Green tour to include Jefferson buildings
This year's Green Buildings Open House of 38 north country sites will feature more homes, including additions in Jefferson County.
"This is more than we've ever had and more than half of them are new," said Patricia M. Greene, events coordinator for Community Energy Services, a partner with Northeast Sustainable Energy Association on the open house. "I feel like we're getting a lot of new installations."
The annual open house offers a chance to learn about grid-tied and off-grid technologies and to see first-hand a range of possibilities, including gut renovations of older homes, home-grown solutions for simple cabins and state-of-the-art equipment.
Herman G. and Sally A. Kleiboer, 11103 County Route 77, Adams, will showcase a geothermal heating system, one of the few in private homes in the north country. Mr. Kleiboer, a contractor who installed his own system, estimates annual savings of 35 percent on his heating bill and a payback period of about seven years.
Geothermal systems use deep groundwater to help warm a house in the winter and cool it in the summer.
"We're doing the tour to get ideas from other people and maybe install some systems for people," Mr. Kleiboer said.
He gutted the older farmhouse nearly 40 years ago and installed fiberglass insulation and high-efficiency windows. He later added a two-story greenhouse that runs the length of one wall. Fans direct heated air in the winter from the greenhouse into the basement.
The home of Andrew E. and Raeleen M. Willard, 245 Underwood Road, Hermon, also will feature some of the latest technology: a 5-kilowatt wind turbine.
"Two years ago last spring we got together with Bill Alexander of Alternative Power Systems, who's from Harrisville, at the energy fair in Canton and decided to do it," Mr. Willard said. "He wanted to become a wind installer."
Approval took longer than expected because Hermon has no land-use regulations, so the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority ended up doing the state environmental quality review paperwork.
"It's up and running. If the wind maps are right, we should produce 80 to 90 percent of our power," Mr. Willard said. "If there's any left at the end of the year, and I don't think there will be much, we'll be reimbursed by National Grid."
The tour also will feature Mountain Homes Community at Fort Drum, the largest Energy Star-rated development in the state; the Johnson Hall of Science at St. Lawrence University, Canton, which is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified; and a 1,300-square-foot house built by Peter E. and Elizabeth B. "Becky" Van de Water in Canton.
The south-facing home has solar panels on the garage for electricity production, an interior fireplace, high-value insulation and a Matrix Total Home System that will provide heat and hot water through a condensing water heater, furnace, boiler and heat recovery ventilator.
To plan a self-guided tour, go to www.communityenergyservices.org. For a list of all participating sites for the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday event, call Community Energy Services at 379-9466.
