The Nagins are happy to be front-runners in what they believe will someday

be the norm in home construction. **It has to come from the top and bottom,**

Paul says. **Congress could say, * We*re allocating money for solar research

and providing incentives for homeowners,* but people have to be willing to

go for it and incorporate it into their lives.**

 

Airtight's all right

 

Though an extremely airtight house is energy efficient, it also means no

fresh air circulates through the home, making an air circulation system

necessary. The Nagins* system adds another layer of efficiency. **Even if you

only

have healthy products in the house, you don*t want to be rebreathing your own

air, so Energy Star requires a recovery ventilator—a clever device that pumps

in fresh air from outside and, at the same time, takes the return air from

the house,** Paul says.

 

The pump combines the incoming and outgoing air masses. In winter, incoming

cold air is preheated by outgoing air. ** It*s a natural heat exchange,**

Paul says. **For a very small amount of energy—like 75 watts—you get

completely fresh and prewarmed air coming in.**

 

Community matters

 

Paul and Rabia Nagin*s community, Skyview Acres, was founded in the 1940s by

environmentalists and pacifists looking to escape New York City. Rabia*s

family was friends with some of the founding members, and she spent many

teenage

summers there; their son*s first violin teacher also lives there. ** It*s

very sentimental to me being here, and not just because of the family

connections,** Rabia says. ** We have an amazing community here. There are 10

people

over 90, and they*re all politically active, amazing people. We*ve come

full circle to come back here and make our home.**

 

Leap of luxury

 

Though there were challenges, Paul and Rabia Nagin say that building green

was easy, inexpensive and totally worth it. ** The net effect of everything we

did added about 5 percent to our total construction cost,** Paul says. **

Doing all of those extra things instead of conventional, and it was just 5

percent! I expected much more than that.**

 

The Nagins built their home for about $150 a square foot. ** Most people who

see this house think of it as a luxury house, but around here luxury houses

cost $200, $300, $500 a square foot,** he says. ** Our house would be

considered a normal cost. We did that by being fairly judicious about what we

picked. For example, using pine instead of fancy Brazilian wood, which I

disagree

with in terms of cost and the environment. By being both cost-conscious and

tasteful, we got a house that is unique and looks quite sumptuous, but

actually was very reasonable.**

 

A chat with the homeowners

 

What was the biggest challenge in building the house?

 

Paul:

When you build a house, you have to trust a lot of strangers and hope they

will be sensitive to your needs. I made a point of making personal contact

with all the people who worked on the project. I said to them, in effect, **

This is my home and I want the project to proceed harmoniously.** It may seem a

little corny, but I think it made a difference. Overall, the project was on

time and within budget, which is pretty amazing for a completely custom

design.

 

Who is your greatest hero and why?

 

Paul:

Right now I would say Al Gore is my hero. He has been working tirelessly to

increase our awareness about global warming and to make it a legitimate topic

of discussion.

 

Rabia:

Sergio Mobili is a young man who is the son of a dear friend of mine.

Having Down syndrome, he has had to deal with things that most of us never

encounter. He is the most empathetic and sensitive person I know and brings

joy,

hope and love into the lives of everyone he meets. Being with him teaches me

that there is true goodness in the world.

 

What*s the best visitor response you*ve ever heard about your home?

 

Paul:

The best comment, which we have heard on several occasions, is when they ask

if the house is a * renovation.* They think it is 100 years old! In

contrast to most development houses, which tend to look as if they were plopped

down

from Mars, green houses should look as if they grew there, as if they are a

part of the natural landscape.

 

Rabia:

I grew up in a home that was always open to others. A friend of mine said to

me after a recent concert/fundraiser, **You are carrying on your mother’s

tradition in your new home.**

 

Jessica Kellner is managing editor for Natural Home.

 

 

The good stuff

 

Architect: Jeffrey Hall, (917) 302-4690

Buidler: Tom Holstein, Meljennic Construction Management, (845) 362-7218

Interior design: Jeffrey Hall Landscaping: Jeffrey Hall

House size: 6,800 square feet Bedrooms: 6 Bathrooms:

4 Cost per square foot: $150

 

Energy

 

Heating/cooling system: Vertical-loop geothermal system from _Water Furnace_

(http://www.waterfurnace.com/) , (800) 436-7283,

Geothermal installation: _Design Air_ (http://www.designairinc.com/) , (845)

357-3580

Electricity source: Local utility Con-Ed Solutions, renewable sources—solar,

wind or hydro Lighting: Compact fluorescent

Applicanes: Energy Star

Insulation: Recycled cellulose

 

Building materials

 

Exterior materials: Local pine and cedar, stucco

Interior materials: Local pine and cedar, bioboards

 

Landscaping

 

Site and land use: Nearly all trees on property retained

Plants: Native landscaping

Water conservation: Native landscaping

 

Water

 

Water Conservation Systems: N/A

Fixtures: Low-flow, Energy Star

 

Construction

 

Waste reduction: N/A

Recycling: N/A

Construction methods: Site chosen to minimizelandscape damage

Certification: _Energy Star_ (http://www.energystar.gov/)

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