AIKEN --- Ron Monahan has been building "green" homes for a while. Now, he's planning to use his expertise in Aiken to construct a "net-zero" home that will produce more electricity than it uses.
"I never thought I would be doing zero-energy homes here, but it was when gasoline hit $5 a gallon that people really grasped how they could save money by having an energy-efficient home," said the developer of The Ridge at Chukker Creek, off Chukker Creek Road.
The home is being built in the Solstice Meadow farm area, near The Ridge development.
A net-zero home incorporates energy-efficient techniques, including solar components. The idea is to have the electric meter running backward, feeding electricity back to the electric company.
Mr. Monahan began building green homes in Boulder, Colo., including 12 net-zero residences. He is now using his expertise at The Ridge.
Though the homes there won't have net-zero capabilities, the 270-home master-planned community is designed using conservation methods that will have homes using 70 percent less energy.
One home at The Ridge, owned by Nick Witter, is already completed. The attic, walls and ceiling are coated with Airtight SprayFoam, an insulation foam that resembles white frosting and reduces energy use by as much as 50 percent.
By lining the attic ceiling, "it keeps conveyance heat from coming in through the ceiling of the attic," said Clay Riddle, of Comfort Zone Foam Insulation in Columbia.
Foam insulation is three times more expensive to install than traditional fiberglass insulation, "but in two or three years, you start getting your money back," Mr. Riddle said. "It's an upfront initial investment that pays time and time again."
Conservation measures at The Ridge go beyond the homes. The development was designed to preserve green space, with more than 50 percent of open spaces left untouched, including a large pond, pastures, walking and riding trails and the 61-acre Freeman Preserve wildlife area.
Even the roads that wind through the development were designed to avoid larger trees. Mr. Monahan said it all adds up to an "untypical" development.
"I'm a businessman. I want to make a profit, but we want to do it right," he said.
Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com
Comments
Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to conserve and, obviously, save money in power costs, but I see this as a GREAT way for the homebuilder to charge bigger bucks on a home. It will certainly take awhile for the consumer to get his money back on it, but eventually, they will.
I doesn't mean much to someone where 50% of their power bill is $50.
That was sarcasm of a sort. ha ha
The truth is that anything that prevents heat transfer in a home or other structure will pay for its self in time.
I think that any building should have the latest in state of the art insulation just so that the waste of power on our comfort is lessened.
Sometimes we think all this green stuff is new but it is old. Mother Earth News was teaching us all this in the 60s and 70s. I built a super-insulated with passive solar for $16 a square foot using a double outside wall. Some of the materials are new but the ideas are very old. One caution: if you get your house too tight your children will have ear infections and then tubes. Keep a window cracked in each bedroom at night whether it is 30 or 100 degress outside and save 1000s in health bills.
Utility companies are not interested at all in saving power. $20 (25%) of my monthly bill(SCEG gas and electric) has nothing to do with consumption. The rate structure is set as you use less they charge more!
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