Family First - Eco-House

Ten years ago, an Evansville building trades class built an energy star house. It was years ahead of its time, with features like geothermal heating, motion sensor lighting, and recycled pop bottle carpeting. Now, homebuilders everywhere are veering toward energy efficiency and renewable materials. In this family first, we popped in on owners Jane and Dennis Glancy. And they showed us that living green really does help them save some green. It all started with an "open house" ad 6 and a half years ago. Jane and Dennis Glancy were just looking for a place to live. Their "story and a half" home fits in with all the others in rose park subdivision, but the couple soon learned it was different for a number of reasons. For one, students built their house and they built it to exceed energy star home guidelines set by the EPA. Its a trend thats only gaining mass appeal now, ten years later. Evansville architect Mike Shoulders says 15 years ago, green construction wasnt even on the radar. Now, new home builders are learning about it and asking for it. After extensive on-site blower door testing, a group called energy rated homes of Indiana gave the ecohouse a 5 star + rating. Their report projected a $174 heating bill for the year at the ecohouse. Water heating? $115 per year. Lights and appliances around $400 for the year. The Glancys say those projected costs are a bit lower than actual costs. They pay roughly $160 in total energy costs a month. But they say that still feels good in the pocket book. The ecohouse makes a difference in the environment too - the new ratings show the eco house saves 83-hundred pounds of carbon... 337 pounds of sulfer dioxide... And 114 pounds of nitrogen from the atmosphere every year. Not bad for one house, in one neighborhood, in Evansville. If all new Evansville homes built in 2007 were built to ecohouse standards, the experts say wed be looking at saving more than 4 million pounds of carbon from the atmosphere.