Private Residence – Net Zero Energy Home

Awards

• LEED Platinum Certification
• First Net Zero Energy Home built in CT

This modest New England farm house style home sits at the end of an 800-foot driveway on a secluded 14-acre lot in Killingworth, CT.  Accompanying this home is a post and beam barn, chicken coop and detached barn style garage. The property serves as a working organic vegetable farm and tree farm. 65 solar photovoltaic panels are installed on the roof of the barn and provide all of the electrical power for the residence. On the roof of the main house are 10 solar hot water panels for heating the domestic hot water.  Altogether, these panels generate 20,000 kwhr/yr of electricity. The house also has a water-to-water standing column geothermal HVAC system that is used for the domestic water well.

The interior of the home has a soft elegance with its combination of modern technology and understated farmhouse details. When the rooms aren’t being filled with natural light they are lit with LED fixtures, and the paint, woodwork, flooring and cabinets were all chosen because they emit low or no VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Many of the finishing details throughout the home come from recycled materials, reused counter tops from old homes, an old barn door installed on a slider to hide the LED television, recycled doors for the interior rooms and recycled slate for the window sills.