About two hours north of New York City, amid the lush forests and babbling streams of the Catskill Mountains, sits a new housing development where every home is designed to avoid the use of fossil fuels.
Hale: “The whole approach is about reducing emissions in the built environment.”
Greg Hale is one of the founders of the Catskill Project.
He said the homes were designed to maximize efficiency. They are tightly insulated with triple-glazed windows to prevent heat loss.
Each room is equipped with a ventilation system to take in fresh air and exhaust dirty air. In the winter, it captures heat from the exhaust and uses it to help heat the incoming air.
Hale: “This way your heating equipment doesn’t have to work as hard to achieve the same internal temperature.”
As a result, homes require very little energy to heat or cool. They run entirely on electricity from rooftop solar panels or community solar.
Three homes have been built in the Catskills project so far, and a total of 25 are planned.
Hale hopes the program will inspire other builders to take the same approach.
Hale: “There is no reason to build homes that will further exacerbate climate problems.”
Report source: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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