The Energy Star Homes Program offers you the opportunity to use energy efficient fixtures, appliances, and heating and cooling systems. The use of these products will help you reduce your overall energy usage and your utility bills. Bourbeau Custom Homes Inc. will work with our various sub contractors to install energy efficient hot water, heating, cooling and vemtilation systems for your home.

We supply the following:
6 non-dimming energy efficient recess lights, located in a high to mid use area to be decided together during the framing walk thru * (these are often used in the kitchen) 2 ceiling lights for use in a high to mid use area * An energy efficient fan/light combo on a timer will be installed in each full bath. Heating system and hot water tank that qualify as energy efficient

We will need you to choose the following appliances that are energy star labeled:
Dishwasher
Refrigerator

Choose the finish of the ceiling lights based on the selections offered. We have choices in several finishes and styles, which will be provided at the electrical walk thru.

* mid to high use areas are areas that are typically used 2 or more hours a day such as, kitchen, bath, bedrooms, hallways, family room dining room or main outside entrance or in front of the garage.

These are just some of the benefits of living in an Energy Star Home:

30% Lower Energy Bills - Than homes built to minimum state energy code requirements Lower maintenance costs - Your home will be more air-tight and better ventilated than an ordinary house. That means you will reduce moisture problems like sweating windows, paint failure, mold growth, structural damage and ice dams.

Healthier indoor air - Proper ventilation means less risk of mold, mildew, dust mites, or back-drafting from combustion appliances

Greater comfort - You will eliminate drafts and have greater control of indoor temperature at lower energy costs.

Assurance - Your home will be approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency as Energy Star qualified.

Pride - You will be helping to protect the environment. By saving energy, you’ll reduce power generation air pollution

Greater resale value - For all of the above reasons

Further information is available from our office.

ENERGY STAR homes are popping up across Co-op Country as members building new homes discover that going the ENERGY  STAR route creates a more comfortable living environment, is energy-efficient and reduces their impact on the environment, adds value to their home, saves money – often both short and long term – and requires less effort to achieve than they may have thought. At the same time, some Vermont builders are finding that ENERGY STAR construction guidelines employ the kind of sound building practices which they may already been following and provide them with a strong drawing card for homeowners who value energy conservation and enhanced interior comfort. One builder we spoke to for this article builds only to ENERGY STAR specifications. He values the trouble-shooting input provided by Efficiency Vermont, which oversees the Energy Star program, providing advice and standards for builders and rebates for homeowners.

Ingrid and Matt Malmgren moved into their ENERGY STAR home in December. On an old country road in Jericho with views of Mt. Mansfield to the north, the site they chose was perfect for their growing family. They began working with builder Joe Jordan of Essex Junction and as Ingrid was shopping for lighting fixtures, she picked up a folder about ENERGY STAR homes. “We had always thought we’d want to do something energy efficient and choosing to build an ENERGY STAR home fit in. When we looked at the material from Efficiency Vermont, it made a lot of sense to us,” Ingrid explained. “I was already looking at energy efficient lighting fixtures and appliances and when we discussed the program with our builder Joe, it seemed such a good match, since he had built ENERGY
STAR homes before and uses that kind of construction anyway – lots of insulation, ventilation, that sort of thing. The rebates which totaled about $1100 for our home offset the higher costs of the energy-efficient appliances and lighting. And, of course there are other gains as well – more comfortable living environment, lower heating bills.”

In their first winter, the Malmgrens spent $150 a month in oil for the baseboard system that heats their 2400-square foot home and provides hot water. “And we use lots of hot water,” Ingrid pointed out. “With three little kids there’s always a lot of laundry to do.” The Malmgrens also chose a wood-burning fireplace unit which is rated 73% efficient (a rating which reflects the unit’s ability to use the BTU potential of the wood it consumes), compared to 10-15 percent for a standard fireplace, and contributes up to 45,000 BTUs to heating their two-story home.

For the Malmgrens, who had lived in older houses before moving to their Jericho home, the benefits of their new ENERGY STAR home are especially obvious: no drafts and a warmer, lighter and brighter interior.  Five-year old Linden and threeyear old Natalie like to travel through the “secret passageway” which unites the closets in each girl’s bedroom. Contrasted to the first floor with its kitchen and living room activities, the upstairs has a quieter feel. Four bedrooms encircle a sitting room, with its large northern window and a cozy couch where their parents read them stories. Windows on the northern side of the house, where the absence of solar gain detracts from the energy efficient gains made elsewhere in the house, are part of the reason that the house just barely squeaked into the fivestar category (the highest rating), when it was evaluated by a team from Efficiency Vermont.

