Lighter Bills for Aiken Houses Going Green

Lighter Bills for Aiken Houses Going Green (Added: February 03, 2009)

These days, everyone is looking for a break when it comes to bills. How about owing nothing on your power bill? One development in Aiken is advertising just that. WJBF News Channel 6's Joy Howe h ... (more)

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Lighter Bills for Aiken Houses Going Green

These days, everyone is looking for a break when it comes to bills. How about owing nothing on your power bill? One development in Aiken is advertising just that. WJBF News Channel 6's Joy Howe has the details.

By WJBF Staff
Published: February 03, 2009

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Aiken, SC -- This lot will soon house a happy homeowner, who will pay nothing on their power bill.

That’s the goal of developer Ron Monahan and architect George Watt. They developed their efficient-energy technology in Colorado...and now they're brining it right here.

Ron Monahan, Developer: "Aiken's on the map, it's a beautiful, beautiful community, and if we can build you a zero energy home in Boulder, CO with three feet of snow on the ground, it's a lot easier to build that same home here for you."

All the houses at the Ridge at Chukker Creek have energy and money saving tricks inside, but four homes that will be built here will be 'Net Zero' homes...meaning the house will make more energy than it will use.

George Watt, Architect: "And hopefully, when you open the heating bill, the cooling bill, the power bill, you get no bill."

Here’s how it works: About half the savings will come from the insulation. Out with the pink fiberglass padding, in with this foam...it's sprayed onto the attic roof, in the walls and the crawlspace...expanding, and sealing up the house like an envelope.

Watts: "We spray the foam, and it infiltrates all the cracks so that the air doesn't pass through as easily as it used to, and that keeps the heat or the cool inside the house."

The other big saver? The sun: solar panels will feed extra energy to the power grid, and if the sun doesn't come out for a while, the house will just draw that energy back.

Mayor Fred Cavanaugh, Aiken, SC: "We just need alternative ways of energy, means of energy, and people have been talking about it for years, and now with the economy the way it is and everything, it seems that people are really taking it to heart."

By saving the environment, and money, it means saving green all around.

Aiken leaders are now looking to use some of these energy-saving methods in restoration projects around the city. You can take advantage of that foam insulation as well....it cost about $3,000 to spray the attic in that home we showed you, but it’s estimated to cut energy costs in half.