Temperatures rise, utility bills drop

House Doctor | Gary Dymski

January 20, 2005

Catherine Oberg and Campbell Dalglish outside their energy-efficient home, which has large solar glass doors and windows. (PHOTO BY JOSEPH D. SULLIVAN / January 20, 2005)

An insolent winter morning with 25-degree temperatures and icy breezes is doing its best to rattle Alex and Stephanie Villani's 2-year-old house in Mattituck. But inside, the couple sits snuggly warm in the sunny kitchen, sipping coffee.

Down the road in East Patchogue, the sky is gray, and frost threatens. But Campbell Dalglish apologizes because the heating system, which clicked on automatically after a two-hour hiatus, makes the interior instantly warmer. Too warm, in fact.

These Long Islanders don't have to pull on heavy sweaters or bundle up in blankets or turn the thermostat higher than 70 in search of indoor comfort. The Villanis and Dalglish and his wife, Catherine Oberg, live in energy-efficient, solar-integrated houses.

Their houses cost nearly the same to build and look pretty much like any modern, cedar-shake, two-story New England farmhouse. But their annual energy bills - heating, cooling and electricity - are a fraction of what their neighbors pay.

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The Villanis pay between $500 and $600 a year for heating oil, which about does it for utilities. Their electric bill is a big, fat zero. That's thanks to a photovoltaic system of rooftop solar panels that creates energy and heats water.

Dalglish, whose house features geothermal heating and cooling as well as a photovoltaic system, pays about $1,200 a year in utilities. "That includes the minimal amount of natural gas we have for cooking and our clothes dryer," said Dalglish, a documentary filmmaker who named his home Ahalani, a Navajo word for "house made of dawn."

"We often ask ourselves why more people aren't building this way," said Stephanie Villani, who helps run her husband's commercial fishing business. "The benefits - low, low utility bills - are worth it."

There's no single or easy answer to why builders aren't constructing more energy-efficient dwellings. Industry experts say builders respond to consumers' demands - and they apparently aren't that interested in energy savings. "Energy is not a priority," said Bob Wieboldt, executive vice president of the Long Island Builders Institute.

And then there's the myth that energy-efficient construction techniques and materials are unreliable and expensive. Finally, builders seem hesitant to try new materials.

So new-home buyers put up with outdated construction methods - wood framing, for instance, and loose fiberglass insulation - and houses that guzzle energy. According to the National Association of Home Builders, about 1 million new homes were erected in each of the past five years. But industry analysts estimate only 1 percent are considered zero-energy - which means the house produces as much energy as it uses. Long Island reflects that trend, with less than 1 percent of the 4,500 to 5,000 new homes built annually in that same period earning the designation.

On Long Island, it's a good bet that Water Mill architect Bill Chaleff designed many of the newer zero- or near-zero models, including Dalglish's house. Chaleff, who has built about 150 energy-efficient homes in the past 30 years, primarily in Nassau and Suffolk, likes to point out that building practices that take advantage of sunlight for heat and light or berms to re-direct chilly winds have been around for ages.

While more home buyers seem willing to spend part of their budgets on energy-saving design and technology, Chaleff said the numbers remain small. But with education, he said, consumer demands will change. Especially since today's energy-efficient home "doesn't have to look any different" than other houses. Or cost much more. "We can deliver any design, like Victorian, and make it energy efficient," he said.

Dalglish's house, for example, cost $170,000 to build, and his three-quarters of an acre on a spring-fed lake, cost another $95,000. The Villanis' house cost about $200,000, plus $147,000 for their 2.3 acres.

The costs reflect rebates from LIPA and a state tax credit that reduced the price of their photovoltaic systems by as much as 50 percent. In addition to the 2,700 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, each house is more tightly insulated than conventional houses and features a solar passive design that provides natural heating.

Chaleff uses what's known as solar-passive and solar-active designs. Solar passive takes advantage of the sun's warmth and light by locating frequently used rooms such as kitchens on the south side of a house. "Solar passive is organizing the same building materials in a way that the building loses very little heat energy and also collects heat energy, usually through windows," he said. Solar active uses technology like photovoltaic panels.

Another feature of energy-efficient design is the use of structural insulated panels (SIPs) instead of traditional lumber framing. These panels are usually 4- or 6-inch-thick sandwiches of polystyrene foam between two plywood-like sheets. Some are as high as 24 feet. They keep cold, outside air from intruding and help retain heat - all for about the same price as conventional framing. They also can be used for roofing and flooring.

Using insulated concrete forms is another way to "tighten the building envelope," as builders like to say. The concrete forms, 10 to 12 inches thick, are made of polystyrene reinforced with steel bars and studs. Cement poured in the forms creates walls of insulated concrete. This means smaller heating and cooling units are required, and annual heating and cooling costs can be reduced by as much as 60 percent.

Don Bradley, the Pennsylvania builder who supervised construction of the Villanis' house, figured his solar-integrated models cost only 10 to 12 percent more than traditional new-home construction. "Even if the upfront cost is slightly more, over the life of the mortgage, energy usage can be reduced by 80 percent to 90 percent each year."

He plans to build 15 solar homes in Gettysburg, Pa., this year and another 40 the following year on a 50-acre site about 65 miles north of Philadelphia.

"I'm going to build subdivisions," he said. "I believe the market is ready. It's time to build them and let buyers come."