Change is Good

At least that’s what I keep telling myself…because the past couple weeks have brought plenty of changes. There have been changes to our wood stove venting, and therefore our solar panel layout; our kitchen appliances; our first floor bathroom; our flooring; and our well allowance.

Wood stove venting- By order of the fire marshal, our interior wood stove vent cannot bend twice at 45 degree angles before exiting the home. It’s too hard to clean and you can’t have more than 15 degree angles inside the home. Venting needs to run straight up and out. This modified design also throws a wrench into our solar panel layout.

Solar panel layout- Solar Wind Electric had sent us a clean-looking solar design that accommodated all 12 panels and positioned them in a way that made brushing off snow a bit easier. Because our wood stove vent will now run straight up the south wall and exit the roof lower than we planned, our panels will have to be reconfigured away from the heat source.

Kitchen appliances- Originally, our U-shaped kitchen layout called for an electric slide-in range facing south. I fell in love with the idea of cooking meals while admiring the mountains. Really, just being able to glance at the view from anywhere in the kitchen! Alas, our home is so air tight, it’s highly recommended we vent our stove. I hate the idea of a huge hunk of metal obstructing our view. Instead, we’re opting for a stove that has a built-in downdraft. Unfortunately, we found no induction stoves with this option (which crushed my soon-to-be husband’s dream of being the coolest kids around). In fact, there’s essentially only one kind of slide in range with a downdraft: Jenn Air. And from what we’ve seen, they’re never on sale. Our only option at this point is to buy a cook top and wall oven as two separate appliances. The cook top will remain at the south end of the kitchen, but because of the downdraft venting, the wall oven won’t fit underneath. After much arranging and rearranging our kitchen plan, we came to the conclusion that the north wall is the best (really, only) spot for it.

First floor bathroom- When we designed our home, we thought it would be practical to have two full bathrooms—one shower upstairs next to the master bedroom, one shower downstairs next to the guest bedroom. What we didn’t think of at the time was accommodating children. And children take baths, not showers. Our first floor bathroom is now a standard tub shower.

Flooring- We got the quote back for our flooring options, and it’s over budget…by a fair amount. Our first floor has a pretty big area that will be slate, which is driving our price up quite a bit. But because it will work so well with our passive solar design (not to mention look nice!), we’d like to keep it in the plans and compromise somewhere else. Perhaps we’ll forgo the bamboo flooring on the second floor in favor of cork.

Well allowance- The original quote for our home included a $7,000 allowance for digging a well. Nobody realized we’d need to dig to China to strike water. Really, our well is 600-feet deep! And $4,000 over budget.

Fortunately, we saved $4,000 by switching from Marvin to Pella brand on certain windows. (Windows that didn’t compare spec by spec were not changed.) We also saved $500 by switching the first floor bathroom to a tub instead of shower. We’re crossing our fingers that the hearth quote comes in low, so we can save money there as well.

It comforts me to think that all home builders likely go through this same process and share our stress. I don’t want to sound callous. I just want to know that we’re not the only ones juggling money and making compromises!

Active Solar Energy

Well, we originally thought we’d need to wire for photovoltaics now and add the panels in the future due to our budget constraints. Not so! We are thrilled to report that that we can afford 12 Sharp 230-Watt photovoltaic (PV) panels right from the start to help power our home.

PV systems are a pollution-free energy source that reduces our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy production. And after federal and state rebates, our system will cost us approximately $7,500. Certainly not a drop in the bucket, but after saving a significant amount of money elsewhere in our home and setting aside some funds, we can afford to install it now.

Our 2.7 kilowatt system will aid in providing electricity for lights, appliances, radiant heat and anything we plug into an outlet. Our PV system will be grid-connected—meaning it will use light from the sun to provide power to our home when possible, and will use utility-generated power at night or on cloudy days. Any energy that’s generated by our PV panels, but not used by us can be sold back to our local utility provider through net metering.

Solar Wind Electric in Bradford, VT, will be providing and installing the system for us. In total, they will install:

• 12 - Sharp 230-Watt panels (2,760 Total STC Watts;


• 1 - Solectria 3000 Inverter;


• 1 - Unirac Solarmount Flush Racking System (to mount panels to south-facing roof);


• 1 - DC disconnect & AC disconnect; and


• 1 - Production meter.

Our south-facing roof, showing the 12-panel PV system and two hot water solar collectors.

Based on the size of our system and our average monthly electric bill, we expect to be repaid in less than ten years.

Wind Power

Growing in popularity and shrinking (sort of) in price, wind power is becoming a viable option for homeowners today.

How does it work? Through use of a wind turbine, wind energy is converted into a useful form of energy, like electricity. And like solar power, wind energy—in the form of residential wind turbines—offers homeowners a list of appealing benefits:

They’re clean- Small wind turbines use wind energy to produce emissions-free power. In fact, wind power actually offsets pollution that would have been generated by your utility company. (American Wind Energy Association)

They’re energy saving- One will require less electricity from the electric company because the energy generated from wind turbines will help to power home appliances.

They’re money saving- Wind power allows homeowners to generate their own power and reduce energy bills.

The American Wind Energy Association estimates that a small residential wind turbine can offset about 1.2 tons of air pollutants and 200 tons of greenhouse gases over its lifespan.

Residential wind turbines exist in at least 47 states in the U.S. The majority have been installed in the Northeast and Midwest. And we won't be far from the highest surface wind speed ever recorded.

We were thinking of installing a grid-connected system. This type of wind turbine would provide no power if there wasn’t enough wind to spin the blades. However, as wind speeds increase, the turbine power increases and decreases the amount of power purchased from a local utility. If the turbine were to ever produce more power than our house required, many local utility providers offer “net metering”—where additional electricity is sold to them. (Yep, we could theoretically sell our extra power to the utility company so other neighbors could use it!)

We researched the wind patterns in our area by using this interactive map. However, wind speeds vary greatly and it is suggested you get in touch with a professional to measure and evaluate the wind.


We contacted Solar Wind Electric—a company based in VT that specializes in renewable energy and sustainable living—for this service. A few weeks ago they came to our site to evaluate the wind speed. However, they requested that we take wind measurements on our lot over the next year to get a more accurate reading. According to the American Wind Energy Association:

In very hilly or mountainous areas, however, it may be best to collect wind data before purchasing a system to ensure that your site is not in a sheltered area.

So, we wait.

If you’re thinking about installing a wind turbine, be sure to take advantage of the 30 percent federal tax credit available to small-wind consumers.