Whitefish Residence Complete

Whitefish Residence : Completed January 2012

Does energy efficient building really work? 

in short, YES!

The first electric bill for February, 2012 reveals the cost to heat this home for the month to be  $7.00 , or $1.65 per week.      Incredible, but true.  The ground source heat pump is separately metered and reveals an astonishingly low cost to heat this home.   A super insulated envelope reduces the actual need for heat in the house significantly.  From there, the ground source heat pump installed by Energetechs of Missoula, MT.  makes the most of the electricity required to keep the home comfortable for pennies per day.  Even better, local utility rebates combined with State and Federal tax credits made the cost of the heat pump competitive with a conventional natural gas heating system.

The Front Porch and landscaping in progress.

Living Room.

Built by Ford Construction of Kalispell,  MT.  This Whitefish, MT, home has incredibly views of Whitefish Mountain and great solar access,  At approximately 1800 sf, the  home will feature R35+ double stud wall construction with dense pack cellulose insulation, R65 attic insulation, ground source heat pump heating and cooling,  Serious 525H windows with an average U value of .18 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of0.4.   The home features one level living, and a casual, open floor plan. The homeowners are an active participants in the construction and have sourced many finish items from the local RE-Store including a rare 4 ft clawfoot bathtub.

Wall and Roof Framing in progress.

Front Porch in progress

Corner Windows face south from the Kitchen.