Well, it's over.

Project #: 3028

Dear Philip Porter,

USGBC is extremely pleased to approve the certification of the LEED home(s) at 80 Mellen Street, Holliston, MA, USA built by Philip & Erin Porter, and supported by the LEED for Homes Provider, Conservation Services Group. This project received a "LEED Silver" rating. Congratulations!

The certificates you receive for this project will be printed exactly as they appear below. If any of the information below is incorrect, please contact me ASAP so that alterations can be made. Certificates will be shipped within 4 weeks of this announcement.

Congratulations on this great accomplishment! Look for an email shortly that will help get you started in celebrating your new LEED for Homes certified project.

Utility update

Here's the poop: netting out what we always paid in electrical bills, and keeping in mind that we run our well pump and our geothermal heat pump electrically, we have paid $60 upcharge to heat the house and supply water in November, $200 in December (holiday bills), $130 in January. We'll see how February goes. Doesn't look as if we'll be paying $3000 to heat this winter, however, and we definitely need no backup heat source. So it works, dudes.

Paperwork in

Here's a shot of the kitchen (with temporary stove as Chambers is still being converted and it's too dang cold in the barn to work on it). As you can see, we finally painted it.
The big news is that we finally filed the paperwork for our LEED silver, and now are awaiting news about whether we owe anything more in terms of paperwork or whether we are now just waiting.

Happy 2010

Wishing all a happy new year. Now that the snow is here, we are more and more valuing the energy efficiency of our new home. The geothermal furnace works fine, does not need a "backup," which was implied by everyone from the building inspector to the local carpenters, and our fireplace works great—more for ambiance than for heat, but still, just great on these snowy days. Long live new technology...

Electric update

Got November's electric bill, $225. Base line is 130 from our old house, so I'd say about $100 to heat the house in November in spite of the electric pump for well water, added square feet and barn. And it was pretty cold. Of course, December's will be higher thanks to the holiday lights, but that's what you get for being festive.

One recycled trestle table, slightly slanted.

Seats ten, twelve in a pinch. Thanks to the left over doug fir, not a penny in lumber, just a few bucks in screws, bolts and lags. Oh, and as some would point out, time that could have been spent painting. Sweet!

More press

Metrowest Daily News, that hotbed of suburban scoops, ran an article today on the cover about LEED houses, with us in it. The lead is a beautiful home in Sudbury with metal and concrete. I'm jealous. Madis and Eva said, "Sunday front page? Ho, hum. Can we get the tree now?"