A look inside one of Vermont’s greenest homes – WCAX

CHARLOTTE, Vt. (WCAX) – Thursday is Earth Day, and every year homes that are considered to be to the highest standard of efficiency are recognized in Vermont.

One house recognized this year for being one of Vermont’s greenest homes is one that already had a house standing, built back in the 1970s. After some major renovation and cutting the cord on fossil fuels, the house now matches the owner’s already green lifestyle.

“If we are working in this field, then we also need to live in it,” said Nancy Winship Milliken, the Charlotte homeowner.

Winship Milliken and her husband are both in the environmental field and she says the decision to renovate their home in a sustainable way was a no-brainer.

“We made the universal decision that making the home energy efficient, getting us off fossil fuels, and using local materials,” she said.

But they needed someone to make that vision a reality, so Winship Milliken brought in a professional.

“Basically, we pay attention to the whole and complete envelope and design of the building when we are creating an energy-efficient home,” said Ace McArleton with New Frameworks, a Burlington design-build firm.

The home is not net-zero, but it did reduce its energy load by 69% and cut its use of fossil fuels. McArleton says it goes beyond just emissions.

“It’s not just that we create an energy-efficient home,” he said, “but do it with materials that respect the climate in deeper ways.”

Ways like paying attention to the carbon cost of each material they choose, reusing materials like timber frames from barns, as well as locally source everything from wood to plaster. And by choosing materials mindfully, McArleton says building is better than not building.

“The plant-based materials take gaseous carbon from the atmosphere– which is what drives climate change– and pulls them into themselves and locks it in the home and stores it,” said McArleton.

He says it’s an emerging science in home building, but they anticipate the practices they are using to hold long-term.

“Working with those local economies, working with those local materials that are going to take these building ahead into the next century,” McArleton said.

The homeowner says the climate comes first in her work, so naturally, it had to come first at home as well.

“It was an easy decision, and I hope it’s an easy decision for others to put this first, to put the environment first,” said Winship Milliken.

McArleton also says everyone can create a more climate-conscious home.

“One of the easy things that can be done is choosing local materials if you are doing any sort of work on your home. One of the other major things you can do is not just look at local materials but materials that are plant-based and store carbon. That means every time you make a change or an improvement, you are choosing something that is helping to reverse climate change instead of exacerbate it. And I think that’s just a very simple shift we can all start to do right now that will make a big difference,” said McArleton.

He also says things like wood, sand or rocks all can be sourced locally from Vermont or the Northeast and is a simple shift you can make if you have any renovations to do in the near future. He sees this as a way to push Vermont home building ahead in the 21st century.

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Original Source: https://www.wcax.com/2021/04/22/a-look-inside-one-of-vermonts-greenest-homes/