What if you could pre-buy 30 years worth of gasoline or heating fuel at a tiny fraction of the current price? Would you do it, or at least try really hard to come up with the cash?

One good thing about soaring fuel prices: They divert attention from the cost of electricity. But electricity is where the potential lies to make significant changes in our bank accounts and the environment.

Nicholas Xatzís offers this analogy.  It’s simple, but an eye-opener.  And it goes straight to the reason why so few homes are harnessing renewable energy sources.  It’s not about a lack of technology.  It’s about a lack of long-term thinking as opposed to what affects us right now. When electricity was cheap, no one wanted “unsightly” solar panels on their roof. When gas was cheap, big cars were in. Who is not now regretting some choices?

Xatzís’ business, Pureform Design|Build in West Cornwall, CT reflects his passion for form following function. He jumped at a chance to design and build a home where every aspect is aimed at energy efficiency and low maintenance. Set well off Route 7 in Cornwall Bridge, the house is not impressive at first sight, and Xatzís makes no apologies for that. It was never meant to be fancy, he said. It’s less than 2,000 square feet, with corrugated galvanized steel siding on the outside and lots of reclaimed building materials and furnishings. It all works in the end with a clean, modern approach that is immediately comfortable.

But the real charm of this home lies in the way it is used -and what it doesn’t use.

Seeking summer memories
For owner Ruth Charny-Rotko, it was about a carefree home where she could relax on weekends away from the city, and bring her young grandchildren in the summer. “Carefree” needed to apply to maintenance, durability and energy costs. It needed to be a place where one could truly relax without worrying about trim in need of paint or whether the winter heating bill could be paid off by August.

It needed to be a place where the grand-kids wanted to come and that their parents would want to inherit.”Ruth used to go to the Hamptons in the summer, but when the grandchildren came along, she realized it wasn’t where she wanted their childhood summer memories to come from,” Xatzís said.

In the open main room of the chevron-shaped house, the three preschoolers ride tricycles on the cement floor.  A gate in the front deck opens to allow them to jump right in to a front yard swimming pool. The back deck offers a view of serene woods that drop steeply down to the Housatonic river.

Keeping costs down, forever
The house itself is all about long-term planning. “It wasn’t inexpensive to build. That wasn’t the plan.The plan looked at the future. Now she has a home she can leave to her kids without it being a burden.”

Eighteen solar voltaic panels – the exact same panels that will soon be installed on Cornwall Consolidated School – take up most of the roof at the front of the house. They are barely noticeable (as if that matters anymore). The energy they collect is sent to a small basement utility room where the harnessed electricity also powers a compact boiler and hot-water heater. Everything is computer-controlled. including a four-zone heating system.

Using found materials helped keep the cost down – and make the home unique – but the interesting part is that the solar voltaic system that will keep it inexpensive to own was pretty darn cheap. With the extensive financial help the government offers, a four-zone heating system (and the hot water it provides) cost less than $40,000.

Heat circulates through exposed pipes that hang just below the high ceilings on the main floor, and through radiant tubes in the 8-inch cement floors, which are an integral part of the home’s insulating quality. The bottom floor is almost entirely below ground-level on one side. It keeps the interior very comfortable year ’round in a third bedroom and playroom.

Designer Nicholas Xatzís’ house has a circular staircase with an unusual railing – actually flexible excavator exhaust hose (right). The home’s main room features an indestructible cement floor, a hanging, rotating fireplace and a table made from a free-form wood slab and scaffold legs.

Eliminating those fossil fuels
A propane-powered clothes dryer is probably responsible for most of the propane use there over the winter. The tank was last filled in the fall. Right now, it’s at about 80 percent. As for the gas dryer, dealers and installers often shy away from recommending conversions from natural gas to propane. It’s costly and they hesitate to guarantee safety of a retrofit. But Xatzís said it’s the only way to go. Anything that uses an electric motor to produce heat or hot water is by far the least energy efficient.

“People need to understand that the number-one factor in making a house green is to eliminate gas emissions. That means electricity you buy. Seventy percent of it is still produced from fossil fuels:”

The home has been producing its own electricity since August. So far it has produced 2,263 kilowatt hours. The system is designed to produce about 3,800 kw annually. That’s calculated to be more than enough for part-time house use. A typical home of its size, with a family in residence all year, requires about 4,000 kw hours. Excess electricity sent to the grid translates into energy credits (yes, that means the energy company pays you, essentially).

Trellis, ivy keep it cool
Xatzís’ design also sends surplus energy to the pool where a sort of symbiotic relationship keeps the pool water warm while providing a “heat sink.”

Even though producing electricity through a solar voltaic system is virtually free, a responsible designer weighs the capital costs against future operation. The Charney-Rotko house is designed to be able to accommodate more panels. Full-time use might require a bigger system.

“But what do you do in the summer when you’re not heating the house? The green approach is not to create a lot more electricity than you need.”
A passive plan for reducing the system’s output is planned by installing a trellis with leafy vines over a portion of the front deck. As the leaves open and spread during the summer, they will cover some of the panels, reducing the sunlight that reaches them.

Passive solar design plays a big role here, as well. The home’s “arrowhead” roof points directly north. That gives it optimum solar exposure. It’s placement and large windows and sliding doors all play a role in circulating air. Nature provides the air conditioning and children don’t have to be reminded to close the doors.

Unseen elements, such as framing that does not touch the inner and outer walls, is also used. Xatzís explained that wood transfers cold from the outside and heat from the inside.

Xatzís stressed that any building can be made greener. “You don’t have to have a perfect southern exposure to use panels.And you don’t have to change the look of your home. You can make a cape as green as this house. I’m working right now on a solar retrofit of a house built around 1800. It the end, it will still look very traditional.”

* Article by Karen Bartomioli – taken from The Lakeville Journal, Thursday May 15, 2008
* Photos by NichoIas Xatzís