‘Green' house tour host suggests options for energy conservation

Lafayette — Geothermal heat pumps, passive cooling, solar photovoltaic systems? A multitude of options are now available to homeowners interested in reducing their energy bills, minimizing their carbon footprint and going green. New Jersey Green Buildings and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Tour presented an open house on Oct. 3, allowing a first-hand view of clean, renewable energy at work. Lafayette is home to Helios, a custom-designed passive solar home built in 1984 by architect and owner Alan Spector. The dwelling was built along an east-west axis to maximize solar power. Every wall, window, ceiling and floor was designed to take full advantage of natural fuel through the power of the sun, wind and earth. Windows were carefully placed to create a passive cooling effect as the mass concrete floors and walls were designed to capture and harvest the earth’s energy. Solar powered homes offer a variety of ways to conserve energy, money and fuel consumption as well as preserve the environment, explained Spector to visitors at the open house. “Homeowners can start by doing small improvements to their homes in order to begin the conversion of their homes to solar... some small changes are very inexpensive such as installing insulation and a solar hot water system,” Spector said. “The ideal would be to have a home that produces as much energy as it uses, zero net energy.”

Find out more The government is helping to make such conversions and new construction of solar powered homes more affordable by offering incentives, tax credits and rebates. Information on incentive programs can be found at dsireusa.org. To calculate the carbon footprint of your household visit www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htm.