Full text of archived
story
New house offers beautiful
utilities
Super-green house is built to be
energy-efficient, lower
bills. |
- Robert Kelly
ST. LOUIS
POST-DISPATCH
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(MO)
|
- October 10, 2008
- Section: Business
|
- Edition: Third Edition
- Page
B6
|
KIMMSWICK • In today’s gloomy real estate
market, Jordan Heiman thinks he knows how to make
housing a more attractive buy.
Just take a look at the utility bills for the
prototype highly energy-efficient new house he
and his partners have built at Kimmswick.
For four straight months starting in June, when
Heiman’s daughter and son-in-law moved into the
house, its utility bills have been the lowest among
all houses in the new Parc at Kimmswick subdivision.
The utilities have averaged about $76 a month throughout
the hot summer months, or nearly half of the monthly
average for utilities paid by homeowners in similarsized
houses in the subdivision.
“Attention to detail is what makes the difference,
I think,” said Heiman, a spry 83-year-old retired
engineer who worked for Intertherm Inc., a manufacturer
of heating and cooling products.
And he’s happy to point out the house’s energy-saving
details, including:
•A ground-source heat pump that draws cool air from
underground pipes buried deep below the basement,
in lieu of a traditional air-conditioning system.
•Insulated windows with fiberglas frames that expand
and contract at the same rate as the window glass
to stop air leakage around the frames.
•A foyer with inside doors to cut off drafts from
the outside.
•Low-wattage flourescent bulbs in all light fixtures.
•Low-flow faucets in all sinks, tubs and showers.
•Rain barrels at all outside downspouts to catch
water to use on the lawns and plants during dry
periods.
Even the concrete used to build the walkways outside
the house was mixed with energy savings in mind,
Heiman said. The concrete has a white tint, because
fly ash was added to the mix to make it more reflective.
That reflects heat back into the environment and
keeps the walkways cooler, he said.
Heiman, who lives in Olivette, said he decided several
years ago that he wanted to build a house to demonstrate
his belief that wasteful, sometimes shoddy construction
deters people from buying certain houses and drives
up heating and cooling costs. It took him a while
to find a suitable location and partners and builders.
Everything fell into place about two years ago,
he said, and construction started in December 2006
on the house on Montesano Park Drive in Kimmswick.
The house was completed early this year.
Heiman organized a company called Applied Energy
Solutions LLC, to design and build the house. Architect
Greg Polanik was the principal designer.
Heiman says it costs more - maybe 15 to 20 percent
more - to build such an energy-efficient house because
of the quality and strength of the materials needed
and the extra work required, as in burying the cooling
pipes below the basement, for example. But the savings
in utility bills should more than make up the cost
difference for anyone planning to stay in such a
house for at least four or five years, he said.
The listed price on the house he and his partners
built at Kimmswick is $400,000, which is about $50,000
to $60,000 more than most of the other high-end
houses in the subdivision were selling for.
Heiman conceded that there has not been a large
market for extremely energy-efficient houses, in
part because of the price. But he said he expected
that market to grow as more consumers see the savings
they can have over time and understand how they'd
be helping the environment at the same time.
The house already has been recognized with two awards
for energy conservation and environmental design.
It was certified as Energy Star 5 Plus by the U.S.
Department of Energy, and also as a LEED-Homes Platinum
by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.
Heiman said only four houses throughout Missouri
have received the same certifications.
Heiman's daughter, Jill Crary, and her husband,
Don, have lived in the house since moving to the
area from San Diego in June.
"Dad's goal from the very beginning was to get this
house the highest possible energy-efficient rating,"
Jill Crary said. "He chose Kimmswick because no
other 'green home' had been built out here."
She said she and her husband have been thrilled
with the utility bills at the two-story house, which
has nearly 2,900 square feet of living space, three
bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.
Even so, the Crarys hope to move closer to Jill's
parents in Olivette, and they have plans to sell
the house they call "Kimmswick 1." Houses in the
subdivision recently have sold for $350,000 and
up.
More information about the house is available online
at www.appliedenergysolutionsllc.com or by calling
636-467-8211.
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Electricity-Cost Comparison
Month
Kimmswick house Avg house
June $78 $122
July $75 $173
August $74 $135
Sept. $65 $117
Source: Ameren Services
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