OF4-10/26/09 9:25 AM
KEEPING WARM THIS WINTER WITH A FULLY "GREEN" HOUSE.
The Osgood File. I'm Charles Osgood.
No matter how cold it gets this winter, Simon Hare and his wife will not turn up the thermostat in their cozy 750 square foot, two-story cottage in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. That's because they don't have a thermostat, and that's because they have no furnace --- no heater of any kind --- to turn up.
This is not an oversight. It's that way on purpose.
SOT - Simon Hare
"Well, we want to set an example. We're not trying to tell people what to do. But we want to show them what we've done and what it's done for us --- or will do, once we've passed the winter --- which is save a lot of energy --- create a healthy, very fun place to live in that doesn't need a heating system --- and it does all kinds of other things for us." (:17)
It should bring the Hare family closer together, body heat being 98.6. Little Lulu, their daughter, is only 16 months old.
The Hares have yet to spend a winter in their heaterless house.
But they'll be fine, Simon says --- it's very well insulated.
SOT - Simon Hare
"Very good insulation --- insulation that's not compromised by thermal bridges, which is basically any piece of building material that touches the inside air and the outside air will conduct heat from inside to outside." (:11)
As for the windows?
SOT - Simon Hare
"You have good windows designed to face the sun in the winter, to allow enough heat in --- but not lose too much heat." (:06)
In fact, in the daytime, the windows will act as heaters, he says.
SOT - Simon Hare
"...A great amount of sunlight low in the sky on the south side. You don't get that in the summertime --- the sun is typically heating up your roof. But in the winter, it's typically heating up the wall. If you have windows on the wall, you get free heat --- and lots of it." (:12)
Simon Hare owns a small design and building company called PlaceTailor --- and it's the first place he's tailored in this way.
By his calculations, it should stay at around 63 degrees...
SOT - Simon Hare
"It's really not technology-oriented, this way of building. It's just designing with climate in mind, making the most of the climate that you're living in." (:08)
The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Osgood File. October 26th, 2009. |
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