Come get inspired to button up your house and sign up for a free home energy visit by Efficiency Vermont! On Saturday, November 9, the Charlotte Energy Committee is hosting an open house morning as part of https://buttonupvermont.org/ at two houses in Charlotte. Both houses - one newer, one older, - are owned by Energy Committee members. We welcome you to sign up to visit one or both homes. There will be two tours of each home, starting at 10:00 am and 11:15 am. Each tour with discussion time is about 45 minutes allowing plenty of travel time to visit both homes. Contact us by e-mail sbhodgson@gmavt.net to sign up and for directions.

Weatherizing an older home on Mount Philo
We moved into our 1974-built house in 2008 and over the next 10 years, underwent two energy audits followed by two major investments and lots of incremental weatherization improvements. These improvements showed a reduction in air leakage of 55%. Then, by installing a 6.72 KW roof mounted PV system, our house became net zero in 2013. For heating, we have two heat pumps, a high efficiency wood stove with catalytic converter, and passive solar from our southern orientation.

Building a new home with energy efficiency goals on Pease Mountain
Our objectives when building our house in 2012 was for our home to be comfortable for our family, cost very little to operate and reduce our impact on the environment. We achieved these goals by focusing on the energy efficiency. The house is oriented directly south facing for as much solar gain as possible, has 3 times the insulation levels required by the energy code, is extremely airtight and has high performance triple-pane windows. The result is a house that maintains a consistent temperature with very little additional heat from the cold-climate heat pump. Adding a 7.2 kW solar array makes our house net zero and not impacted by the rising fuel or electricity prices.

Dec 19, 2024, 7 to 8:30 PM

Dec 21, 2024, 8 AM to 12 PM

Dec 24, 2024, 5:30 to 6:30 PM