The Malmgrents considered radiant floor heating, which would have boosted their home’s rating, but ruled it out because of expense. “We know it’s not ideal to put so many windows on the north side, but that’s where our views are and it was impossible to site the house to change that,” Ingrid explained. The house is exceptionally well-insulated and also well-ventilated, with fans not only in the bathrooms, but in the living space as well. This feature is key to the ENERGY STAR program and accounts for the feeling of being in an air-healthy house. “We wanted  an affordable house,” Matt explains, “but as we got into the building process we thought it would nice for it to be efficient as well. This house was below the average per square foot cost we had been quoted by builders. It came in at $117/sq. ft. without counting the very expensive septic system.”

Denis Bourbeau, who owns Bourbeau Custom Homes in St. Albans, said there is such a demand for ENERGY STAR homes and such satisfaction in building them, that they have built exclusively ENERGY STAR for the last few years. “Everything we build, we do according to ENERGY STAR guidelines,” Denis explained. “It gives the customer a better product, helps reduce ongoing energy costs, it’s more comfortable and it gives us, as builders, a check and balance system, working with Efficiency Vermont. As an example, an exhaust line connected to a ventilation fan in the bathroom of one of the houses we were building had a kink, reducing the air pressure by 50 percent. It was nothing we could have picked up ourselves, but the Efficiency
Vermont team found it. We feel  they help us do a better job. “And, of course,” he said, “it adds extra value to the integrity and the quality of the home.

We provide Efficiency Vermont with a copy of the plans and the basic information. For our first homes, a team would perform a plan review, making suggestions as to how we could improve the house. Since we’ve adopted Energy Star practices as our standard procedure, our building practices are so consistent from house to house that they don’t come in on the plan review any longer but are involved in the final review and the rating.”

The Bourbeaus built 22 ENERGY STAR homes in 2004, mostly in Franklin County and the northern communities of Chittenden County. In 2005, they constructed 17 and expect to build in that range during the current home construction season. “Each style of housing has its challenges. If the homeowner wants more windows, then we have to find ways to strengthen the energy ratings in other areas,” he said. Denis Bourbeau uses a computer program that provides virtual three-dimensional views of the house as he and his clients design it. With a description of square footage, layout, exterior elements and other factors, the clients and builder work together with the computer program to refine the plans. After building nearly 60 ENERGY STAR homes, Denis points to the ventilation requirements as the hardest for new clients to grasp. “People will say, ‘But, it’s 20 degrees below zero and you’re asking me to take air in from outside and heat it and at the same time, let the warm air get sucked out?’ But the ventilation makes it a healthier home and reduces humidity which you otherwise get with a tight, well insulated house. For $3,000 to $4,000 we can install an air-to-air exchange system. This allows the warm air to run through a baffle on its way outside. The warmth from that outgoing warm air partially heats the cold air coming in, so you do have a gain in that way.”

Each year, more Vermonters choose the ENERGY STAR route for their new home construction. Since May of 1997 just over 1,900 ENERGY STAR Homes have been  certified in Vermont. At the outset, the program was operated under the name Vermont Star Homes and sponsored by VEC, Burlington Electric Dept., Central Vermont Public Service, Citizens Utilities, Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems. The service was taken over by Efficiency Vermont in 2000.

For Jeff Gephart, part of the team at Vermont ENERGY STAR Homes, the financial benefits of building an ENERGY STAR home are convincing and affordable. “Vermont ENERGY STAR Homes is a free service provided by Efficiency Vermont,” he explained. “We help enrollees to design and build energy efficient homes and help ensure these homes have good ventilation and indoor air quality. Through a free plan review we can identify how much energy a home will consume and can then make specific recommendations to further conserve energy and identify the actual savings available through any recommended efficiency improvements we make. When the home is complete we provide performance testing such as blower door testing to evaluate building tightness and flow testing of ventilation
equipment. With the results from these tests we are able to verify and rate the efficiency of the structure. “In most instances the types of upgrades needed to meet all qualifying criteria should cost well under $2,000 (assuming the plan was to meet the VT Residential Energy Code to begin with). In this scenario the increase in the monthly mortgage cost would be significantly less than the average monthly cost savings in fuel and electricity. “People make home buying and building decisions based on what they can afford per month. With an ENERGY STAR Home you can afford more home because you pay less to operate it,” he explained. When homeowners achieve ENERGY STAR criteria and other Vermont requirements Efficiency Vermont provides financial incentives of up to $1,300 per home (in rebate form). In the near future the program expects to be able to verify the $2,000 energy efficient new home tax credit.

Efficiency Vermont provides home registration with the U.S. EPA/DOE ENERGY STAR Homes program, and issues a home energy rating certificate.” Jeff emphasized that the ENERGY STAR program is a free service that Vermonters fund as part of their monthly electric bills to encourage energy conservation.

By Nancy Crowe Editor,
Co-op Life Editor